Letter from Dean Emeritus Lykoudis

Dean Emeritus Michael Lykoudis

Letters to the Students of the Notre Dame School of Architecture

Dear Students,

The editors of the new publication, Stoa, have asked me to say a few words to the students of our School. As I reflect on the past 18 years as head of the School and many more as a member of its faculty and administration, it seems that as things seem to change, many things--namely issues of character--remain the same through time and place. No matter what our challenges, no matter what our new horizons, the basics remain simple. Courage, persistence, hard work and goodness towards all, will make the world a better place, and provide the best chance for your individual and collective success.

The current culture of selfishness, intolerance, consumption and waste has imprisoned our world in a multitude of conflicts where resolution seems ever more distant and the stakes are ever so much higher than in any other time. To break out of this cycle, perhaps it is better that we think of our careers as campaigns to make the world habitable, meaningful, just, peaceful and beautiful through our daily lives and our vocations. Perhaps through these struggles we may return to being, once again, a truly free people.

This is the subject of my talk, delivered to the class of 2020 during this year’s graduating student award and recognition event. While it was written for them, I hope that all of you might find it useful as you begin to chart the course of your lives: These are historical times. During spring break the world turned on its head and we were all faced with tremendous uncertainty. Most of you were away from your projects and the logistics of returning to campus and taking on finishing your thesis were daunting. The faculty were also faced with a tremendous shift in how they were going to teach their classes and finish the semester. The University extended the spring break, our IT team developed a virtual desktop and despite a few bumps and scrapes, the School was online within a few days of classes beginning.

During the past 8 weeks we have talked in many a Zoom meeting like this one. One of the major points of our discussion was that you would have to reach down to where you never imagined and raise the strength and courage to not only persevere, but to excel with limited resources and uncertainty at almost every level. Some of you returned home on the other side of the planet separated from your classmates and classes by many time zones. Others of you returned home in the continental US not having your supplies or your books and drawings. Still others did not know how you would eventually get home.

The thesis reviews this year were a test for all of us, but primarily for you. Your expectations and aspirations for your work did not lessen because of the crisis. As the week of reviews unfolded, that you did not lower the proverbial bar became abundantly clear. You used the limitations imposed on you to do even better than you would have done otherwise. Every project had a clear parti. Every project had a layered development of composition at the level of plan, section, elevation, etc.. Every project was well rendered. I think that after teaching here for nearly 30 years, I have never seen such consistency in a class and such solid design work.

You should be very proud of your accomplishment and know that this is what happens when one reaches for that strength and confidence that they did not know they had. It is in times of uncertainty and challenge that we discover the most about ourselves and our abilities. I wish I could say that this was the worst that you would have to endure in your life. We are indeed entering a time of great entropy. Our ability to stay focused, agile and flexible will be key in maintaining our psychological and physical health to succeed not only professionally but as people contributing to a new way of thinking about the world.

We are not put on this earth merely to succeed as professionals and blaze spectacular careers. We have a duty to contribute something profound with our lives. We have long spoken about all the issues that ail the world: poverty, climate degradation, lack of justice and the role that cities and their

Dean Emeritus Michael Lykoudis

Letters to the Students of the Notre Dame School of Architecture

buildings have in facilitating a better world. Despite this pandemic, humans are social creatures; we depend on each other and will need to do so ever so much in the near and distant future. We are today as we are every day at the crossroads of how we will live together and how we build.

Someone sent me this quote a few years ago by Ernest Hemingway:

“Today is only one day in all the days that will ever be. But what will happen in all the other days that ever come will depend on what you do today.”

Indeed this adage is true. The Coronavirus pandemic has not only shown us our biological vulnerabilities but exposed the potential collateral effects on other issues that will not disappear with the pandemic. Rather than fall to the background some issues will become front and center and you will have to be on the front lines to help with solutions. Shelter and equal access to shelter will continue to be one of the most important elements that we humans will depend on. As unpredictable climate conditions further develop, resilient, safe and beautiful shelter will become necessary. Shelter that provides a background fabric for an accessible and beautiful public realm that reflects local and regional identity will be essential to resolve adaptation and mitigation to the new realities of weather patterns, changing biodiversity, immunology, equal access to resources such as energy and water and a host of other conditions and challenges.

When we speak of beauty we all know and have seen that which is beautiful. But often in our world we lose sight of the fact that beauty is not a luxury to be added after the fact. Around the world hamlets, villages, towns and cities are seen as beautiful not only for their artistic skill but because they are a result of a way of building and people living together that balances many needs all at once. First, they are built from the nature around them, they are structured in a way that allows people of all ages to live together with

Illustrations by Tristan Huo

pedestrian proximity to life’s daily needs and they are made by crafts that have evolved over millennia and give meaning to lives. Above all they also reflect that culture’s reverence for its past, present and future, as well as a respect for the peoples around them and for the flora and fauna of a region.

Your education at Notre Dame has focused on a beauty far greater than that which is privately owned in the eye of the beholder. The beauty you have seen stretches over centuries and oceans, and is in the shared building traditions of the world. You have much to offer this new world we are entering and it will not only be your “job” to do so, it will be your duty. As such it will not be easy; in fact, it will be hard. You must never complain about what you have suffered, you just must go on, just like you did these past few months. Generations before you have endured the unimaginable and many people around this earth continue to endure that same pain.

You have been given gifts that can help humanity find its way to a beautiful place. It is your duty to be soldiers committed to that effort. Be soldiers committed to reverence, and protect everything living and non-living on the planet. Be soldiers committed to building shelter and communities where all people can circulate freely and plan their lives. Be soldiers that will help heal the earth with conservation and investment after years of consumption and waste.

You will know how to do it. You did it these last few weeks. With few resources and much uncertainty, you designed and presented some of the best work the School has seen. This prepared you for what is ahead. And like the sailors that see the coming storm as a chance to prove their worth, you too should look at the future with eagerness and good will, with strength and conviction and in the knowledge that your success will be measured by how much of a force for good you will be.

Good luck and Godspeed.