ARCH400 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Michael Abrams ARCH400 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/17/2024	I was in Prof Abrams' section for ARCH400 and I thought that he was a great professor. He is very knowledgeable and provides very good feedback that has helped me achieve high grades. He is also organized and clear with instructions and what he expects from you. If you have Abrams, make sure you have intention behind your design and are able to communicate exactly what your intentions are. Finally, be prepared for a LOT of work. Studio courses take a lot of time and consistent effort.
Michael Abrams ARCH400 Expecting a B- Anonymous 04/09/2024	Besides how absolutely insane the work output requirement is for this class, I liked having Abrams. I had him for 200 and now 400 and he is very reliable and gets straight to the point when it comes to feedback/crits. I will say he'll push his own ideas HEAVILY on your designs, but if you take them you don't have to worry so much about your grade in the end, and if you don't you better have a damn good reason for why you didn't. He was very organized and on-top of things, and didn't make students in his section to do more than the other sections to prove a point.
Alex Donahue ARCH400 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 10/20/2023	Prof Donahue was a fantastic studio 400 professor. He allowed his students to design freely within the restraints of the assignment. Every studio session he promoted open minded conversations and positive/constructive criticism to each student, and never managed to harm anyone’s ego. Rather he improved all of our imaginative and iterative processes. Discussing work with him was never stressful because he had an ability that not a lot of professors at UMD have. He was able to view a students work in their eyes and could see why they chose certain design decisions. He promoted this and encouraged us to continue on the path that our hearts and brains wanted us to. He never offered up his perspective or design choices as a replacement for ours. He promoted individual thought, even though it might have been wild or unconventional. I believe he would continue to be a great professor for this course and any architectural design courses.
Alex Donahue ARCH400 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/01/2023	I really liked this course overall with Professor Donahue. We usually had rough drafts due every studio which led up to the critiques. This course allowed me to explore my creative skills where we could draw or do digital work in addition to making our models by hand. The rotation between the TA's and professor were helpful, allowing me to further develop ideas for my models. I also had a lot of questions and they were able to answer pretty well. More than not I was guided in the right direction in terms of what to do for projects. Most of the assignments were graded on time which was helpful and if I had questions about something I did not understand they would give me reason and sometimes allow me to make it up after explaining what I could have done better. Overall the course was good, I did have some trouble using some of the software at times since this course doesn't teach students about that, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Michael Abrams ARCH400 Expecting an A- Anonymous 06/12/2022	I have had Abrams for arch200, 300, and 400. Overall, what he teaches and the feedback he gives is very useful. Its clear he's knowledgeable on the subject and you can learn a lot from him. He can be a harsh grader at times and has high expectations but nothing too unreasonable. Make sure you do not miss class, even with justified reasoning it'll really set you behind. But in general I would say he is a good professor to have.
Georgeanne Matthews ARCH400 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/21/2019	Great woman!

Michael Abrams
ARCH400

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/17/2024

I was in Prof Abrams' section for ARCH400 and I thought that he was a great professor. He is very knowledgeable and provides very good feedback that has helped me achieve high grades. He is also organized and clear with instructions and what he expects from you. If you have Abrams, make sure you have intention behind your design and are able to communicate exactly what your intentions are. Finally, be prepared for a LOT of work. Studio courses take a lot of time and consistent effort.

Michael Abrams
ARCH400

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
04/09/2024

Besides how absolutely insane the work output requirement is for this class, I liked having Abrams. I had him for 200 and now 400 and he is very reliable and gets straight to the point when it comes to feedback/crits. I will say he'll push his own ideas HEAVILY on your designs, but if you take them you don't have to worry so much about your grade in the end, and if you don't you better have a damn good reason for why you didn't. He was very organized and on-top of things, and didn't make students in his section to do more than the other sections to prove a point.

Alex Donahue
ARCH400

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
10/20/2023

Prof Donahue was a fantastic studio 400 professor. He allowed his students to design freely within the restraints of the assignment. Every studio session he promoted open minded conversations and positive/constructive criticism to each student, and never managed to harm anyone’s ego. Rather he improved all of our imaginative and iterative processes. Discussing work with him was never stressful because he had an ability that not a lot of professors at UMD have. He was able to view a students work in their eyes and could see why they chose certain design decisions. He promoted this and encouraged us to continue on the path that our hearts and brains wanted us to. He never offered up his perspective or design choices as a replacement for ours. He promoted individual thought, even though it might have been wild or unconventional. I believe he would continue to be a great professor for this course and any architectural design courses.

Alex Donahue
ARCH400

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/01/2023

I really liked this course overall with Professor Donahue. We usually had rough drafts due every studio which led up to the critiques. This course allowed me to explore my creative skills where we could draw or do digital work in addition to making our models by hand. The rotation between the TA's and professor were helpful, allowing me to further develop ideas for my models. I also had a lot of questions and they were able to answer pretty well. More than not I was guided in the right direction in terms of what to do for projects. Most of the assignments were graded on time which was helpful and if I had questions about something I did not understand they would give me reason and sometimes allow me to make it up after explaining what I could have done better. Overall the course was good, I did have some trouble using some of the software at times since this course doesn't teach students about that, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Michael Abrams
ARCH400

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
06/12/2022

I have had Abrams for arch200, 300, and 400. Overall, what he teaches and the feedback he gives is very useful. Its clear he's knowledgeable on the subject and you can learn a lot from him. He can be a harsh grader at times and has high expectations but nothing too unreasonable. Make sure you do not miss class, even with justified reasoning it'll really set you behind. But in general I would say he is a good professor to have.

Georgeanne Matthews
ARCH400

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/21/2019

Great woman!

Reviews for ARCH400