I am a registered architect in Maine and a former adjunct professor in UMA’s architecture program in Augusta. I have been involved in design critiques of student work for almost 20 years dating back to when the emerging architecture program was on the main campus.

I began teaching the third-year design studio in Handley Hall, as UMA and its program director, Eric Stark, were working with the NAAB accreditation board over several years to get UMA’s program accredited through the national certification process administered by NAAB. This accreditation process is a multi-step progression requiring adherence to a strict set of requirements in all areas of a program including staff, curriculum, course offerings and a long list of facility mandates.

The building itself, along with the interior assets, available natural light, workshop and comingled spaces that allow for collaboration and cross-discipline learning, are all attributes of Handley Hall that were specifically created, in many ways, to satisfy the requirements of NAAB. If the program is pulled from its current location without a clear and researched plan for how the attributes will be replicated, the program is in jeopardy of losing its accreditation. 

It is my hope that someone, or hopefully a group of people, will look into this further before carelessly uprooting an educational program that has taken years of wise and strategic planning to establish — and one that will likely fall if a move is not more carefully considered.

Chris Delano
Saco