Log in · Register

Teaching design workshops at the Polytechnic de Catalunia

Ed McCann has an ongoing relationship with the Polytechnic de Catalunia in Barcelona, which gives him a chance to practice his Spanish and consume plenty of fine Catalunian grub.

In 2008 he was one of a number of nationally and internationally recognised engineers invited to deliver one day design workshops to students on the Creative Engineering Masters Degree run by Xavier Font. Ed’s workshop involved group discussions on both the nature of the project process and the role of design in that process. The group were introduced to the Artist, Artisan & Philosopher models of design and invited to assess their own tendencies. Much of the day was spent in a conceptual design exercise where the students worked in groups of 6 to develop conceptual proposals for the canopy of the Capodechino underground Station in Naples, which is a project currently being undertaken by Expedition with Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners. The teams presented their work and carried out formal “crit” sessions on the other groups. The feedback on the workshop was excellent and as a result Ed has been invited back in 2010.

Ed was invited in 2009 by the Fundació Catalana per a la Recerca i la Innovació (the Catalonian Foundation for Research and Innovation) to be one of 3 international experts on education to present at the ENGINYCAT conference to debate the future of engineering education in Catalunya. Ed’s presentation focused primarily on the relationship between industry and academic institutions and provided both a critique of the status quo as well as providing examples of best practice. In so doing Ed was drawing extensively on his experience as an industrialist teaching at Imperial College and as one of the originators of the highly successful Constructionarium program as well as his current experience as a member of the Joint Board of Moderators, the body responsible for accreditation of civil and structural engineering programmes in the UK.