BENEATH

(Plus, some words of wisdom from deans and professional leaders in Canada and the U.S.)

OUR FEET

As the pandemic was hitting its stride in early 2020, the editorial team of Rice Architecture’s student-run PLAT Journal was busy developing our latest issues, slated for release at the beginning of the summer. We had spent a great deal of time considering the state of architectural education in order to formulate a critical stance in relation to the events unfolding around us. One of our interviewees, the architect Sharon Johnston, left us with a great quote: “If you’re not optimistic as an architect, you’re done.” Eighteen months ago, it was easy to take this kind of optimism as axiomatic — architecture, fundamentally, being a series of considered decisions designed to improve the physical environment around us. Our conclusions, naturally, were critical but hopeful.

By March of 2020 we were caught up in a whirlwind of restrictions that affected each of us differently but profoundly. International students and resident students from outside the Houston area alike had to weigh the risks of staying put or returning home to our families. Rice University — an institution of privilege by any measure — was quick and responsive, making considerable resources available for technological adaptation. But our team and our fellow students still experienced the challenges now familiar to all of us: differing access to Internet and technical resources, crowding at home with family or friends, work instability (including a sudden dearth of available internships), mental health issues stemming from anxiety and isolation, the death of loved ones, and all manner of financial distress. Finally, there were the short-and long-term effects of the virus itself, which one of our team members contracted in the midsummer of 2020.

The gross mishandling of the pandemic in the United States was followed in short