Pedagogy as Creative Practice in Architecture Inspiration and Resistance During Change

List of Contributors

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Kasia Nawratek and Christopher Little

Discussions

1. Uncertainty as an Educational Method

Malcolm Miles

2. Beasts Sleeping Furiously: An Investigation into
Transdisciplinary Creative Practices on the Intersection
of Creative Writing and Architecture

Kasia Nawratek

3. Comfort Beyond Limits: Precedents for Creativity

Mark Hammond, Samuel Holden and Stefan White

4. Snorkelling in Soil: Architectural Care for the Ground

Julia Udall, Rachel Schwartz-Narbonne, Jonathan Orlek and Mel Lacey

5. The Case for the Dissertation

Tanya Southcott

6. (Re)making the Case for Studio

Cith Skelcher

7. The Other School

Anna Gidman

Insights

8. A Hopeful Glimpse through the Window – An
Outsider’s Perspective of Pedagogy as Creative Practice

Christopher Little

9. A Grand Day Out

Wei Shan Chia, Matthew Bradshaw

10. The Foundation Studio: Space, Practice and Belonging
in Architecture and Design Education

Rob Vinall

11. Unfolding – A First‑Year Introduction to Conceptual
Thinking and Reflective Practice at Liverpool School
of Architecture

Lucretia Ray and Luke Bushnell-Wye

12. Realising Feminist Architecture: Identifying "Ah Ha" Moments

Emily Crompton

13. The Making Manifesto: Reclaim the Joy of Practical
Skills in Architectural Education

Scott Miller, Kasia Nawratek and Christopher Little

Note from the Editors

Kasia Nawratek and Christopher Little

Biography

Kasia Nawratek is a Senior Lecturer at Manchester School of Architecture, a registered architect and a writer. Her research brings posthuman approaches to the climate crisis into dialogue with literary and narrative methods of architectural investigation. Grounded in Mikhail Bakhtin’s concept of polyphony, her teaching nurtures inclusive, dialogic studio cultures and frames speculative design as a form of world-building. She edited Space and Language in Architectural Education: Catalysts and Tensions (Routledge, 2022). Her pedagogical work was recognised with the SCOSA Innovation in Architectural Education Award (2024). Alongside her academic practice, she writes fiction in Polish: her children’s book Kresek, Bartek i całkiem zwyczajny początek won the Kornel Makuszyński Award (2017), and her YA novel Ja, świnia was published in 2023.

Christopher Little is a Senior Lecturer in Academic Development in Manchester Metropolitan University’s central University Teaching Academy. Chris offers academic development consultancy at Manchester Metropolitan and co-leads the university Advance HE Recognition provision. His leadership in this area of staff development and recognition was crystallised in 2024 with the award of Principal Fellow from Advance HE. His research interests include academic literacies, undergraduate research cultures, assessment and feedback and inclusive teaching practices, and he remains research active in all of these areas.

"A vital and timely provocation, Pedagogy as Creative Practice shows how the most meaningful work in architectural education often unfolds beyond institutional and professional metrics, where creativity, care, and critical resistance are quietly reshaping the discipline from within. It is an inspiring sourcebook: one that re-energises the radical pedagogical project by reminding us that architectural education must remain a space for experimentation, critical inquiry, and unchartered possibility."

Professor Harriet Harriss (PhD), Pratt Institute, NYC