I first want to say that yesterday had a huge increase in page views (39) so thanks to everyone who's been reading!
Today was crit day. The guest jury included lecturers from Yale and the GSD, as well as practicing landscape architects from Spain and New York. Of course our professors and TAs as well as other member of the UVa architecture faculty judged as well. Procedurally it was the same as last week, people had five minutes to present then there was ten minutes of review. Overall mine went alright. Most disappointing, however, was the fact that they liked my very first concept model idea the best. Considering I was told so many times to change my ideas and completely started over late Thursday night, this was confusing and upsetting because I don't really have a clear grasp of what they like. They seem to change their opinions so frequently so I can't get a clear read on what is considered good and interesting and what is considered boring and bad.
As far as my final design was concerned, they wanted me to highlight the ramps a little more and make them stand out in my drawings. On the bright side my professor said he was impressed that I was able to produce a Rhino model, the written document, three perspectives, line drawings, concept sketches, section cuts, floor plans, and axonometric drawings in a day. They weren't very well done considering the time constraints, but they got the idea across. If you haven't seen them or my model, I posted pictures in yesterday's post.
After crits I was very surprised that we didn't get another assignment. Last week they said we had some time off, but then gave us a lot of work to do, but today they actually gave us the rest of the day off. I went out for lunch, then did some errands, and of course you can see some pictures of me shlepping my model around Charlottesville (at a diner then at CVS, specifically).
Since I have some time and I haven't really made an intelligent post in a while, I'll try and include some of my thoughts now. Though it's great keeping an online journal, I haven't really posted anything substantive since the book reviews in June, so here are some thoughts.
First of all, I felt like I was really in architecture school today when a critic picked up someone's model, flipped it upside down, and said, "Isn't this a little more interesting?"
It wasn't.
Her model's roof was pointed and slanted, so when upside down the building was suspended on a point that was tilted in space. It was completely unrealistic and the entire premise of the design didn't make sense anymore. I've heard that people flip models upside down all the time and do stuff like this, but it was absolutely ridiculous when I saw it.
As for architecture in general, it's been really interesting so far. The first week was about getting to know architecture, immersing oneself in a project and spending time to develop and idea. The second week was about modes of representation. How can I come up with an idea, then use a variety of tools to express and convey design concepts? Technically we've learned quite a lot. A couple days learning AutoCAD and a couple days learning Rhino aren't nearly enough, but when you have to create something in a few days you learn the program yourself.
Overall I'd say the one consistent theme is that architecture school is teaching me how to think. Not how to think in the way that "you need to understand this concept and how it relates to this," but more like looking and observing things in everyday life and thinking about its intention, thinking about how it could be improved, what its strengths and weaknesses are, how something ordinary can be interesting, how people interact with everyday objects, landscapes, and the built environment. I can't say I'm good at this yet, but it seems like design is a field necessarily predicated on notions of disciplinary memory and privileging oneself from a design standpoint.
Of course I don't really know what they're intending to teach us, other than what I'm told, but design is much more than the technical building and the design process. It's a way of life and thinking and interacting. It's a lifestyle that changes who you are. I dream about architecture now, I see things in the world I never noticed, I connect the very banal to design, I access everything in terms of what I know, or what I think I know. My drawing professor has made it explicitly clear that everything is designed and that people notice design all the time, but don't every really make solid connections between reasoning and design. I guess I'm happy to learn how to do this. It's not about what I see, it's about how I perceive it.
If someone had asked me a couple weeks ago what was interesting about a certain space, I could have given my personal opinion, which would have been framed in very normative ideas of space and academic architecture, but now it's much more conceptual. Someone's project today was about how people anchor themselves in corners, so she designed a hidden room and spaces that had so many corners that one could never feel comfortable. I look at corner and I probably am drawn to them, but I don't really realize my interaction with them, or with walls, or with the floor. I sort of just walk on the floor because it's there, or go to the corner because it's far from the center, never because I'm actively thinking about my place and experience in the space.
I think UVa is unique in this way. Talking to other people, they agree that UVa offers a delicate balance between these conceptual foundations and the technical ability to produce work using computers or modeling or drawing or whatever. Many schools focus on one aspect, but it seems UVa is deeply immersed in all of these. They're encouraging us to experiment with materials and modes of representation. Someone said we should never be comfortable in architecture school because that means we're being safe and not learning.
The only concrete experience I can compare this to is Brandeis, and I've always maintained that Brandeis was the perfect place for me socially, but never the right place for me intellectually. I learned information at Brandeis, but I didn't learn what was necessary for life, barring some non-institutional social lessons. Here, people tell what needs to be told in an academic setting and the real world. I asked my Rhino professor the fastest way to separate curves from polysurfaces in Rhino the other day and he said not to do it his way, because in all likelihood I'll spend at least 5 years drafting Rhino and being a CAD monkey for some firm that will have a completely new custom set of hotkeys and design standards that I'll have to learn. If I could become comfortable with how the process works, then the hotkeys and efficiency will come later. Well I've already added some of my own hotkeys, but I'm hoping I can adapt quickly enough.
I'd also like to talk about the people. Perspectively it's quite interesting to see design from so many viewpoints. There's a 21 year old engineer from the Phillipines. There's a 28 year old from Pennsylvania with an Bachelors in religious studies and a Masters in anthropology. There's a 24 year old political science major from New Jersey and an economics major who went to Princeton. Each person offers a fascinating view into design from their own experiences, and I've found that these conversation are often the most fruitful, in that I can adapt parts of their design process into my own, and this will never be stale, really, and it will always be different from the MArch 2 students (those with undergraduate degrees in architecture).
I don't really know what to think here, maybe because there really isn't time to think, but I hope that overtime I'll get a better sense of what's going on. What should I be learning or what am I being taught? More frequently, is this a test? Did I give the right answer? Oftentimes I'm able to talk my way out of a lot of conceptual problems in my designs, but still.
Everything feels so different since two weeks ago. My life hasn't changed at the core; I'm still the socially awkward, Jewish (one in the same? at least at Brandeis, maybe) neurotic, half Asian kid from a small town in Massachusetts whose carried his life, hopes, dream, problems, thoughts, and so forth to architecture school, but on a much more personal level, a some small amount has changed. College seems like ages ago and I feel like I haven't seen my friends or family in so long, which maybe has forced this change in lens, but more likely it's because I'm doing something that I truly have to immerse myself in. Ostensibly I could completely redefine what I know, but that's unlikely and unwanted.
Anyway, I feel like my interactions with people have changed. Every time I talk to or text someone who's not at school with me it's like a wave of nostalgia. Two week old nostalgia, and that's not even a thing, really. It's a good feeling thought, and at some point these two parts will mesh or combine. For the time being, though, it's certainly a strange sensation.
If you've been talking to me over the past two weeks, I've probably already thanked you, but again to reiterate, thank you. Some things have been tough here, academically, socially, emotionally, etc, and your continued support has been so helpful, even if you don't know it. It would be horrible if I didn't specifically recognize my parents, my sister, and A.L. for making life so much easier and happier.
I'm sure I have more to say, but can't think of it right now. I'll blame it on my brain being out of juice. So as this post approaches 2000 words, I'll just say that I'm so glad people are reading this blog and want to share this journey with me. I'm so grateful for the continued support, and thanks for reading. Sorry about the lack of pictures, I don't really ever know what pictures to include.
Oh and really quickly I'll be traveling to Fallingwater and Kentucky Knob tomorrow and Monday with the A-School, so that should be good. I probably won't be able to post, but hopefully I can fill you all (ya'll) in when I get back, time permitting.
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