Problem-Based Project-Oriented Learning: Educating and evaluating for new disciplines emerging in the interplay between the professions of civil engineering and architecture

University curricula are traditionally based on specialised discipline-specific subjects, which like engineering and architecture approach solutions to design problems with methods suited to their specific view of the issues. Problem-based learning models (PBL) offer a number of potential advantages in a search for solutions of which integrate these approaches. The Department of Architecture and Design (A&D) at Aalborg University has been intiated with the explicit aim to educate for new disciplines emerging in the interplay between the professions of civil engineering and architecture, and uses PBL and project-oriented models for its educational form. There is a distinct difference between engineering and architecture in their evolutionary backgrounds and their varying degree of emphasis on natural science. Both present different forms of problem solving that appeal to different learning styles, which raises the question of how to assess the individual student’s learning where widely different strategies with widely differing results are employed. While offering many interesting possibilities, the integration of these historically separated disciplines embraces paradoxes and contradictions reflected in the differences inherent in two pedagogical models used by the university, problem-based learning and project-oriented learning. However, in order for this to be adequately demonstrated, suitable forms of evaluation are necessary. A case is made for the review of assessment criteria in architectural learning to accommodate these issues.