In an effort to gather more information regarding how schools of architecture are adapting to the COVID-19 crisis, Archinect has reached out to a collection of architecture deans and program chairs for specific insight into how each institution is responding to the crisis individually. 

The first installment of a three-part COVID-19-specific Deans List update explored the fast-paced changes that are taking place at these institutions as uncertainty and rapid-response approaches become a matter of daily life. For the second installment of this series, we asked architecture directors to convey cover how COVID-19 has impacted traditional end-of-the-year activities like final reviews, thesis exhibitions, and other events. Part three will focus on the potential long-term impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on architectural education.

Iñaki Alday, Dean & Koch Chair in Architecture, Tulane University School of Architecture

Students will exhibit their work taking as much space as needed, probably in the digitally recreated spaces of our building. Now we have about 200 review rooms and main lobbies available!

We will have presentations and discussions through Zoom, with easy mobility from ‘room to room’, but we have also found that the tightness of space will not be an issue anymore. Students will exhibit their work taking as much space as needed, probably in the digitally recreated spaces of our building. Now we have about 200 review rooms and main lobbies available!

It is absolutely true, though, that the sense of loss is unsolvable. Our physical environment -the light, smell, sounds and intensity of Tulane campus and of New Orleans- together with the extraordinarily warmth and spontaneity of human relations of this northern tip of the Caribbean, have no easy digital translation. For our graduating students, we are planning a historic comeback after travel restrictions are raised. As Katrina did, we have no question about how this crisis will strengthen the bonds among students and of them with the faculty.

Ivan Bernal, Director of the Architecture and Urban Design Programs, College of Architecture and Environmental Design, Kent State University 

We are holding reviews in two different modalities [...] The goal is to offer more extended periods for classmates, critics, and professors to provide comments about the work.

Like many other schools, we had to postpone some of our Spring and Summer activities, including exhibitions, and the last leg of our lecture series because of the travel restrictions. We are looking forward to bringing these events back soon. As far as our final reviews, we are holding reviews in two different modalities; one is live Zoom presentations with invited critics to offer the students and professors the feedback and experience they have experienced before. These presentations are fantastic but take a very linear way of explaining the projects, so we also incorporated a competition format where students are submitting boards in advance to be shared with the reviewers and faculty. The goal is to offer more extended periods for classmates, critics, and professors to provide comments about the work. We feel the combination of these two approaches is going to be beneficial when dealing with the challenges of working in a virtual environment.

Lesley Lokko, Dean, Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture, City College of New York (CCNY)

In the Time of COVID, our year-end summer show, will be held on May 27th as a global event. We have a team of students, faculty, and staff working with collaborators in South Africa to put on an online exhibition, video and after-show Zoom party.

In the Time of COVID, our year-end summer show, will be held on May 27th as a global event (Zoom invitations to follow). We have a team of students, faculty, and staff working with collaborators in South Africa to put on an online exhibition, video and after-show Zoom party. It's proving to be a great lesson in how to collaborate across a scale of distances — time zones, cultures, geographies — on the one hand, but it's also provided students with an insight into how history is made, project by project, critique by critique, essay by essay. To be part of something that everyone is experiencing, all around the globe, from world leaders to frontline workers, is unprecedented. Michael Sorkin's tragic death brought the crisis home to Spitzer in a visceral, shocking way. I've been both humbled and surprised by the number of students who have come forward to take part in the planning and organising of the summer ”show,” recognising as he would have, that their voices are always ”in the work.” The work is the voice. 

Brian L. McLaren, PhD, Associate Professor and Chair, University of Washington Department of Architecture

we are creating Zoom discussion panels (as opposed to a single person presenting their work) to make things more interactive.

All of these are being done using Zoom or other platforms. One of the advantages of this has been the ability to bring in reviewers from across the country. We are still working on alternatives for our lecture series and final exhibition. For the lecture series, we are again trying to make something that takes advantage of the format, so we are creating Zoom discussion panels (as opposed to a single person presenting their work) to make things more interactive. We may do something similar for our end-of-year show in June. 

Rahul Mehrotra, Dean Designate, Harvard Graduate School of Design

when you see 300 people from every corner of the globe show up for a lecture, you start to wonder how many other opportunities there may be to open-up or universalize digital discourse and learning. 

We want to ensure that, despite these headwinds, we present a true capstone experience for our students, especially for those graduating, while also finding ways to maintain intellectual dialogue and rigor and share that with the design world at large. We moved a series of our spring term’s public events online, and we’ve been thrilled and encouraged by the outcome: midday lectures that traditionally might pull a few dozen people in the thick of the academic year are now garnering hundreds of viewers from around the world. On the surface, this is a remarkable outcome; in maintaining our commitment to design discourse through these lectures and events, we’ve been made more aware of how broad and generous the design world is, and how so many of us remain eager for dialogue and community. This outcome, too, tugs at questions of how we can further use the digital environment to broaden and deepen design discourse at large—when you see 300 people from every corner of the globe show up for a lecture, you start to wonder how many other opportunities there may be to open-up or universalize digital discourse and learning. 

