A call to the Class of 2020 for a new League initiative.
The converging and ongoing crises of COVID-19, climate change, radical economic inequality, pervasive racism, and racist violence require that all systems, infrastructures, and institutions, including architecture, space, and cities, be reimagined. This reimagining must include how and to what ends architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design can act in the world. How might members of the class of 2020 reimagine their role as designers and thinkers trained to understand and shape space? What are the questions, what are the issues, and what are the potential approaches to engaging the complexity of these crises?
- How are these converging crises interacting, magnifying each other, and manifesting in the built environment?
- What transformations to our public spaces and cities would produce a healthier, more equitable, and more environmentally viable future?
- What flaws have these crises revealed in existing models of architectural education and practice, and in the definition of clients, projects, and building types?
- How could these models be reimagined?
This workshop, organized by The Architectural League, will bring 2020 graduates in architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design from across the United States together in small online groups to discuss these issues. Each group will meet weekly for conversation over three consecutive weeks to listen to each other, identify critical issues, and develop ideas about what might and should be done.
Call for participants: Interested recent graduates can fill out the registration form at this link, responding to the questions listed: What are the most important issues for the class of 2020 to discuss and reimagine? This is not a competition, and all appropriate submissions to participate will be accepted. Submissions to participate are due on August 24 at 11:59 p.m. EDT. There is no fee to participate.
Format: Assembled into geographically diverse groups, graduates from around the country will meet together (and with academic and professional mentors who are also based in different regions) for weekly Zoom discussions in order to elaborate individual and collective ideas and propositions. Each session will have a specific focus, but also allow for more open-ended development.
Schedule: Weekly Zoom meetings will be held on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. EDT starting in mid-September.
- Aug. 24: Submissions to participate due
- Sept. 16: Workshop 1
- Sept. 23: Workshop 2
- Sept. 30: Workshop 3
- Oct. 7: Roundtable / Town hall
Presentation: Each group will present the outcome of its discussions and its ideas for reimaging a better future in a public town hall presentation. The presentation can take many forms, and the specific approach will be determined by each group. Examples might include a list of a few key ideas, a short manifesto, a specific project or competition proposal, or a proposal for a new design organization. The medium is also to be determined by each group and could include text, graphics, video, drawing, or other forms. The amount of time for each presentation will be determined based on the number of groups.
In addition, the work and presentations will be curated in an exhibition on archleague.org.
Questions? Please contact info@archleague.org.