Retrospecta catalogs activities at the Yale School of Architecture. Each volume serves as a snapshot of events, lectures, publication releases, and significant circumstances that uniquely impact the academic, social, and political environment of the school.

Volume 45 covers the activities of the Yale School of Architecture during the 2021-22 academic year. While Retrospecta 44 reflected on a year marked by remote classes, this volume celebrates a hearty yet cautious return to in-person learning and aims to capture what makes architectural education at Yale—housed within the walls of Rudolph Hall—unique. Much of this uniqueness stems from the non-linearity of education, as students zigzag across floors to browse and engage with peers; the ownership students feel over their education and the space, as drawings, images, and sketches litter the floors and populate the windows and walls of Rudolph Hall; and the plurality of student voices pursuing diverse fields of research, which tends to color the pages of each Retrospecta.

To reflect these aspects of non-linearity, ownership, and plurality—most keenly felt in studio and poignantly diminished during the 2020-21 year—Retrospecta 45 departs from the format of a standard, single book with an inherent hierarchy. Instead, this year’s volume is divided into four discrete parts, allowing students the autonomy to reshuffle, reorganize, compare, and contrast sections of the book.