Studio culture / war culture: pedagogical strategies for reconstructing Beirut's southern suburbs

Abstract

The article focuses on a critique of three different approaches to undergraduate architecture design studio teaching around the scenario of post-conflict reconstruction in Lebanon following the Hezbollah-Israeli war in 2006. Broadly, the author argues for the value of their own politically-engaged/critical teaching method over politically ‘neutral’ humanitarian, or radical but politically pre-disposed approaches. In addition to the relevance of how the topic of post-conflict reconstruction in architectural teaching relates to questions of political ‘positionality’, the article also offers an insight into the challenging political environment faced by academics in Lebanon and how this highlights the ethical limits of ‘apoliticality’.