Alfons Puigarnau, a lecturer at UIC Barcelona School of Architecture, participated in the conference “Education, Design and Practice: Understanding skills in a Complex World”, organised by Architecture, Media, Politics, Society (AMPS), an interdisciplinary research organisation. The event was held from 17 to 19 June at the Stevens Institute of Technology, New Jersey. Puigarnau gave the talk “How to teach architecture as a perfect crime strategy...?” 

The lecturer used the talk to present his pedagogical scheme of relating architecture to Alfred Hitchcock’s suspense films and the different aesthetic and formal categories through theoretical discourse. “The aim is to combine theoretical references, commenting on a selection of literary texts, images, and clips from films. With the architect Ignacio Infiesta, for the practical credits, we assign a series of graphical representation exercises on different topics related to architecture and urban design”, Puigarnau explained. “The topic of Hitchcock and architecture always piques people’s interest. With this talk, I was able to draw attention to the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture with a fun, surprising and rigorous topic.”

The theme of the most recent edition of the AMPS conference was “Understanding skills in a Complex World”. It sought to explore how we are preparing the next generation of professionals to design, construct and manage the built environment. The AMPS is an independent organisation that collaborates with multiple universities around the world to promote understanding of the role of architecture and the built environment in communities, public health and society at large through debates, events and annual conferences.