LOCAL means a whole new thing in the era of the pandemic. With global and national supply chains withering, with air travel interrupted, and with our movement limited to the walk-able world, we are all confined to the Local. But what does Local really mean? How, as architects, might we learn about the potentials of the Local? What makes up the mysterious confluence of factors that result in the thing we call Place? Is it Culture? Climate? Materials? The translation and manipulation of those materials through craft, technique, and technology? The studio seeks to understand these questions.While we live in local environments where these factors have been overrun by globalization, there are places all over the world where this is not the case. Of particulate interest to us, there are vital contemporary architectural practices who operate within a critique of globalization; a wariness of international media, trends, and styles; a disdain for the impacts of “flat world” labor, material supply and environmental impacts; and an exploration of both form and architectural production that is profoundly local in material, construction craft and technique, capacity building, and sustainability (environmental, social, economic and cultural). Often the most inventive and remarkable projects by these practices are located in rural places in Third World countries. The creativity motivated by constrained circumstances and marginal locales has important lessons for us today. This studio proposes to travel to four widely dispersed, and wildly different, places to re-learn about the range of formulations, qualities, and opportunities of the Local.We will be taking advantage of leaving our physical bodies behind to explore locales in India, China, Mexico, and South Africa/Namibia The vehicle for this travel will be your laptop (no passport, visas, or inoculations required). Your lodging: your own bed. Your meals: your own kitchen. The studio materials will include -- along with the usual readings, lectures, tours, and projects -- easy-to-prepare recipes links to music, films and dance, and a wide array of other cultural activities from our chosen locales.
This unusual “travel” format also allows us to engage architects from around the world. These visiting faculty will give us studio tours and lectures, and participate in discussions and reviews. So far the invitation list includes: Bijoy Jain (India), Anna Heringer (Germany + Bangladesh), Anupama Kundoo (India), Rahul Merothra (India), Hua Li (China), Liu Jiakun (China), Xiao Deli (China), Wang Shu (China) Lu Wenyu (China), Lee Shu Fan (Hong Kong), Jorge Gracia (Mexico), Elena Tudela (Mexico), Diego Ricalde (Mexico), Raul Cabra (Mexico), Mpethi Morojele (South Africa), Jhono Bennet (South Africa), Mpho Matsipa (South Africa), Jo Noero (South Africa), Nina Maritz (Namibia), Vo Trong Nghia (Vietnam), Brit Andresen (Australia), Glenn Murcutt (Australia) During the studio, each student will keep a collage travel journal using all kinds of materials including: “travel” notes, mappings, hand drawings, a bibliography, collage, reading responses, photos, notes from studio “visits” and lectures, and so on. This journal, along with four portfolio-worthy exploratory drawings (one for each locale), will constitute the output of the studio.

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