ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO COURSES IN AND OUT COVID-19: Adaptive processes in academic knowledge exchange

Abstract

This paper elaborates on the work of the Growth 2.0 design studio at the Faculty of Architecture in Skopje that, over the years, has built its own methodology around different modalities of collaborations, prompting immediate and direct exchange of knowledge in the learning process. Restrictions in movement and access to other commodities, caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, have shaken every sphere of society, including education as it was inevitably transferred from the physical classroom into online forms of communication. Such a major shift especially reflects architectural education that basically evolves around the very notion of space, spatial practises and physical encounters. History has proven that in times of 'crises' (as the pandemic certainly is), new ways of thinking emerge that further instigate novel and innovative acts and deeds. Nevertheless, education being conceived as an act of continuation by sharing and exchanging knowledge, could not withstand a rapid shift without leaving a rupture in the process. Therefore, this paper shows how pedagogy and methodology changed in the Covid-19 era to adapt the particular circumstances of physical distance and isolation in the framework of the design studio, adjusting design tasks and communication tools as new modes of collaboration.