Each semester, upper-level architecture students participate in the visiting critic program that brings leading architects and scholars from around the world to the school. Four studios will be held on campus this fall.
Alessandro Arienzo and Isabel Abascal
Arienzo and Abascal will teach the visiting critic studio, “Syracuse Spiral,” where students will explore spirals and the architectural possibilities that come with this inherently infinite geometric shape. Before Syracuse was established in 1820 in Onondaga County, another city named Syracuse flourished on the Italian island of Sicily. This first Syracuse is known as the birthplace of great astronomer, mathematician and engineer Archimedes, and the place in which he set the basis for the famous Archimedes’ spiral. Inspired by such history, this studio will look at spirals—from Archimedes to the golden ratio, the phenomena of curves reveal themselves across nature, governing distant galaxies and our own DNA—from the design of a city to the design of a seat. Through hand drawings, hand models and prototype building, students will test the growth systems hidden in these geometries.
Pablo Sequero
Sequero will teach the visiting critic studio, “Platform Surfside: The Adaptive City,” that foregrounds coastal adaptation and flood mitigation strategies for the existing residential block of the town of Surfside, Florida, a town in Miami-Dade County on a coastal barrier island in the northern extension of Miami Beach. As a continuation of the research initiated by the spring 2024 visiting critic studio led by Laura Salazar and Sequero—and part of a multi-year campaign around coastal resilience in collaboration with the Surfside community—students will use the previously produced work as a reference and starting point to shift their scale and depth of study to analyze the entire town of Surfside, allowing for a comprehensive approach that’s scalable, phased and flexible. However, where the spring studio dedicated its efforts to the design of a single-family residence in Surfside, students in this studio will thinking through strategies for residential typologies and the city block simultaneously. As the studio progresses, students will produce an interactive kit-of-parts conceived as a collection of strategies serving resilient housing, which could be redeployed not only in Surfside but in other coastal communities. Additionally, students will work with diverse members from Surfside to engage the community through a series of events including workshops, lectures and publications, as well as an exhibition with students and faculty from the University of Miami School of Architecture.
Vincent Petrarca and Katherine Hogan
Hogan and Petrarca will teach the visiting critic studio, “Working Backwards,” where students will work backwards to gain a greater understanding and confidence in the process of making architecture and develop a tectonic language, refining their individual instincts of how to approach a project. Through the development of physical models, present details and wall assemblies at large scales and in a variety of media, students will explore how an idea can be tested and ultimately strengthened through a critical analysis of site, context, program, material assemblies, craft and proformas.
Yuyang Liu
Liu will teach the visiting critic studio, “A Linear Museum in Suzhou,” where students will envision a linear museum in Suzhou, China—a city renowned for its rich cultural heritage and industrial prowess—that bridges the gap between historical reverence and contemporary innovation, creating a unique urban intervention that celebrates both the city’s rich heritage and its evolving present. Strategically located along a historically significant canal area renowned for its imperial tiles and ceramics dating back to the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368–1911), the linear museum project will serve as a transformative intervention, reimagining the conventional museum as a dynamic, linear element embedded within the urban landscape rather than a singular, monumental structure. Students will approach their designs for the museum as continuous, integrated spaces that combine exhibition areas, retail outlets, food and beverage services and hospitality functions, offering multifaceted experiences to visitors and residents alike, while simultaneously revitalizing the area and reestablishing its historical significance.
