Learning from the New European Bauhaus: Co-creating the Curriculum with Wellbeing at Its Core

This paper presents a work-in-progress project which started in 2021 when students in the final year of Architecture, inspired by the New European Bauhaus, designed their final projects with sustainability at the core. One group focused on building sustainably; the second, which I led, embraced sustainability as wellbeing, as an opportunity to build and support resilient communities, promoting a sense of community and belonging, creativity, communities, and connectivity. This work was further explored thanks to a Student-Staff collaboration funded project that aimed to co-design the curriculum of Architecture through the lens of wellbeing. Two academics and a final year student of Architecture, working as partners, reviewed module guides, the submissions to the degree show (2021 and 2022), our current the course documentation, and gathered feedback from current students in the degree. The findings and recommendations highlighted a gap in the course (lack of mentioning of wellbeing) and suggested the implementation of wellbeing in the course documentation, physical changes to learning spaces and the creation of wellbeing spaces across the University. Some of these changes are currently being implemented, to enhance students’ awareness of wellbeing during their studies (to study well), and applied in their projects (to build for resilient communities). The aim of this project is to further promote an awareness of well-being within the framework of sustainability, and support the revision, reflection, and co-creation of architectural education with our students as partners. This approach could be applied to other architectural degrees, enhancing students’ experience and commitment to their education.