themichiganarchitect – Page 3

Did you really want to be an architect when you were a kid?

October 8, 2019October 8, 2019 themichiganarchitect 2 Comments

Hi Everyone!
I’m back again, this week, to share some of my experiences as an architecture student here, at the University of Michigan’s Taubman School of Architecture and Urban Planning!

This week, the topic is introductions.

Yes, introductions…. like, Hi, my name is ____, I major in ____, how about you?

Ever since I started college here, I’d always say that line above, with “architecture” in place of the blank, and I’ve always gotten responses like OMG wow that’s SO cool! Is there a lot of math involved? or Wow that’s so cool, I remember when I was a kid, I thought architecture was so cool, and I used to want to become an architect too! And when I say always, I mean ALWAYS! I ALWAYS get such replies!

Ok, I get it, some people just say that since it’s a standard thing to say to express courteous interest in getting to know someone and their passion. But COME ON! I’ve gotten those responses, from mostly non-design majors, from at least A HUNDRED people now. To be fair, that’s a pretty small number in comparison to the total number of humans at Michigan. BUT, in architecture, which I find to be a very selective, niche field, that’s a huge number. I mean, maybe I just lived in a very sheltered environment as a child, but growing up, I was maybe aware of buildings, but I was probably only aware of architecture as a serious discipline by high school. There’s barely any architects in the world, in comparison to the number of people working in the other disciplines, so to me, when many people express that they “used to” want to be an architect, it’s kind of like the equivalent of saying “I used to like that flavor of soda.”

And then, the conversation would usually carry on to people asking me what kinds of classes I have to take (ahem, is math one of them?), where are my classes located, is it in LSA, if I enjoy them, and if they can see some of my work (which I’m happy to share with you!!).

So, as a first year (undergraduate), you will be taking mostly prerequisite classes, just like students of other majors, a “basic” drawing class (quotation marks because it was NOT basic to me, it was straight-up still-life drawing freehand, and some training to use design tools and training our eyes to recognize angles, and having a steady hand to draw straight lines without a T-square or erasure), along with a first year architectural seminar that started introducing some design terminology and attempted to teach us a first-pass way at reading building plans.

The second year, you may need to take a few more prerequisite courses, but you will be getting into some more introductory architectural courses, including introducing drafting (like scaled drawings) which naturally leads to first-pass at creating physical models in attempts to demonstrate specified concepts, and working with modeling materials and learning modeling techniques fit for ourselves. The semester after that, you’ll get introduced to virtual modeling software programs mainly Rhinoceros, along with the Adobe Creative Suite (mainly Photoshop and Illustrator), which leads right into learning how to use software along with our prior drafting knowledge to best represent our projects and their concepts.

Then comes the third year, where you’ll FINALLY get into a real studio- this is what people will usually refer to it as the weeder course of architecture, since you really put all of those design techniques and knowledge to use, and the curriculum of studio continues to pick up the pace, since you’re already expected to have learned and mostly mastered the skills you’ve picked up from the previous courses. I personally found the weeder course (it’s called UG1 and stands for undergraduate studio #1) intense, a ton of work, yet very rewarding, since I’d been itching to build models since my first day of freshman year! I’d also say that it really depends on who you get matched with for your instructor. I was lucky to have a really amazing instructor, Melissa Harris, who really helped me find my voice in representing architecture and what I liked or did not like to do, for my own modeling and representation methods. I definitely practically lived in my studio desk, I did my projects day-in, day-out, it was the center of my classes at the time. I’d get my other course work as quickly done as I could, as to make as much time as possible for studio. Of course, it was also my first time in such a setting, still learning what works and what doesn’t work for me.

But yes, time management has gotten better for me over time, and I am currently surviving my studio, and actually kind of enjoying my classes for once, since as a fourth year, you are required to take architecture electives along with a structures course (which is more like an applied-physics course), which I find I am really enjoying more than I expected! And if you’re a math-y student, you’re in luck, because you cannot ever fully escape physics or math, or even reading and writing for that matter. (Believe me, I’ve tried.)

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So I’m curious, how many of you, (be honest please) have caught yourself responding in such a way when being introduced to a design student? And how many of you actually literally meant it? And if you did, what was your exposure to architecture like from your childhood, and what affected your collage career decisions in such a way that steered you away from architecture, or just any design-related field in general?

And if you’re a fellow architecture student, or another design major, or prospective student, let me know your thoughts! I’d love to hear your thoughts! Follow me on instagram @themichiganarchitect ! I’d love to see your work as well! :0

Thank you!

Stay tuned for more architecture with me next week! 🙂

In The Eyes of an Architecture Student: An Intro

October 1, 2019October 1, 2019 themichiganarchitect Leave a comment

As an architecture student, I often get questions on what that’s like, or people just looking at me differently because I am in such a different discipline than them.

Well, to answer that question, I’ve always felt that it is natural for me and my classmates to gravitate towards similar visual interests, and see the world in different perspectives than people of other disciplines.

