I am proud to serve as Director of the School of Architecture at this time in its history. Although I’ve been a faculty member at the School for more than two decades, taking on the Directorship has brought new opportunities and challenges. My ideas for the School build on my deep commitment to architectural research, as well as a sincere dedication to diversity in architectural education.
Research
Because I was educated as both an architect and an historian, my own work thrives on the tensions between architectural and visual-art practices and the production of traditional peer-reviewed, published research. As a teacher I firmly believe that history education offers architects-in-formation a strong platform for learning how to formulate strong positions, solve problems, grapple with ethical dilemmas, communicate clearly and of course read prolifically.
This is one of the ways our School is so unique. McGill’s long tradition of research-based, post-professional education for architects provides a unique environment for all our programs, offering students in a studio-centric curriculum an array of specialized seminars tied to ongoing, funded research projects. My plan is to build the School’s strong research profile through collaboration and dialogue with students, faculty colleagues, other units in the Faculty of Engineering and McGill University, other universities, alumni, and funding agencies. The past six months have seen a good start to this multi-layered plan.
Diversity
In architectural education, diversity means a plurality of approaches to the built environment. My own research embraces ordinary, sometimes nearly invisible building typologies, inspired broadly by a sub-field of architectural history known as Cultural Landscape Studies. While many architectural researchers see buildings and places as reflections of society’s priorities or cultural values, my position is that architecture actually empowers our decisions and situations. Most of my work, in fact, is about how architecture serves as a site of resistance to societal expectations. In simple terms it means that architecture doesn’t just passively illustrate our world, it actively shapes us.
What this might mean for our School is a continuing embrace of an extremely broad-based faculty and student complements, with multiple voices speaking simultaneously. Although we have only twelve faculty members, our expertise ranges from digital fabrication to urban agriculture; from ethics and poetics to affordable housing; from modest vernacular traditions to grand urban plans; from ice structures to Istanbul. As a School we need to recognize that debate, difference, and diversity are what propel us forward. I am particularly delighted that the graduate students have formed a new association this year, GASA, to ensure representation on a number of key committees, and look forward to working closely with student representatives to ensure GASA’s longterm success.
Warm congratulations to all our graduates of 2012. On June 5 at Convocation, 53 students will celebrate the end of their degree programs and move to exciting positions in architectural practice and universities; many will continue their studies with us or at other institutions. We wish them the very best as they depart the Macdonald-Harrington building.
As my first year as Director of the School of Architecture draws to a close, I am particularly proud of our achievements from 2011-12.
We welcomed a Canadian Architectural Certification Board accreditation team to the school for a visit in early March, chaired by Professor Marc Boutin from the University of Calgary. Our preparations for the visit included a school-wide exhibition of student work.
Professor Aaron Sprecher's Laboratory on Integrated Prototyping in Hybrid Environments (LIPHE), funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation, is now operational.
Andrew King continues through June as our Sheff Visiting Professor. Led by King and Francisca Insulza, the DST studio this summer focuses on healthcare design, a subject of great concern to Canadians. King’s work will be the focus of an exhibit in our Exhibition Room in June.
We are pleased to host the 15th International Conference on Geometry and Graphics from August 1 to 5, co-chaired by Professor Aaron Sprecher.
Travel opportunities abound within the school. Thanks to the Wilfred Truman Shaver scholarship, eight lucky students drawn from the undergraduate and professional Masters programs will accompany Professor Ricardo Castro on an architectural tour of Germany in July 2012. Professors Ipek Tureli and Radoslav Zuk are teaching ARCH379 Summer Course Abroad in May 2012, in Venice, with 15 students.
Generous donors, talented students, productive professors, and outstanding opportunities continue to make the school a unique and inspiring place to study architecture.
Prof. Annmarie Adams
17 May 2012