The hyperreal: A new normal for teaching post-Covid: Transformation of remote teaching explained through Baudrillard's four stages of simulation

The pandemic's redefinition of spatial interface brought with it the need to reconsider our territories of occupation and to study both the 2d and 3d as our built and unbuilt environment. The distinctions between physical, digital, actual, and virtual have evolved and blurred, and we must prepare our students for the new dimensions which we all occupy and engage. Through alternate methods of exploration, investigation, and documentation, we as architects and educators must reconceptualise what constitutes the territory of architecture and use the changes the pandemic has forced upon us to expand our understanding of the architectural landscape and site. Through a comparison with Baudrillard's theory of simulation from his book "Simulacra and Simulation", this paper describes the evolutionary phases of design instruction over the course of the pandemic. It describes the teaching techniques utilised to help students comprehend the concept of space, landscape, and territory in a time when the events of the world simultaneously constrained us to our domestic habitations and extended our international reach through data and internet connectivity. The foreground, background and focus of the video conference call is playfully examined; the process of remote site analysis is assessed, and the expansion of architecture into the virtual realm is explored. The transformative existing and speculative impact of hybrid-reality architecture is revealed and discussed.