Shame

If you only knew how many times i wrote to you...
If you only knew how many words...

you would feel ashamed treating me the way you do...

AUC AA end of year exhibition

Last week i had the opportunity to visit the end of year exhibition hosted by the architecture department at the American University in Cairo. The dept. has been running for 6 years now with its first students graduating this year. For an architecture program it is a very young program, yet it has been gaining good reputation for the quality of its education and student product.

The exhibition seemed very well organized (which is one of the strong advantages of the AUC culture) yet it came very short on creating a positive impression. While most of the projects touched upon local and contextual issues, i was deeply disappointed with the exhibition, not only for the mediocrity of the projects or the lack of creative insights, but also for the lack of a general clear agenda that defines the outcome of the department. As in almost all schools of architecture in egypt, the AUC AA is clearly following an outdated model of architectural education, producing "a little bit of everything". Just another lot in the bunch.

Perhaps it is too early to expect a clear vision for a coherent program, but if the department genuinely wants to provide its students with provocative, intellectual, up to date and high-end education instead of only making use of their outstanding PR skills, then rethinking, evaluating, and enhancing their program is better done now than later.