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Megan Panzano talks bridging practice and academia in Architect magazine

Megan Panzano (MArch '10), assistant professor of architecture, addresses students during a review for Harvard University’s Undergraduate Architecture Studies track.

What should architects interested in entering academia consider before making the leap? Architect magazine solicited advice to that question from a few architects-slash-teachers, including Harvard Graduate School of Design Assistant Professor of Architecture Megan Panzano.

A graduate of the GSD’s MArch program, Panzano has led core studios and lecture courses at the GSD concurrent with her Boston-based StudioPM since 2014. Her advice to aspiring architect-academics came from personal experience:  “My practice has grown from the teaching,” she told Architect. “We are small by design and the types of projects that I take on are those that still have a real rootedness in things that I’ve been working on in the academic setting.”

For Panzano, teaching has also been an opportunity to gain perspective and better focus on her work: “It’s not like things stop, but I can think about the project in the background and not be forced to actively make decisions on it.” Panzano continues, “Teaching always helps me be that much more decisive and committed to the next design edit or iteration I wanted to look at when I returned to that project.”

Read the full article, “Are You Ready to Teach?