This research deals with some big questions architecture students might have during their education: How are good (design) decisions made? What makes a good architect? Why is a design process so uncomfortable? It’s an exploration of design process and ethics, set in the context of the ever-changing world that worries us deeply.

Being an Architecture student at a Technical University over the period of 2017-2025 caused the author of this paper to experience intrinsic discomforts. An accidental wicked problem approach to demystify this experience led to the insight that the knowledge gap was nonexistent in literature. However, the uncovered knowledge led the author to identify a relation between the intrinsic discomforts and lack of clarity about wicked problems and their implications at the faculty. This leads to a new hypothesis: there may be a predisposition for technical universities to favor science based approaches over more volatile iterative design practices. To approach this wicked problem, more explicit inclusion of wicked problem methodology in design education and more general focus on critical thinking are proposed.