Plans for our upcoming final reviews are being informed by our experiences over the last few weeks, but despite these insights, we are nevertheless challenged by how to calibrate the protocols for this “new normal” condition. Some considerations involve the number of reviews we conduct each day and the the number of reviewers we involve, as well as the extent of the reviews’ publicness. Similarly, we are working to move our customary year-end Commencement Exhibition to a digital format. This exhibition is one of the most wonderful moments of the GSD’s academic year, a wide-lens perspective on the range and depth of design work that our students have accomplished. I am enthusiastic about our school’s ability to creatively and thoughtfully translate this experience into the digital world—in and of itself, this is a fascinating exercise in design representation.

David Mohney, Dean, Michael Graves College, Kean University and Wenzhou-Kean University

At this point I expect there will be an increased number of critics rotating through final juries, so that the screen-time will not overwhelm the jurors.

We will conduct year-end reviews online. At this point I expect there will be an increased number of critics rotating through final juries, so that the screen-time will not overwhelm the jurors. We have continued with our lecture series and a conference online this semester, and even held a Friday afternoon pajama party for our students to expand the social space available to them online.

For now, students are certainly worried about their work prospects. Summer jobs seem few and far between. Our upcoming 6-month fellowships scheduled to start in June remain either unresolved, on-hold, or simply cancelled. This recession (depression) is going to affect an entire generation of graduating students in ways we have not as yet ascertained. 

Stephen Philips, Director, Cal Poly LA Metro, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

As we are on the quarter system, our adjustment period is probably a bit different from other universities. Spring quarter final reviews, thesis exhibitions, and other culminating events on the main campus will be taking place, I believe, online in early- to mid-June; there is still ample time ahead before those happen. For us, the COVID-19 crises hit hard right before our spring break began (i.e. the end of the winter quarter). This created a challenge to quickly move final exams online, but also afforded us spring break to make the many adjustments necessary for returning to the spring quarter. The university most specifically extended spring break an extra week to assist the entire campus make that adjustment.  

So, as it appears, our Cal Poly LA Metro students are experiencing the potential recessionary effects on the profession immediately and first hand. In part, this is arguably good for them to observe – there will always be recessions (depressions) and it is beneficial to learn from these types of experiences. Architecture has never been an easy profession to negotiate during difficult times; one has to develop a long- and short-term plan for our bust and boom industry. For now, students are certainly worried about their work prospects. Summer jobs seem few and far between. Our upcoming 6-month fellowships scheduled to start in June remain either unresolved, on-hold, or simply cancelled. This recession (depression) is going to affect an entire generation of graduating students in ways we have not as yet ascertained. 

A lot has happened very quickly which we are still learning to adjust. Our students who stayed in Los Angeles presently do not have access to our downtown campus facilities. They do have permission to move studio tables and chairs to their apartments, however, so that they can work in ergonomic set-ups at home. Additionally, as we are already a remote campus – most students have their own 3D-printers which they are also using at home. As Alvin Huang of SDA is one of our internship firms, our students were instantly recruited alongside their individual 3d printers to work with Alvin on Operation PPE – producing face guards and masks for healthcare professionals. Being part of something morally valuable really proved important for keeping up student morale during the immediate shock of this COVID-19 crises. We definitely have Alvin Huang to thank for his ethical leadership. 

For our part at Cal Poly LA Metro, it became very clear that keeping up student morale was going to be very important. College students found themselves isolated from each other and their families -- alone and facing intense life/career uncertainty. As such, we quickly decided to reinvent our postponed lecture series rather than cancel it altogether. We translated it into a series of Zoom webinar events which we have been broadcasting online since the beginning of April. Our upcoming events are scheduled every Thursday 4pm PST -- French 2d, Lydia Kallipoliti, Paul Lewis, Winka Dubbledam, Michael Meredith and Hilary Sample, Mark Foster Gage, Ariel Noyman, Dana Cuff, and John May and Zeina Koreitem are all joining us over the weeks ahead to discuss their work in light of changes occurring in contemporary society and the design field in general. Lydia Kallipoliti’s recent webinar lecture on her most prescient book -- The Architecture of Closed Worlds (Lars Müller Press, 2018) -- clearly proved very fitting. Our final panel event – “Aftermath” -- will be led by Frances Anderton of KCRW’s DnA alongside myself to close out the series, hopefully with some needed critical distance, optimism, and hope for the future.  

Dan Pitera, Dean, University of Detroit Mercy School of Architecture

Given that our graduation ceremony has been postponed, we will be holding a Virtual Awards Ceremony for the graduating students in May.

