4 August 2020
Architecture schools are gearing up to teach in a new way – when they eventually reopen their doors
It may nominally be the summer holidays but staff at architecture schools across the UK are busier than ever preparing for the start of a very different academic year in September.
With the UK still gripped by social distancing rules designed to control the spread of Covid-19, universities are in the midst of rejigging their plans for 2020-21.
‘We had [next year] pinned down last Christmas,’ says Tom Ebdon, architecture course leader at Falmouth University in Cornwall. ‘We would have been working on the following year at this stage; but instead we’re re-working how to deliver safely in September.’
Think of university freshers and the first image that comes to mind probably doesn’t involve hand sanitiser, face masks and strict gaps between people. Consider the best way to learn about architecture and you most likely won’t come up with a series of online videos.
But Ebdon says staff and students are rising to the challenges thrown in their way by the global pandemic.
‘We are trying to use this as an opportunity to improve,’ he says. ‘There is a lot of logistical work we didn’t plan for but it gives us the chance to reflect on the way our established teaching patterns can be improved.’
In line with most universities, Falmouth’s campus was closed immediately when the lockdown was announced on 23 March.
‘We’ve been testing online teaching since then,’ says Ebdon. ‘It has been a fast learning curve and we’ve learned a lot about what works well.’
Gone then – for now at least – are the days of having to choose between an early morning lecture or an extra hour in bed to get over intoxicating discussions of form and function the night before.
‘We have seen the benefit of recording content. The previous approach was to say there’s a lecture at 9am on Tuesday – be there or miss it. Now students can pick it up that afternoon when they may be in a better frame of mind to engage.’
But Ebdon is under no illusion that architecture can be solely taught remotely.
‘Studio culture is fundamental and that must be embedded into the course,’ he says. ‘Students learn as much from each other as from the tutors.’
Working out how to allow this culture to evolve has been complicated by the ever-changing rules of the lockdown.
Ebdon describes government advice as ‘woeful, contradictory and deeply confusing’ adding that it will ‘no doubt change again before September’.
For now, Falmouth intends to enforce 2m distances between students, reducing group sizes from 30 to six to allow them to work safely within the studio.
‘There is a lot to consider – toilet and tea breaks, changeover times – there is a massive workload to convert our pinned-down timetable to this new world.’
Forming ‘bubbles’ of people who can work more closely together was considered but dismissed as unworkable.
‘There will be students who live together but policing that is very difficult. Our approach will be that anyone on university premises will stick to university guidance, which at the moment is staying 2m apart.’
Despite all the uncertainty and radical changes, Ebdon is happy that the school will be ready to serve students in a couple of months’ time.
‘I am 100 per cent confident we will deliver a degree-quality course, and in fact I think there will be a number of improvements to student experience,’ he says.
Some 400km north of Falmouth, Lee Ivett, architecture course leader at the University of Central Lancashire, is also busy thinking about how to maximise the effectiveness of blended online and in-person learning.
The architecture course taught in Preston is nine years old and takes roughly 40 students each year.
‘When we went into lockdown, we moved teaching online – and the first years struggled a bit,’ says Ivett. ‘We had spent all year telling them to draw by hand and discouraging them from moving to digital ways of working. Then all of a sudden we were telling them to hurry up and learn!’
A concern that incoming students could miss out on fundamental collaboration and drawing skills is a key factor driving decisions about how the school will set up next year.
‘If we have students going to hairdressers, shops and pubs, it doesn’t make sense for us to say they can’t come to uni,’ says Ivett. ‘All government hygiene and social distancing guidelines will be adhered to but we will have the campus accessible, and we will make essential facilities available.
‘We are looking at whether we weight the studio-based leaning in favour of first years and foundation years. Do we have two in-person days per week in Year 1 and only one in Year 3?’
If a team of architects can’t design their way out of this problem then there is an issue
Other logistical challenges are being addressed by the school as it works to get facilities up and running by September.
‘We might not be able to have all 40 people in a year in a studio at once. We may form tutorial bubbles of four or five who all get seen at the same time each week; we might have a dedicated face-to-face tutorial space we can clean between each student.’
He is sure that a workable set of solutions can be found, however.
‘If a team of architects can’t design their way out of this problem then there is an issue. If we can’t rethink our spaces then what are we doing? The pandemic opens up all sorts of interesting questions and our starting point for answering them should be our own studios.’
Remote learning will be used to supplement the physical interactive sessions. But Ivett is keen for this to improve the school’s offering rather than simply maintain it.
‘We should be using the lessons we have learned [about remote learning] to expand our horizons.’
This could mean input from far further afield than usual, and more interaction with the course’s sister school in Hong Kong, for example.
