Archinect - Features

Schools Turn to Design Professionals as the Pandemic Mandates Collaboration With Long-Term Impacts

2021-05-21T08:23:00-04:00

As many Americans adjust to life at home, exploring backyard yoga classes and telecommuting to work while their children flitter through the background disrupting Zoom meetings, the schools responsible for those children are likewise adapting to the constraints and demands of in-person instruction. In the midst of a pandemic that has fundamentally altered the physical spaces for learning a generation of students is coming to view as a “new normal,” the architecture of education echoes many changes the rest of society has undertaken since the crisis began last March.

Balancing Studio With Other Classes

2019-10-21T10:00:00-04:00

In architecture school, everything takes second place to studio. It’s an unwritten rule: you do whatever it takes to have a great studio project, and if your other classes fall by the wayside, then so be it. Is this a well-placed tendency? Perhaps it depends on what we believe architecture school is here for: to make us great designers, or maybe to accurately prepare us to be a professional. In any case, should studio reign over our other studies? Is our propensity to prioritize it over everything else warranted? Or is there a bigger picture to understand?

What the Broke Architecture Student Can Learn From the Work of Glenn Murcutt

2019-08-06T09:00:00-04:00

Architecture school can be a rewarding and overwhelming experience. The long hours, harsh criticisms, and competition amongst peers are only a few factors the student faces daily. And, of course, there’s the question of the material costs that come along with model building, 3D printing, software, computers, and the pile of other commodities one must acquire during their time in school. Of course, there are those students who are fortunate enough to have the funds needed to do as they desire during their academic progression. But, there are also those who can hardly afford to buy a few sheets of material. Do they just take out a loan to keep up with the more well-off students? What if their professors expect them to use an expensive material and they do not have the means to obtain them?

How do you view architecture school when you’re broke?

Showcase: Garden School / Beijing No.4 High School Fangshan Campus by OPEN Architecture

2014-11-14T19:41:00-05:00

Taking cues from the urban and pastoral, Beijing No. 4 High School (aka Garden School) strives not only to model elite Chinese public education, but also to also drive development in its relatively new town of Fangshan.

ShowCase: Vienna University Buildings by CRAB Studio

2013-11-14T20:12:00-05:00

ShowCase is an on-going feature series on Archinect, presenting exciting new work from designers representing all creative fields and all geographies.

We are always accepting nominations for upcoming ShowCase features - if you would like to suggest a project, please send us a message.

ShowCase: Folkwang Library by Max Dudler

2012-12-07T17:44:00-05:00

ShowCase is an on-going feature series on Archinect, presenting exciting new work from designers representing all creative fields and all geographies.

We are always accepting nominations for upcoming ShowCase features - if you would like to suggest a project, please send us a message.

ShowCase: Stelzhamerschule Linz

2012-10-01T19:39:00-04:00

ShowCase is an on-going feature series on Archinect, presenting exciting new work from designers representing all creative fields and all geographies.

We are always accepting nominations for upcoming ShowCase features - if you would like to suggest a project, please send us a message.

Student Works: PERFORMA_12

2012-08-21T13:56:00-04:00

The PERFORMA Studio at the University of Kentucky College of Design is an intensive research and fabrication studio run by professor Mike McKay.

NEXT SERIES: ARCHITECTURE JURY, A Factual and Fictional Manual

2011-05-31T16:53:46-04:00

To spectators, the architecture jury critics might mean deities if they don't know they are not. In fact, some students know this but it is a best kept secret so they can stand back and watch the divine comedy folding out on the first rows of their presentation. Not all students take criticism personally although it is hard not to.

Most architecture schools are the continuation of the traditional model, design studios taught by people who are, if you say so, spatial experts. In general, architecture education is defined by how to draw and produce space. Most people in the world can say something about buildings. Naturally, architects use a unique vocabulary to control and develop their craft.

I was asked if I would write a piece on architectural juries. After thinking about it for a few hours I came up with this idea of subjectively stereotyping the people who sit in front of the presentations and say 'wise' things about student projects. I hope this will help the audience and...

A Conversation with Michael Woo

2011-04-07T20:02:59-04:00

By Orhan Ayyüce

Michael Woo is the dean of California Polytechnic University, Pomona the College of Environmental Design which contains departments of Architecture, Art, Landscape Architecture, Urban and Regional Planning, and the John T. Lyle Center for Regenerative Studies. He is a familiar name in Southern California. Mr. Woo has served in Los Angeles City Council and ran for the mayor's office in 1993 as the Democratic candidate, losing by a small margin to Republican candidate and businessman Richard Riordan. A planner by education, Mr. Woo is a unique dean for a design school with the background of an established politician and, to a degree, an environmental activist. I sat down with him last December in his office and had this conversation.