Although we have been physically distant, we have tried to creatively design the few traditional end-of-the-year events that would keep us socially connected digitally. We have hosted Virtual School of Architecture (SOA) Town Halls for all students, faculty and staff. We have held a Virtual Happy Hour for the Graduate students to celebrate the completion of their final thesis presentations. Given that our graduation ceremony has been postponed, we will be holding a Virtual Awards Ceremony for the graduating students in May. The Deans’ office has hosted Virtual Happy Hours for faculty and staff.

As I am writing this response, today was the last day of our Virtual Final Reviews. To celebrate, we hosted a Virtual SOA Toast for all student, faculty, staff, families and guests.

From a different perspective, I think we can all say that it was not just the big events that were dislocated, the day-to-day activities were destabilized as well. With this in mind, I put a challenge out to the students:  I would like to remind everyone and to emphasize that there are real stress and pressures created by shifting work in the way we all have been forced to do in such a short period of time. On top of this situation, we are now entering the last two weeks of studio, which has its natural stressors already built in to them. First, let me assure you, the faculty, Noah and I are here, if you need to chat. 

Second, here is a challenge for all of you... I truly dislike the term “social distancing.” Just because we have been forced to be physically distant, does not mean that we have to be socially distant. Be creative. Do a video call with each other while you are working… Virtual tag team… Digital scavenger hunt… Live stream one of you playing the guitar or other instrument. You do this late at night when you are physically in studio. (You know who you are.) Let’s do it virtually now. (If you do a mini concert, please let me know.) This might make things a little more interesting, tolerable and even social.

Monica Ponce de Leon, Princeton School of Architecture

for our Master Thesis Students last Friday we had a Science fair style review where critics can move fluidly from student to student.

We have been testing many platforms to find the best fits for the studio review format. For example, for our Master Thesis Students last Friday we had a Science fair style review where critics can move fluidly from student to student. Also, the post-professional program which usually has an exhibition in New York City, is getting the opportunity to display their work through a dedicated website which will be launched on April 30. 

Heather Roberge, Department Chair, UCLA AUD, School of the Arts and Architecture, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

We had planned an exciting lineup of public programs, which we’ve transformed to an online lecture series with guests including SFMOMA’s Jennifer Dunlop Fletcher, architects Tatiana Bilbao, Ignacio G. Galan, and Tei Carpenter, and historian David Gissen.

The Spring Quarter is one of the most exciting times at UCLA AUD. It’s the final quarter for our graduating M.Arch., post-professional M.Arch.II and undergraduate students, and the build-up to our end-of-year exhibition. We had planned an exciting lineup of public programs, which we’ve transformed to an online lecture series with guests including SFMOMA’s Jennifer Dunlop Fletcher, architects Tatiana Bilbao, Ignacio G. Galan, and Tei Carpenter, and historian David Gissen. We’re in the process of planning our end-of-year event which will include online design reviews, conversations, and a symposium. We’re looking forward to engaging people who wouldn’t have seen the work in the past, but who can now contribute to the conversation through today’s alternate formats.

Jeff Schnabel, Director, Director, School of Architecture at Portland State University (PSU)

[Our] reviews often resemble open houses, where the community is invited to engage with our projects that have taken on a provocative condition in the city. Our challenge this year is to get the work in front of the larger community and get their reactions to the work back to the students.

We have not had external reviews yet, but the Portland design community and the Oregon AIA are already reaching out to us offering to help in any way they can. It appears that we will not have any shortage of external on-line reviewers, so the critique aspect to reviews should be just fine. But, our reviews are typically more than just critiques of student work. The mission of Portland State University and the School of Architecture is to "Let Knowledge Serve the City".  Reviews often resemble open houses, where the community is invited to engage with our projects that have taken on a provocative condition in the city. Our challenge this year is to get the work in front of the larger community and get their reactions to the work back to the students. For our thesis projects, the plan is to do an exhibition / celebration of the work in the Fall.  Students have so much to learn from the work of others, so the next challenge is to collect individual work and package it so that it is accessible to all the other students in the program. We are typically rigorous about archiving, so digital dissemination of the work will be our heavy lift. We have an Exhibitions Committee that I will charge with this task.

Heather Woofter, Director, College of Architecture and Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design, Sam Fox School of Visual Arts, Washington University in Saint Louis 

We are planning a multi-day celebration for our students, including graduation speakers, a time for students, parents, and faculty to meet, and commencement events designed for multiple time zones.

Like so much of academic life, end-of-year activities have largely moved online. Faculty are working to ensure that students receive critical feedback and recognition, and the students themselves are embracing the challenge with grace and good humor. This spring, our Graduate Architecture Council has organized social events, fundraisers, quarantine care packages, and even an online formal.

There’s no denying that spring without in-person commencement ceremonies is a melancholy season. But we’re doing our best to find ways to celebrate students, both individually and collectively, throughout Commencement week. We are planning a multi-day celebration for our students, including graduation speakers, a time for students, parents, and faculty to meet, and commencement events designed for multiple time zones. The Class of 2020 faced hurdles and challenges, unlike any in recent memory. They moved through these challenges with generosity and engagement. Their spirit deserves this time of honor and togetherness.