On Navigating a COVID World

This past month, amidst anxieties surrounding a sudden drastic change in our realities, I hosted an Instagram live session, especially for architecture students and professionals. We have been receiving a larger than normal volume of job applications and we see this as a sign that the younger architecture community is anxious about their future. It is clear that the construction industry is going to slow down and the availability of labor and material will be in shorter supply. This will directly impact our architecture community, especially the younger architects who were looking to begin their careers at this time. This was our way to communicate with some answers based on our experience.

We directly addressed some questions that had been sent to us beforehand. Some of the questions addressed by us were:

1. What advice would you give a recently graduated architect or designer?

2. What is the relevance of green architecture in India, and what are your thoughts on green architecture in general?

3. Which software would you recommend architects be familiar with?

4. Any advice for designers starting out now, in the midst of COVID?

5. What are somethings you do to keep yourself motivated and productive whilst being in quarantine?

Part 1 of 7:

The session started with a self-introduction, a bit about my educational background and experiences.

Sustainability has always been an intrinsic consideration in my practice, and I decided to discuss this in the following segment.

We dived into discussing the impact of COVID on our world and our industry, considering ways in which we had to adapt moving forward.

This is followed by suggestions based on how I’ve been keeping productive despite having to stay indoors as part of quarantine measures.

This segment highlights job opportunities for students.

I have also compiled a comprehensive list of free and accessible resources for students or professionals who are taking this time to upskill.

We end of this session by considering ways in which our industry as a whole would permanently change as a result of the crisis.

I hope these videos have been useful for you. If you have any lingering questions, do leave them in the comments section.

Below is also a list of free(ish) online resources for architecture students and young professionals that are online and can be used to upskill during this time:

1. ARCH20

2. LYNDA

3. SKILLSHARE

4. COURSERA

5. EDX

6. MIT OPENCOURSEWARE

7. DOMESTIKA

8. ARCHITECTURECHAT

9. MASTERCLASS

Signing off,

Anjali