Ask any architecture student and they’ll tell you that they hold studio time in the highest regard. With access to 2-D drawings, 3-D models, tools, technology, faculty, and colleagues, time in the studio offers architects-in-training an opportunity to dive into the creative process.
When the University of Michigan’s Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning rolled out Studio Reassembled — a fresh take on the classic studio format — last fall, students were thrilled. “Studio Reassembled is an experiment in collaborative design,” says Anya Sirota, the associate dean of academic initiatives at Taubman College. In her role as associate dean, Sirota led a pilot project aimed at revitalizing student engagement following a post-pandemic slump.
Jacob Comerci, the managing director of academic initiatives at Taubman College, says that, in addition to empty seats, studio culture had become lackluster. “This was a great opportunity to reimagine the studio experience,” he says. Like many successful, design-driven solutions, Studio Reassembled didn’t materialize overnight; the project is a result of transparent, campus-wide conversations, time spent testing concepts, and letting ideas mature. With the project’s goals in place, Sirota, Comerci, and student research assistants embarked on a journey to reassemble the studio.
When metro Detroit-based architect Maureen Doyle was a Taubman College student from 2010 to 2014, she recalls the studio layout consisted of one large open floor with rearrangeable desks. Every semester, one specific desk was assigned to each student. “Space is tight when you’re building models and laying out large plots, so people became territorial of their areas,” Doyle says. Today, everything — from desks to tools — is shared, to promote connectivity and collaboration.
So far, Studio Reassembled has proven to be a success. Students who have taken a studio course report increased creativity, which makes sense given it’s a “living lab,” Sirota notes. “Studio Reassembled addresses the challenges of contemporary architecture in a rapidly changing world,” she says.
Adds Comerci: “When you’re operating in the world professionally, in any field, you aren’t siloed and isolated working alone on a masterpiece; it’s a collaborative affair.”
Graduate students work adjacent to undergraduate students, and classmates are able to gain exposure to other students’ insights. Taubman College senior graduate student Martin Rodriguez sees Studio Reassembled as a community-based, student-governed space. Rodriguez is one of four student research assistants who helped build Studio Reassembled, alongside Sirota and Comerci.
Housed in 1,500-square-foot space built by Taubman College faculty, students, alumni, and makers, Studio Reassembled offers a suite of amenities including student community managers, a library and faculty librarian, an expert climate consultant managing the Climate Lab, a TVLab research assistant, and a visualization lab.
Nathan Doud, a 2011 Taubman College master’s graduate, and the founder and owner of Doud Designs, LLC, in Ann Arbor, designed much of the studio’s custom furniture. Sirota developed a reconfigurable table she named “The Babushka Conference Table,” inspired by meals gone awry at her grandmother’s home. “The human factor is important. The design (of Studio Reassembled) is exuberant and colorful. Human beings are what make it,” she says.
Studio Reassembled proves one doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel to change it; sometimes rotating it does the trick. “It was evolution with guardrails,” Comerci says, noting that the new studio refuses to be static; it’s an environment meant to evolve from one semester to the next. “It’s a space that admits that you need a village, and interdisciplinary expertise, to make meaningful work.”
More information: studio-reassembled.com
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