This article was originally published in Maryland Today.
Asked to design a researcher’s cabin set in the wetlands of Uganda, a group of University of Maryland architecture undergraduates envisioned a three-room, 538-square-foot structure made of locally sourced wood. A larger central space serves as the relaxation area, while two attached rooms create separate work and sleep stations, a layout meant to support work-life balance.
But the students quickly learned from their project collaborators—a class of Ugandan peers halfway around the world—that in Uganda, it’s a foreign concept.
“Work-life balance is something that's pretty regular to hear in America,” said Omar Ahmad Kandji ’26. The fact that "they had never heard of it was a real culture shock.”
Kandji, along with 11 of his classmates, joined forces with students from Uganda Martyrs University by way of a teleconferenced global charrette—a collaborative design challenge—to create architectural plans for each other’s communities and design across cultural divides. It’s one of several virtual projects with universities around the world taking place this year as part of a new global design initiative launched by UMD’s Architecture Program.
Mohammad Gharipour, Architecture Program director and professor, introduced the initiative last spring to help diversify the program’s design curriculum and expose students unable to study abroad to international architectural traditions. So far, the program has collaborated with universities in Egypt, Pakistan, India and Uganda, and engaged over 150 students and faculty. Students have worked alongside other undergraduates around the world to conceive housing units, mixed-use developments, plazas and more.
“I think especially in this climate, we want to keep doing our best to train students who are globally minded and deeply appreciate inclusivity and diversity,” said Gharipour, who has been building relationships with global counterparts for close to a decade as part of his Epidemic Urbanism Initiative. “These kinds of collaborations have already had a huge impact on our students.”
UMD architecture students review their design work for a research cabin in Uganda after garnering feedback from their Ugandan peers.
The charrette with Uganda Martyrs University, spearheaded by UMD Lecturer Marcus Cross and Assistant Clinical Professor Ken Filler, offered a two-week site swap exercise for students; Maryland students worked on the research cabin, while Ugandan students were tasked to design a conceptual urban plaza in Georgetown, D.C., where they included a gathering space that featured public art, greenery, stairs and other elements to accommodate locals and visitors.
Designing for an African landscape is vastly different than downtown D.C.; the two universities exchanged ideas and guided each other’s work on joint mural boards over four sessions.
"What we have found is that … design language is universal," Filler said. "We talk and think in the same way, but our approach might be different."
Anthony K. Wako, dean of the Faculty of the Built Environment at Uganda Martyrs, who partnered with Filler and Cross, tells his students that they will be "global architects" and should not limit themselves to their local environments.
"I don't believe there's a city that has developed on its own without any form of outside influence," he said. "As designers, we cannot bottle ourselves up in one silo and think there is not much that the world beyond ours is going to help us make decisions."
The navigation of different time zones and curriculums and sometimes political upheaval required some flexibility, but the results, said Gharipour, align with UMD’s broader mission to nurture local and global partnerships. In addition to the partnerships established this past year, the program’s organizers are currently in talks with universities in Turkey, Jamaica, Lebanon and Bangladesh. His goal is for all architecture students to experience the initiative to broaden their worldwide perspectives about learning and designing.
“It will have deep impacts on the students, faculty and in the culture that we are trying to build in our program,” he said.