Confessions of a technical design reviewer

In this article, some issues and opportunities that can be encountered in fulfilling the role of technical design reviewer in the educational context of an architectural design studio are highlighted. Specifically: 1. the reviewer derives extra-proficiency from feeling the responsibility of the design outcomes; 2. often the reviewer is induced to cut corners by micro-lecturing during the design reviews, in order to compensate for a lack of preliminary technical knowledge on part of the reviewee; 3. in the given educational context, coherence in the application of a design method is far more important than what design method is used; 4. group dynamics can induce the reviewer to overpraise the proposals of the reviewee; 5. educational activities of the kind described, under certain aspects, can be interpreted as a kind of show, and this can influence knowledge transmission.