The image above is a meme I found online, that perfectly sums up what exactly this looks like, and what it feels like when I step back to see the big picture, when I amuse myself, thinking back to the feedback sessions during class and how it must look to outsiders with their first architecture school exposure, or a conversation with a non-architecture friend about my projects who are genuinely interested in understanding my ideas, but sometimes just need a bit more rephrasing or adjusting their thoughts so they are able to comprehend what exactly I am talking about.

Literally, the other day in class, we were discussing the significance of a picture of a glass of water resting on a clean, wooden table. I caught myself, making detailed observations or odd questions, like, the water depicted is so clean, further reinforcing the photographer’s purpose to demonstrate the cleanliness of the facility that produced that water. Or, the glass has only been filled with x amount of water, could it be a symbolic representation of the photographer’s ideological bias?

Others would likely see this as me being an over-thinker, or just some strange girl who has an interest in finding beauty or extra, made-up meaning in mundane objects, but I think this sort of logic of thinking is quite typical of architectural education, for instance, when instructors are having a conversation with us, about a designer’s intentions, or when we are asked to interpret someone else’s work, and we try to relate to their design, making it a valuable experience which is able to contribute to our own future design-work.

I definitely find myself more in-sync with my abstract interests whenever I photograph. I’d just visit a place, or an object, look at it from different points of view, then capture the images through my camera lenses, and it’s only afterwards, when I’m looking back at the images, that I realize these must look like such random shots to someone else, or sometimes even I question why I first found that view so intriguing, or how I even got the idea to shoot in such a perspective.

I have many other experiences to discuss, but I won’t write your eyes out, so I’ll discuss more in the following weeks, so stay tuned 🙂

And if you want to checkout my abstract photography, follow me on Instagram @themichiganarchitect !

architecture… does it have limits?

November 12, 2018November 12, 2018 themichiganarchitect Leave a comment

Architecture, the most broad discipline by far… does it have limits?
I certainly believe so, despite my passion for the field.
Architecture is limited between the fight form has with function; architecture is the result of the compromise of these two components.
Architecture is limited by technology. Ever since there was software created, more wild shapes have been encouraged in design. Back in the day, without such powerful software available, past architects instead had to rely on their genius mind power and artistic talent to produce the blueprints for their designs, Whereas today, we have people who care just barely draw, who can turn to software drawing to save themselves from being fried at their next review, and it also allows them to turn the model round and round virtually to literally see how all the elements of their design go together.
The perception of architecture is also limited. As an architecture student, I am constantly assigned projects that question my design abilities, but also must fit to a certain narrative. Yes, we get our own options to interpret the prompts for ourselves, and create our own “solutions” to the presented objectives, however I always question the necessities of the narrative portion. In our projects, I believe the narrative (the story or point we want to demonstrate through our design) simply serves to spur our designing. We think up a storm, to convey a meaning behind our project designs; sometimes we are successful, other times not so much.
What I’ve always found interesting about that is, the narrative is often times the reason for headache and heartache for us and our projects… however, hypothetically speaking, if these projects were to be real proposals in the actual world, I doubt anyone would be able to i(or let alone have the interest to) interpret our narratives behind the design. It’s like, why spend so much time crafting a story, that audiences cannot even see, or do not even wish to see? Perhaps, the reality is that these narratives exist just to capture ourselves as designers to have a fascination and passion for the project, which would in turn power our hard work and determination to do our best in the project, and designing it too.

Last paradise

October 14, 2018October 14, 2018 themichiganarchitect Leave a comment

Fall break… it’s finally here, ya’ll!

We wolverines have been dying from the start of the school year with the conflicts between our ambitions, future aspirations, interpersonal relationships, and academic adjustments. Or at least, this is what most wolverines would say honestly, if you asked them.

We are toiling daily, barely living our lives here. Classes are a challenge, maybe feeling increasingly less so if we are adjusting appropriately, yet our hygiene suffers. We barely exercise, let alone shower, we get sick more easily, and (if lucky) eat a meal a day. But I suppose this description of college life is different depending on who you ask; but generally everyone here is busy ALL the time, no joke.

* * * *

So, break is here. Chill guys!

Use this to actually take a break from everything; you’ll need this time to relax and refuel, as it is necessary to keep us from burning up from over-exhaustion. Yeah… sounds cliche, but things are cliche for a reason; typically because they’re true.

So, drop your homework, grab your buddies, travel, GET OUT AND HAVE FUN! LIVE YOUR LIFE! Even if that means staying indoors and marathon-ing Neflix shows, just do anything that you enjoy doing and have been abandoning for school for such a long time. Even if you’re a workaholic and decide to drop all of your responsibilities for just a few hours, hey, at least it’s still a few hours’ work of refreshing your own mind. Like the saying goes, “Time enjoyed is not time wasted.”

Designers and Dreamers: Stress, Ability, and Capability

September 23, 2018September 23, 2018 themichiganarchitect Leave a comment

taubman courtyard lights at sunset
photographed exclusively by @themichiganarchitect instagram

Apparently it has only been a month since college had first started back up. Yet, how do I feel so beat already? Is it me? Or is it my habits that are the issue?

