Today will be our last episode of 2020 and as I looked back on our podcast feed, it hit me that we’ve officially been going at this now for over a year! On top of that this particular episode is our 34th podcast of 2020. With the website and Instagram up and running as well, I think we’re starting to look official now. But before we say goodbye to 2020 (thankfully), today we’re going to look back at some of the news the architecture world generated in 2020. We’ll end with a highlight of things we have planned for the podcast in 2021.

So obviously most people would sum up 2020 in one word: “COVID”, maybe “pandemic”, or “shutdowns”. Despite those all encompassing descriptions, the architecture world continued to chug along and make a little bit of news despite all the craziness of COVID and the shutdowns. For starters, we answered a long standing question in the architecture community: can you do architecture remotely? There has been a consistent low level debate over whether architecture can be practiced from a distance. Many people feel like you have to see the building site, walk through the neighborhood, and physically experience the location of a project in order to design a project appropriately. But I think this pandemic has forced the industry to reconsider. 2020 was the year that finally proved that architecture offices could run projects and their businesses remotely. While it might not be ideal, it can be done and for most offices it has been done for the majority of the year.

And while firms have been figuring out remote work, architects have also been responding to the current pandemic with both good and bad ideas. A major focus this year for many architects has been improving the urban landscape to deal with the current pandemic. Dallas based architecture firm HKS responded to the times by designing a potential conversion of empty hotels into temporary hospitals (a practical and good idea). Then you have all the not so good ideas involving architect proposals for new PPE (personal protective equipment) designs. From wearables to plastic bubbles for restaurant booths, it seems to have gotten a little out of hand. Plexiglass was everywhere in 2020. Paint companies come up with an annual “color of the year” every year to drum up a little self promotion at the end of the year, but 2020 will go down as the year of Plexiglass and not any particular color.

As for some non-pandemic news from the architecture community, Larry and I decided to each pick out something noteworthy to share because while news in the architecture world moves rather slowly (unlike politics and weather) events other than the pandemic should be highlighted and celebrated. For me, the standout piece of architecture news was the decision by the French government to rebuild the roof and spire of Notre Dame back in it’s pre-fire form. That will go down as a blow to all the architects who had designed new modern proposals for the new structure. Just search “Architect proposals Notre Dame”. The results can be both interesting and cringe-worthy.

Larry wanted to highlight the reopening of the Washington monument in DC as his non-pandemic architecture news. Apparently it was closed in 2016 for new security upgrades which meant visitors couldn’t go up to the observation deck at the top for the last three years. But it only popped back on our radar after it had reopened in the fall of 2019 because neither of us realized it had closed. Although this wasn’t 2020 news, we felt like it was worth sharing this year because we’ve all been hunkered down without much else going on besides the pandemic and politics to keep us company.

And as we close out our last episode of 2020, we’d like to give everyone a preview of what we’re working on for next year. Because travel has been so limited this past year, we thought we’d do a series of podcasts highlighting architecture from around the world that is relevant to us as we sit at home and wait for our turn to get the COVID vaccine. We’re going to do a series of podcasts highlighting unique aspects of architecture with individual podcasts about ideas from Japan, Brazil, and London and how we can use ideas from abroad in our own local way. We’re also going to be looking at getting a job in architecture with highlights on the difficulties during this pandemic. We’re going to grab a couple of job postings from the internet and read between the lines to get to what companies are really trying to say in their job postings. Last, we’re going to look into the design and architecture around parenting both kids and pets.

We would like to thank everyone for listening this year. Have a safe and happy holiday, and we’ll see you next year.