Meanwhile those students who can’t get to Preston will also be supported.
‘Everyone’s circumstances will be different and there will be some students with roles as carers or key workers. I will provide them all the equipment they would have access to on the campus. I will send them a drawing board and a laptop to their home if I need to.’
While some school leavers may be unable or unwilling to travel across the UK to study during the pandemic, others may be seeking the solace of a bolt hole.
Des Fagan, head of architecture at the new Lancaster School of Architecture, believes its location between the Forest of Bowland and the Lake District could play to its advantage.
‘We are in quite a secluded location,’ he says. ‘The studio is in a woodland with a moat filled with ducks. The campus is pretty self-contained.
‘We’ve been telling applicants it is a good place to come to escape from the city and crowds – a place to study in peace. We see minimal impact from the virus.’
The school has calculated that its inaugural intake of 35 students will all fit in its large studio even with 2m spacing. And being so new, it is still in a position to design its space and teaching around the pandemic.
‘We are still in the process of ordering our furniture so we’ve selected it on the basis of the guidance. We will have boards in front of each desk, for example.’
While the studio will be tailor made as a safe learning hub, lectures will move online.
Fagan says incoming students are ‘incredibly excited’ and ‘can’t wait to get out of their houses’.
With no 2019/20 academic year to complete online, staff have been dedicated to prepping for the forthcoming term – and have spread their learnings into the local economy, creating a social distancing lab to showcase how to make spaces work in the current environment.
Over the Pennines, Carl Meddings, principal lecturer and architecture subject leader at the University of Huddersfield, says the pandemic has sped up evolution into new ways of working.
‘It has been interesting as there is always a bit of inertia against change but when it’s forced upon you – as architects – we respond,’ he says. ‘Everyone has been very positive.’
The Yorkshire school will turn over its large studio to one year group at a time.
There will be a one-way system like shopping in the supermarket
‘We are on the third floor so there will be a staircase up, a one-way system like shopping in the supermarket, follow the arrows, stay 2m apart, another staircase down, and the same with lifts.’
Technology can help both outside and within the studio, he says.
‘We moved into a new building in September and we have good infrastructure. We have six plasma screens around the studio so we can beam from phones and laptops to these. We also have a microphone system and desktop computers.
‘Seminars may take place in studio space. We can also do them online, we’ll be using Microsoft Teams, which is a very flexible platform to allow students to collaborate.’
Meddings stresses that student conversations are critical to successful learning however.
‘The big thing missing [since March] is social interaction of students in the studio,’ he says. ‘We’ve tried to get it happening through Zoom meetings but it’s not the same, there aren’t those vital inbetween conversations. We need to get social interaction working in September.’
In June, Universities UK published a set of high-level principles and supporting information for universities to consider as they emerge from lockdown.
President of the representative body Julia Buckingham said: ‘UK universities will be open and ready to teach and support students at the start of the new academic year.
‘New and returning students can be confident their universities will be providing high-quality, accessible and engaging teaching and learning this autumn; and can look forward to a positive student experience and wide-ranging support.’
National Union of Students vice-president Claire Sosienski Smith said in June: ‘We welcome measures that prioritise students’ safety.
‘It is important that universities do not try to carry on with business-as-usual and do not attempt to bring students and staff back onto campuses too early.’
She added: ‘The government needs to move quickly to work with the higher education sector to ensure that all students are able to receive quality education next year and have the resources they need to engage with online learning.’
Architects Registration Board (ARB) head of qualifications and governance Emma Mathew said in July: ‘Our focus during this time is on ensuring every prescribed qualification continues to provide a sufficient basis for registration as a UK architect.
‘We reached out to those heads of architecture involved in delivering ARB-prescribed qualifications in March. We are also in regular contact with the Standing Conference of Heads of Schools of Architecture so we understand the impact and challenges they are facing as a result of the pandemic.
‘We are using this information to inform our immediate and longer term approach to the prescription of qualifications. This has included streamlining ARB decision making where possible and appropriate.’
RIBA director of education David Gloster said in July: ‘As part of our commitment to ensure that academic standards are maintained, we are in contact with UK schools of architecture to understand and evaluate any changes to their assessment and teaching procedures.
‘Clearly universities are required to follow government guidance and to ensure any return to campus is as safe as possible. We encourage any RIBA student member with concerns to contact their university or the RIBA for support.’
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AJ 8th April. If a thing’s worth saying…… Architecture has an unequivocal social aspect, it can not be taught by rote ( nor remotely). The subject demands critical engagement, one to one tutor teaching, group and peer review and collective participation. That’s how students in architecture learn and that’s why I insist my students work together in the studio. Only so much can be gathered from
limited interaction and through remote learning.
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