Skip to main content

Professor Rachel Sara

Rachel Sara’s influence on architecture education is underpinned by a desire to support a diverse range of students into the architecture profession, which is still unrepresentative. Through championing live projects, her feminist manifesto, and work on the ‘crit’ she promotes more supportive, inclusive models of education which generate civic agency.
Year
2020
Institution
Birmingham City University
Job Title
Oscar Naddermier Professor of Architecture

Rachel is Oscar Naddermier Professor of Architecture at Birmingham City University. She has significant experience in architecture education nationally and internationally, having taught new lecturers in architecture, led masters programmes, been link tutor for courses in Sri Lanka and Hong Kong, and undertaken a range of prize-winning projects to support the development of best practice.

Rachel’s teaching in architecture is motivated by a desire to support a diverse range of students into the architecture profession, which is still underrepresented by women, working-class, black and minority ethnic groups. In response she has developed approaches to learning and teaching architecture which develop civic agency, critical engagement with learning, and cultivate more supportive, inclusive models of education underpinned by feminist pedagogy.

Rachel has been teaching for 20 years, initially undertaking a PhD at Sheffield University (2000 to 2004) in architecture education which reacted to her own experiences as an architecture student. At this stage she developed a feminist manifesto for architecture education which would underpin all of her subsequent teaching and pedagogic development. At this stage she also co-wrote ‘The Crit: An architecture student's handbook’, which combined with subsequent research and films have made a significant international impact on the way in which architecture design work is assessed.

At the University of the West of England, Bristol in 2006 she introduced the highly innovative hands-on-bristol project which introduced live community-based projects into the architecture curriculum. In 2019 she was appointed as Professor of Architecture at Birmingham City University where she continues to innovate – introducing an activist based Extinction Rebellion Architecture studio in 2019.

Over her career she has significantly affected the teaching undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD students often well beyond the expectations of her positions. She has engaged students with community groups outside of the university setting to undertake live community architecture projects; positioning the university as a civic ‘agent of change in the city’ (Sara and Jones 2018). Rachel aims not only to transform her students but also to support them to ‘participate in the transformation of their worlds’ (Friere 1989) through engaging in real-world codesign projects.

Advance HE recognises there are different views and approaches to teaching and learning, as such we encourage sharing of practice, without advocating or prescribing specific approaches. NTF and CATE awards recognise teaching excellence in a particular context. The profiles featured are self-submitted by award winners.