I have spoken to many classmates and friends, and they’ve all given various responses as to how they feel at this moment of the semester. Some are super chill, living their life as they’d like to. Others are just barely scraping by, rarely showering, eating, and (if they’re lucky) sleeping. So, what’s the diversity from? Do some people just work or study more efficiently or something that others, or is it just mostly because of the different scheduling due to major and types of classes?

Ya’ll know I’m gonna say that it will most likely be a mixture of both.

Like they all say, “everyone is different.” Even with the academic motivations, skills, and level of stress.

Of course, as college students, we are constantly learning from every experience of our everyday lives, and our brains are still developing, constantly rewiring new skills, and deleting past ones sometimes.

So, “what’s the point of this post?” you may ask.

Well, it’s more of an opinionated informative piece on this topic.

Sometimes, it is the most simple, mundane things in life that we should be most interested in taking time to improve. Not necessarily asking you to re-learn how to brush your teeth (though I’m sure it would be useful with the amount of cavities and oral issues college students commonly have), but maybe taking time to re-evaluate ourselves fairly. I was once asked by a friend of mine, “How do you evaluate your self worth? Is it through your work? Or is it through your aspirations for your work? (work as in course assignments)?” I’d had a hard time putting together the words of my thought at the time, but as short as the question was, it holds a lot of weight and definition in life.

As an architecture student, we are constantly taught how to re-see spaces, tap into our imaginations, and look deepx

into mundane topics for the sparks of our project ideas. As great as that may be for our creativity and model-making skills, how does this system of education support our own mental worth? I suppose it is similar in other fields as well, but I feel that at least in design (art and architecture and anything in that general sector), lessons can be easily taken to the heart.

Our projects are born from our minds, our thoughts, and may even pull from memories for structure. Furthermore, our projects are essentially our life during the semester; if I’m not in bed or showering, I am literally always at my studio cranking out the construction of my models. This accounts for the stress, and constant anxiety around grades and competition. In studio, surrounded by countless talented folks working just as hard as you, it really is hard not to look around and see a battlefield. (Not to mention, there are moments of literal bloodshed when you find your exacto knife had slipped right into your skin at 2am.) And, for those who struggle with even just formulating an idea, or the lack of knowledge of construction techniques, studio sometimes feels like a place to prove yourself, and create your self worth through educational struggles. But, the best part is yet to come. So, you’ve spent the whole week being antisocial, rarely eating, scarcely sleeping, or even showering, and your project is finally finished, yay! Now, it’s time for the review, where your professor and a few guest critics come and evaluate your work and give feedback publicly after you present. For many, reviews make or break the ego. If it goes well, our ego soars, we feel at the top of the world. If the review is mortifying, we feel embarrassed, and worthless, and like a total failure for “wasting” so much time and hope during the construction process. Then, the next project is assigned, and we gotta do it all over again…

The point is, life does suck sometimes, and we are all allowed to set our own standards and have our own habits. It’s just that I wanted to say that we need to still recognize our own strengths through all of this, and NOT place our self worth into our works’ products. Just because you worked hard, doesn’t guarantee you will score an A in the course, or show that you’re the most intelligent or talented or something. Working hard builds character, an essential pillar to being a person. Learning slowly but surely transports you from crappy to excellent. Likewise, your portfolio, which I am sure that you definitely took the time and effort to make it look presentable and illustrate your best works, is definitely not an accurate representation of who you are; a portfolio is simply a visual attempt for employers to get to know you better in terms of your personality and style and technical abilities. With that said, just try your best to create your portfolio, and I want to remind yourself that the only person you should be battling in this process is yourself. Don’t look at your neighbor’s project, look at your own, and learn off of your mistakes. It is not fair to compare yourself to others when you do not share experience in your backgrounds, and then try to compare your results.

To all my fellow Wolverine designers and dreamers out there, keep shooting for the stars, and I know you’ll land there 🙂

A chair versus a skyscraper… how different could they be?

February 10, 2018February 10, 2018 themichiganarchitect Leave a comment

I was at the Start Up Career Fair last Friday, talking with a few representatives of the furniture company Floyd, and my conversation with them struck my interest in the question: how different are architecture and furniture, really?
People say that architecture studies humanities to build spaces for humans to live their lives in. Sounds good. But when it comes to furniture, it’s almost as if nobody really cares about it; we take it for granted.
To me, my conversation with the Floyd team resonated with our beliefs that architecture and furniture design are really basically the same thing- the only difference is their sizing scale. This is our argument, which I’d love for any of you readers to comment on whether or not you agree!
1. Both architecture and furniture deal with societies and their habits.
2. Both architecture and furniture’s goals are for the design and aesthetics to be one and the same thing within itself.
3. Both architecture and furniture have the power to change our lifestyles.
4. Both architecture and furniture require stable engineering and general understanding of physics in order to function.
5. Both architecture and furniture fields have the power to influence one another throughout history.

Let me know what you think! I’d love to hear some thoughts!