interesting discussions about these subjects at the architecture offices and to students becoming more involved in the business side of the profession. It can also lead to tension, when offices regard the information that is requested as confidential. But the module is not about factual information, it is about the underlying, universal processes. The students are asked to turn their analyses into a booklet and this often leads to surprising and evocative results, for example beautifully designed planning, process and cooperation graphics. ONLINE PRACTICE MODULE This year, the practice modules had an extra dimension: because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the modules were taught online. This had advantages and disadvantages. One advantage is that supervisors and speakers can operate from home. For busy professionals, this saves a lot of time. A disadvantage is that speakers who give presentations online, especially when they give them to groups of some 50 students, have much less of a connection with their audiences. Despite several attempts to improve this, the inter action between students and speakers remained limited. The lack of interaction seems to be largely due to the size of the group and the relative anonymity of the participants. Apparently, being online enhances the character of a lecture – mainly sending. Online workshops in which smaller groups work with a supervisor do much better. If the size of the group is limited, interaction between students and between students and lecturers is possible. It is not only theoretical learning that is now online at the Academy, but many students also have to complete the other half of the curriculum, gaining professional experience, online. In the context of the practice module Design & Management, we were curious to find out how the different offices and students manage design processes and how students collaborate and communicate with their employers and colleagues on the one hand and with companies, authorities, clients and other relations on the other. To get an idea of this, we asked the students to make short video reports of their working days. This resulted in a beautiful, kaleidoscopic range of cheerful or rather sad, tranquil or energetic and informative or entertaining images. Most students have had to work from home. Some full time and some part time, because they are allowed to come to the office for a number of days. Some have not seen their place of work since the beginning of the crisis. There are also students who started a new challenge online and have not yet had live contact with their employer. Government institutions such as municipalities in particular are fully closed. In their video reports, some students emphasize how they deal with the situation, how they experience it psychologically and how they organize their working day. One student paints a picture of himself getting up, opening the curtains and starting his working day, sighing that there is no longer any distinction between private and professional life. Others imitate the start and end of the working day by a walk or bike ride that replaces the walk or bike ride to work. Yet another bought a rabbit that forces her to go outside every day to look for fresh food. Some work with a laptop in the kitchen, in a bedroom or in the living room; others have a professionally equipped work space at home. Many of the images show the technical solutions employers use to keep in touch with their employees and to manage relationships and processes. In this respect, Microsoft Teams is the most widely used programme by far. One of the students showed an accelerated take of an online working day: almost 100 per cent online consultation and collaboration, both internally and externally. We saw one office that had developed its own digital platform to stimulate and maintain online informal contacts with and between employees. But what is the effect of working online on the quality of the design process? From a practical point of view, working online appears to be efficient. If you need to concentrate and generate, then working from home seems to be the ideal solution. For many different forms of consultation, working online also seems to have advantages. It is easier to get people together, distance does not come into it and meetings takes less time. But there are also disadvantages. As it turns out, working online the entire day is much more tiring. Also, the social aspect of working and informal contacts are largely lacking. This is detrimental
to the wellbeing of many employees and therefore, in the long run, also detrimental to the companies for which they work. Many designers find designing together online an especially challenging task. That is why many offices organize live meetings, subject to the existing Covid-19 limitations. Offices that operate internationally may have an advantage in this respect. They are used to doing a lot online, from a distance, including designing together. It is likely that the Covid-19 pandemic will have a lasting effect on how the design process is managed and how the different stakeholders collaborate. Many offices and designers have discovered new possibilities. They have adapted their facilities to digital processes and online collaboration and they have invested in them. Knowledge of digital infrastructure and software will be increasingly important. It will be fascinating to see which aspects of online working will continue to play a part in the managing of the design process and which aspects will fade away. For our students and our educational system, online working and online education offer opportunities as well. It makes it possible to work and learn from anywhere in the world, provided there is good internet access. Students are currently working from Brazil, Russia, Latvia and other locations. Their necessary physical presence at the Academy in Amsterdam and at work restrict students’ freedom of movement. The new situation provides the Academy’s concurrent education formula, which integrates study and the acquisition of professional experience, with opportunities. It is easier to work or study from anywhere in the Netherlands. It is also easier for students to stay in another country temporarily and broaden their horizons. And it is possible to work abroad online from the Netherlands. Students long for live education, to meet each other again. The feeling of being part of a community is strengthened by physical presence. But a combination of online and live education and the more established possibility of working online offers opportunities for the Academy’s concurrent education model. 1 See avbwerkt.nl. The full External Curriculum including the associated professional qualifications can be downloaded under ‘Menu’ and then ‘Downloads’. An abridged version in the form of the employers’ brochure can also be downloaded here. 2 Alijd van Doorn graduated from Delft University of Technology. She ran her own architecture management office from 2007 to 2017, was assistant professor at Delft University of Technology, freelance writer and teacher at the Rotterdam Academy of Architecture and senior design manager at ABT. She has been director of Heembouw Architecten en Duurzaamheid since 2018; she has been associated with the Academy of Architecture Amsterdam since 2016.
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