At the end of each term, students, faculty, guest critics and members of the community participate in the U-SoA Annual Final Review, a tradition that has long defined architectural education in North America. The Annual Final Review is a key component of U-SoA’s pedagogy and its emphasis on experiential learning. It offers opportunities for students to exercise their communication and presentation skills while interacting with leaders in the fields. The public setting and engagement with the community also tests the relevance of the issues we tackle with our students and showcases the diverse ways in which we engage them.
We customarily hold the reviews at the School or off-campus, at a prominent venue in the city that is accessible to the public, so as to engage the larger community in this annual ritual. Given the extraordinary circumstances of the global COVID-19 pandemic this year, the reviews are held online, in virtual jury rooms that are accessible to our community and viewers around the world through a dedicated website: arc.miami.edu/final-reviews2020.
We will surely miss seeing the student work literally filling the room and some of the excitement of being present with jury members, students, and faculty for their thrilling and insightful exchanges. We will however gain from the virtual platform in potentially reaching a larger community and in compelling students to explore and learn more form ever expanding digital environments and resources.
We look forward to future Annual Final Reviews as live and present events in UM’s and Miami’s cherished venues. But the precious lessons learned and new media adopted form this Spring 2020 editions will no doubt stay with us to transform, enhance, and amplify the juried review format as we know it.
We owe much respect and gratitude to faculty, staff, and students who transitioned swiftly and seamlessly to digital platforms to enable remote learning without comprising quality. The fact that we can hold the event virtually to recognize this body of student work and assess its contribution to the field is entirely due to their dedication, resourcefulness and ingenuity.
Rodolphe el-Khoury, Dean
For edits and/or updates, email ivonne@miami.edu.
