Letter from Dean Amale Andraos to the Students of Columbia GSAPP

March 12, 2020

Dear Students,

As we have been intensely focused on managing the transition to remote learning, I have been thinking of you all, and how difficult this must be. Spring at GSAPP is a magical time of the year—I am deeply sad we will all miss it. I feel the precarity of the situation we face together.

As students of architecture and the built environment, in a school that meets the issues of our time with resilience and optimism, this immediate and unprecedented challenge is also an opportunity to collectively imagine new ways of engaging with our community and our work—and to continue to create a more sustainable, equitable, and creative world.

I have no doubt that if anyone can turn this difficult situation into an inspiring experiment, it is you. I anticipate future generations will learn from and build on the work that is done in these next few months. Already today, some of you were wondering how to transform “zoom” into a platform for new forms of expression, creativity, collaboration, and projection. And as you explore these possibilities, we will be there to support you.

Faculty and administrators will continue to diligently work alongside you so that we can all adapt with agility. I want to thank all of you for your continued spirit and, most importantly, wish you and your loved ones health and safety.

As you leave campus this week, please know that this is not an end, but very much a beginning of a future we cannot know. Yet we can work together to imagine, plan, design, and build for the benefit of our world. I will be eagerly following your progress and cannot wait to join the various Zoom Reviews to see the amazing work you will no doubt produce.

Sincerely,

Amale