SABRE Output 2

Architectural Entrepreneurship – Suitable fast-track formats in second-cycle education to create a new mindset and. open up ner career paths in creative industries

Design Sprint on ‘The Circular University’,
October 9-13, 2017

Creative Business Game ‘Start-Up Architecture’,
September 20-21, 2018 

Design Thinking Lab ’Workspaces for Digital YOU’,
November 22-24, 2018

Community Design Lab ‘Have we met? Designing Social Hubs for Urban Nomads’,
March 20-22, 2019

The output will develop a bridge between education in the field and entrepreneurial thinking from other disciplines. It will offer a vital contribution to the integration of managerial skills into second-cycle education, and also raise the awareness about the importance of entrepreneurial skills among the architectural profession to enter existing and new markets. Architectural entrepreneurship is related to the applied theory of architectural programming and thinking, which has so far not been systematically taught at European universities. With the rising complexity of buildings, the importance of the early stages of a project, prior to design/planning, needs to be emphasized more strongly. The aim is to demonstrate how architects and related professionals can better become part of the decision-making processes with stakeholders, by acting as entrepreneurs. The aim is to demonstrate how architects and related professionals can better become part of the decision-making processes with stakeholders, by acting as entrepreneurs. 

The output will primarily be based upon four structured, competitive, rapid and collaborative innovation methods taken from other disciplines/industries, which will be tested here for their suitability in the context of Architecture and the Built Environment. These methods are rarely used within education in the field, while, at the same time, managerial disciplines are looking out for design thinking from the architectural/built environment. Hence the output aims to overcome the boundaries between disciplines and nurture interdisciplinary collaboration and co-creation. The applied methods to be investigated are:

Design Thinking Workshop
(origin from creative industry, Ideo)

Design Sprint
(origin from Google Developers)

Makeathon
(origin from manufacturing industry)

Business Game
(origin from Management Schools)

Elements of innovation

This output will establish a testing ground for selected fast-track educational formats from other fields (like management / engineering / design business) for adapting them to architecture study programs as well as linking academia and creative industry. The events shall bring together students, researchers and stakeholders in one place, developing creative solutions for real-life challenges. Combining the thinking and tools of architecture with business administration approaches and design thinking methods may lead to a new professional awareness of architectural entrepreneurship.

Expected impact

The output will strengthen the entrepreneurial mindset among students in Architecture and the Built Environment by the application of design-based research/ invention in the marketplace. We will raise the awareness for students in second-cycle education about their entrepreneurial potentials and capabilities, and about how valuable architectural/built environmental thinking can be for other industries. Furthermore we will encourage the students to seize the opportunity of entrepreneurship-based career perspectives by joining start-up teams, establishing knowledge companies, or developing services/products of their own.

Transferability potential

The core aim is to make this output usable for others outside the alliance partnership. By documenting the tested methods, and especially the process of co-creation and collaboration, the results will become visible and reachable more widely. Other universities can then build upon the lessons learnt and apply them to their specific capabilities and needs. This will further stimulate the creation of a new mindset in entrepreneurship for students in Architecture and the Built Environment, and raise the presence of schools/faculties across Europe as incubators and think-tanks for existing and new industries.

Reports & Evaluations

Please click on the cover images to access the SABRE Output 2 reports
as open access publications or have a look at the Erasmus+ Project Results Platform.

External Review Output 2

by Amandus Samsøe Sattler and Prof. Mikala Holme Samsøe

The creation of these resources has been (partially) funded by the ERASMUS+ grant program of the European Union under grant no. 2017-1-DE01-KA203-003574. Neither the European Commission nor the project’s national funding agency DAAD are responsible for the content or liable for any losses or damage resulting of the use of these resources.
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