Leading Change in Architectural Education

I had the pleasure of working with Alec Tzannes in various roles at the University of New South Wales’s (UNSW) Faculty of the Built Environment (BE) throughout his time as dean (2008–2016). The following words summarize Tzannes’ strong personal views on human beings’ impact on the world: “We are in an important, if not crucial, period of human habitation of this planet – a beautiful and unique (by current practical measures) environment being destroyed by human endeavour, population growth and the values we hold that guide our actions. Our behaviour has to change if we wish to reverse the environmental destruction for which we are responsible, as do our design thinking and design values in support of this objective as architects.”

These views have guided Tzannes’ vision for architectural education and the curriculum review he led for the Bachelor of Architectural Studies and Master of Architecture programs at UNSW. Tzannes was,