VORKURS_Dérive is the fourth edition of the student-initiated publication at the University of Florida Graduate School of Architecture. Beginning as a probe of the Bauhaus foundation course developed by Josef Albers, VORKURS_making analyzed the significance of craft and learning through experience, featuring acclaimed theorists and architects such as Juhani Pallasmaa, Merril Elam, and Todd Williams Billie Tsien Architects. Since VORKURS_making, VORKURS_exquisite corpse, and VORKURS_echoes have furthered the architectural discourse that was established in the initial volume. Dérive bears reference to Guy Debord, a twentieth century theorist who defines the term as “a mode of experimental behavior linked to the conditions of urban society: a technique of rapid passage through varied ambiances.” VORKURS_Dérive aims to further discourse surrounding the concept of learning through experience and direct engagement with ritual and artifact. VORKURS_Dérive hopes to discover and analyze connections made as one physically travels and finds new spaces, cultures, and contextual conditions.

Verity Blevins is the VORKURS executive editor. She was born in Michigan and raised in Florida. She graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor’s of design in architecture in 2018. She held office in Alpha Rho Chi: Professional Fraternity for Architecture and the Allied Arts for two years and was an active Design, Construction, and Planning ambassador. Blevins is currently a master’s degree candidate in architecture at the University of Florida; she also works as a graduate teaching assistant for introductory design courses. She enjoys any opportunity to travel abroad and visit innovative architecture.

Maxwell Hunold is the VORKURS production editor. Hunold was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida. He graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor of design in architecture in 2018. He is currently a master’s degree candidate in architecture at the University of Florida, where he works as a graduate teaching assistant for introductory design courses. He has a strong interest in physical making and has worked in New York City in a model-making workshop.

Andrew Benavides is the VORKURS marketing editor. Andrew was born in Washington, DC, and raised in Florida. He graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor’s of design in architecture in 2018. He holds office as the competition chair for the University of Florida Chapter of the National Organization for Minority Architects. Benavides is currently a master’s degree candidate in architecture at the University of Florida, where he works as a graduate teaching assistant for introductory computational design courses. He enjoys film and is conducting research to further the intersection and relationships between film and architecture.

Robert McCarter is an acclaimed architectural writer, a practicing architect, and the Ruth and Norman Moore Professor of Architecture at Washington University in St. Louis. He was the director at the University of Florida's School of Architecture from 1991–2001 and a professor of architecture at the University of Florida from 1991–2007. He was also an associate professor and assistant dean at Columbia University. McCarter was a finalist for the RIBA International Book Awards in 2006 has won numerous other awards, including a Graham Foundation grant in 1989 to fund his work on Frank Lloyd Wright.

Charlie Hailey received a bachelor's of architecture from Princeton University, a master’s of architecture from University of Texas at Austin, and a PhD in architecture from the University of Florida. He is a practicing architect and has worked on many design-build projects, including several with Jersey Devils and is currently a Research Professor at the University of Florida's School of Architecture. He has written three books and contributed to numerous journals. He was also selected in 2011 as a Fulbright Scholar in Macedonia at State University of Tetovo to lecture and lead design workshops.

Nichole Wiedemann received a bachelor’s of design in architecture from the University of Florida and a master’s of architecture from Princeton University. She is currently an associate professor of architecture and the director of the professional residency program at University of Texas at Austin, and, from 2008–13, she was the associate dean for undergraduate programs. She has also taught at the University of Florida, Rhode Island School of Design, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is a practicing architect, an architectural writer, and a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome.

Juhani Pallasmaa was a professor of architecture and the dean of architecture at Helsinki University of Technology from 1991–98. He is a highly acclaimed architectural writer and authored The Eyes of the Skin, which has become a standard text in architecture education. In 1999 he received the International Union of Architects' Jean Tschumi Prize for architectural criticism. He has also served on the jury for the Pritzker Prize for Architecture, and, in 1991, he was Finland's architectural representative at the Venice Biennale.

VORKURS, founded in August 2015, is the publication for the University of Florida's Graduate School of Architecture. Developed as an ode to the Bauhaus foundation course of the same name, it aims to present the ideas of the school's graduate students and faculty through three different lenses—pedagogy, the transition from academia to practice, and the future of the profession—in order to present the University of Florida's unique voice to the larger discourse of architecture.