During the 1996 congress of the International Union of Architects in Barcelona, organizers were forced to hire a sports stadium to accommodate the over 10,000 people wanting to attend the programme of lectures by world-famous architects. For the most part, these eager participants were students of architecture. This is only one of several indications of the growing presence of an international architectural sub-culture dominated by students. Unhampered by professional responsibilities and the hassle of everyday building practice, students are able to experience architecture in its purest form, building upon centuries-old traditions, customs and codes that are carried on and developed in educational institutions all over the world.

In this book you will find another manifestation of this sub-culture. It takes the form of a report on a competition entitled 'The school of architecture as a subject of design', in which architectural students were invited to design a school of architecture for the future. The organizer, the Netherlands Architecture Institute, received over 400 entries from all over the world, from China to Mexico, from Sweden to Australia. In addition to the space devoted to the winning designs, the book also provides a qualitative and quantitative overview of the entries. In analysing the variety of answers to the competition brief it offers a fascinating insight into the ambitions and dreams of a future generation of architects.

By way of introduction, the book contains transcripts of lectures on the subject of architectural education given by three renowned educators. John Hejduk, Stanley Tigerman and Christophe Girot can be regarded as cultural leaders who exercise a decisive influence on present-day architectural schools around the world.