Archinect - News

Boston Architectural College launches software access portal for remote learning students

2020-08-27T12:44:00-04:00

Boston Architectural College (BAC) has launched a new online access portal called BAC Cloud Canopy for its remote learning community.

The online platform is designed, according to an announcement, to provide "virtual touch points" for "the disenfranchised, the marginalized, the inconvenienced, and unconventional students wherever they live in the world."

Previously on Archinect: Earning an M.Arch Online: Learning from Karen Nelson, Dean of Boston Architectural College. Karen Nelson, Dean of Boston Architectural College. Image courtesy of BAC.

The platform includes access to many digital design tools, including Autodesk Revit, Rhino, Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Office, and others, and is geared toward expanding the availability of production software for students who cannot access the school's computer labs.

A statement on the school's website explains: "At the BAC, we believe distance learning shouldn't mean sacrificing a quality education. As a leader in making design educatio...

Florida International University launches DDes doctoral program

2020-08-03T14:39:00-04:00

Florida International University (FIU) has launched a new Doctor of Design (DDes) degree program that aims to "prepare architects for global leadership careers in design investigation, industry, applied research and related emerging technology fields."

The program is set to begin during the Spring 2021 semester and will be housed within FIU’s Department of Architecture, which is itself located within the school's College of Communication, Architecture + The Arts. According to FIU, the new degree is one of only five post-professional DDes programs nationwide. The program will be led by FIU Professor Neil Leach.

“FIU’s climb as one of the nation’s top research universities is fueled by programs of the future such as this new Doctor of Design that involves experiential learning leveraging state-of-the-art technology,” said FIU Provost and Executive Vice President Kenneth G. Furton. “We expect that graduates of this program will reach the highest levels of their profession and contribut...

Universities prevail, foreign students will be able to learn remotely in the US this fall

2020-07-14T15:39:00-04:00

The Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have agreed to rescind a policy that would bar international students taking online-only courses from residing in the United States, federal judge Allison D. Burroughs announced at a hearing on Tuesday. ICE will revert back to the guidance it issued in March that allows students taking online courses to reside in the United States on F-1 visas.

The Harvard Crimson reports that Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California, and hundreds of other higher education institutions have successfully beaten back a draconian initiative proposed by the United States Department of Homeland Security that would have barred foreign students from remaining in residence in the United States while learning remotely.

Making+Meaning 2020 invites students from around the globe to discover design

2020-05-28T12:00:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by SCI-Arc, an Archinect School Partner

SCI-Arc has announced that its summer program Making+Meaning will be held online this year. Now open to applicants all around the world, students from across the US, Asia, Europe, and beyond will convene to delve deeply into the most cutting-edge techniques and processes advancing design and architecture today. Making+Meaning is a discovery career program for students that may or may not have any experience in architecture, or want to refine their own technical skillsets or design abilities.

Unlike previous iterations, the program will be divided into two modules, each two weeks long, during which participants will develop interactive content for a design portfolio, all while cultivating a creative community through the exploration of architecture. Upon finishing the program, students will present their design work and receive feedback from renowned architects and design professionals.

Image courtesy of SCI-Arc

For ov...

Elevate your Zoom meeting game with these virtual backgrounds from architectural photographers

2020-05-19T13:51:00-04:00

Since the sudden transition to working from home and remote learning/teaching earlier this year, online gatherings via Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or Google Meet have become standard business routine for most of us.

But what about some privacy? Not having to share the interior of your own residence (including that unsightly pile of unfolded laundry in the corner) with everyone? How about some custom — and architectural, of course — backgrounds for your online meeting tool of choice?

Do we have news for you.

In our recent roundup of interviews with architectural photographers, How the Pandemic Is Impacting Architectural Photography, we learned more about their pandemic coping strategies and also generously received images that Archinect's readers are free to use as backdrops.

Marc Goodwin (UK)

"I don't know whether all of my shoots planned this year have just been postponed or are now completely washed away. I suppose my clients are in a similar situation, as are most photographers."

3-S...

U Penn students control robots remotely to complete semester work

2020-05-12T16:28:00-04:00

At the University of Pennsylvania Weitzman School of Design, students taking part in a Graduate Architecture Program seminar developed by U Penn Professor Ezio Blasetti have found a way to complete work fabricating design projects despite not being able to physically access the school's fabrication facilities.

As part of Blasetti's Computational Composite Form Computational Design & Carbon Fiber Robotic fabrication seminar, faculty and students were able to control digital fabrication robots in the school's new Advanced Research & Innovation Lab remotely through a suite of remote access tools provided by Dropbox.

U Penn Professor Ezio Blasetti controlling fabrication robots in his studio. Image courtesy of the Weitzman School of Design.

According to the school, "This quick adaptation may signal new ways that universities will need to reimagine learning experiences. With the shape of the fall 2020 semester deeply uncertain, universities may be turning to similar structures to meet s...

California's Quattrocchi Kwok Architects helps bring broadband internet to rural students amid COVID-19

2020-05-05T12:36:00-04:00

When Santa Rosa-based Quattrocchi Kwok Architects (QKA) heard a local call to action to help economically disadvantaged schools in Sonoma County facilitate distance learning, they answered the call. Due to COVID-19 many of the underprivileged students in the area lacked the basic resources needed to continue their education online.

QKA has so far provided 60 Wifi hotspots to families without internet access, 350 reams of copy paper, and monetary contributions to the Roseland Public School's Family Relief Fund to help feed families in need. The firm specializes in education design and co-founder and Principal Mark Quattrocchi, FAIA, personally reached out to school across Sonoma County and Lake County to see how he could help.

"Listening to their stories of material shortages is heart-wrenching, as we see up close the uneven playing field these disadvantaged schools experience — from no laptops, to laptops but no Wi-Fi, and to Wi-Fi “hotspots” but no cell coverage," Quattrocchi wrot...