DOI
ISBN: 978-84-617-5895-1

Summary
This paper discusses an experimental master's studio at Victoria University of Wellington that aimed to teach and learn interdisciplinary and collaboratively in architectural education. The project involved three parallel classes of Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Landscape Architecture disciplines, and asked students to explore how design could encourage Maori coastal farmers to adapt to sea level rise, providing a programmatic foundation for cross-disciplinary exchange. The paper identifies several challenges associated with the successful integration of different disciplinary design perspectives, pedagogical and conceptualization approaches, and reflects on cultural and disciplinary domains that enabled authentic learning in design education. To address these challenges, the studio project utilized Weekly Studio Preparation Assignments (SPA) as an interdisciplinary-specific framework for the students, and weekly 'Marketplace' studio sessions enabled the students to engage with the other disciplines by seeking out similar projects and discussing how to integrate their approach to the brief. The paper highlights that the structure enabled interdisciplinary collaboration rather than forcing it, and was responsive to the needs of students as they arose. The specific cultural ground proved an excellent 'place' for the interdisciplinarity to operate. However, barriers to learning evolved around three main areas; the extent of cultural immersion, the cohesion of the SPA across each discipline, and the strength of the connections made within the Marketplace. Overall, the paper provides insights into the challenges and opportunities associated with teaching and learning interdisciplinary and collaboratively in architectural education. The approach used in the experimental master's studio provides a framework for other institutions to develop their own interdisciplinary design programs that can better prepare students for the complexities of real-world design challenges.

Relevance for Complex Systems Knowledge
The paper does not address complexity directly, nor does it address transdisciplinarity as an option. It instead refers to interdisciplinarity between various architectural approaches (Architecture, Interiors Architectures, landscape Architectures), pointing out the importance of scale when approaching landscape-related issues. This element offers an interesting opportunity to reflect on the pivotal importance of scale in complex system thinking since the system object of a course/program is mostly defined by it. This aspect is often overlooked, leading to misunderstanding and lack of communication between different disciplines exploring a specific system. E.g., the concept of Green Infrastructure that implies different meanings and processes depending on the scale it is approached from (regional scale – issues: ecological connectivity, habitat fragmentation, significant hydrological intervention, etc.; urban scale: Urban heat island effect, Sustainable Urban Drainage systems, air quality, etc.). The paper also refers to the concept of Authentic Learning that could be strictly related with a complex system thinking approach.

Point of Strength
The scale element should be taken into adequate consideration while designing and implementing a complex system thinking-based course. Moreover, the paper offers practical examples of activities that could foster interdisciplinarity and collaborations (between students and educators). These activities, adequately adapted, could be implemented into various disciplinary contexts. It also connects the interdisciplinarity's effectiveness with the cultural element that can offer a common ground for multiple disciplines to converge toward shared goals. In this regard, the paper candidly exposes the limitations of the case study, stating that the educators did not consider enough time for the students to engage with the project's cultural and social dimensions during the experience.