Architecture students have been told that design workshop sessions will be held in a “marquee tent” on campus throughout the next academic year, after plans to build new studio space were not completed in time.
In an e-mail sent yesterday morning, faculty dean Marc Bonello told Master’s students in architecture and structural or civil engineering that “design workshop sessions will now have to be held in a marquee tent to be erected in the courtyard”.
This, Bonello wrote, is because the Sustainable Living Centre, where workshops were intended to be held “is not yet available” and a previous agreement to lease off-campus space from the department of visual art had expired, effectively leaving some students in the lurch.
Students had previously been told that they would be using a new studio space as of this academic year.
Around 50 students are believed to be impacted by this decision.
Undergraduate students will not be affected and will continue holding their workshop sessions within the faculty building.
This will be a temporary arrangement, Bonello promises, with all design studio workshops to be held “in the spacious design studios that will become available at the SLC (Sustainable Living Centre)” once the 2025/2026 academic year comes around.
Design workshop sessions are typically held in a large studio space where students can freely interact with their tutors on design projects. Design studios are sometimes decked out with specialised equipment for activities such as laser cutting and carpentry work.
Studio sessions at the University of Malta are held once a week but the studio is frequently used as a space for students to work on their projects in between sessions.
They also often use the studio space to build models, leaving the incomplete models and material for ongoing projects stored in the studio in between visits.
Current and former architecture students told Times of Malta that students spend “long hours” each week in the studio and that “it becomes your living space throughout the course”.
Students say they are worried about how this situation will impact them, saying that the marquee tent is likely to be hot throughout the warmer months and cold and damp in winter.
They also fear that the space will be poorly lit and that it may lack basic amenities, such as enough power outlets, making it difficult for them to carry out their work.
Replying to questions, faculty dean Marc Bonello said that the delays to the Sustainable Living Centre “were caused by several difficult circumstances and contractual issues”, forcing the faculty to resort to alternative arrangements.
“Ideally, our faculty would have preferred our students spend their Design Project Workshops within the faculty building rather than within a temporary marquee,” he admitted.
Although this setup is earmarked for the entire academic year, Bonello says things could be solved sooner than that, with the faculty “currently exploring the possibility of taking over some of the SLC Design Studios in Semester 2”, which would mean that students would move into the new studio next January.