2020 UMA Architecture Student Show On View In Danforth Gallery And Online

Press release from the University of Maine at Augusta:

October 19, 2020

In the COVID-19 era, this hybrid exhibition provides the public with physical and virtual spaces to view future built environments conceived by UMA’s talented roster of architecture students.

October 14 – November 20, 2020

Physical Exhibition Location: Charles Danforth Gallery at the University of Maine at Augusta, located in Jewett Hall, 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday
Virtual Exhibition Location: danforth.uma.edu

In a year when “physical distance” occupies our attention, students in the Architecture program at UMA continue honing their skills and vision in creating physical environments. This fall, as in-person learning continues for UMA’s Architecture students, Architecture faculty have practiced the dynamic adaptability they teach, hybridizing the Architecture Student Show. This year’s exhibition will occupy the physical space of the Charles Danforth Gallery in UMA’s Jewett Hall from October 14 to November 20, and will also be available as a virtual exhibition on the Danforth Gallery’s website. This hybrid presentation gives viewers physical and virtual spaces in which to consider the built worlds UMA’s students envision.

Projects represented in the exhibition range from more conceptual first-year projects through theoretical and advanced work completed in the fifth year of the program. “The exhibition moves from more imaginative projects toward more concrete architectural plans and renderings,” explained Amy Rahn, Danforth Gallery Director and UMA Assistant Professor of Art History.

UMA Architecture Program Coordinator and Professor Eric Stark reflected that in the COVID-19 era, “the very concepts of representation, physical and virtual, are challenged. We are proud of our faculty and students who have found creative ways to teach and explore architecture. The work in this exhibit demonstrates the success of those efforts.” The exhibition gives viewers a window into the process of learning that architecture students complete at UMA in their work towards professional licensure in the field, and shares the Architecture students’ development as thinkers and professionals with a wider (virtual) audience.

“The very concepts of representation, physical and virtual, are challenged. We are proud of our faculty and students who have found creative ways to teach and explore architecture. The work in this exhibit demonstrates the success of those efforts.”

— Professor Eric Stark

UMA’s Bachelor of Architecture degree is Maine’s only professional architecture program and the only NAAB accredited five-year professional architecture degree in northern New England. In addition to teaching core values of space, scale, light, and design with intention, the program is committed to the community, with a mission of architecture through engagement, which educates and empowers students to explore, investigate, and analyze the built environment. The program’s emphasis on engagement brings students into active contact with each other, their coursework, and community partners across Maine.

In the COVID-19 era, the Program has worked with the University, the community, and students to create a learning environment that has allowed Architecture students to adapt and continue their studies. Now, in its real and virtual exhibitions, the Architecture Student Show gives viewers near and far a glimpse into the exciting world of UMA’s Architecture students.

All are invited to view and enjoy these visions of the future built environment conceived by UMA’s talented roster of architecture students, whether online or in person. Gallery hours are from 9 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday at the Charles Danforth Gallery in UMA’s Jewett Hall through November 20.

This press release was produced by the University of Maine at Augusta. The views expressed are the author's own.