Taubman architecture

Hi everyone!

Hope you all had a wonderful, restful MLK weekend!

I’m back again this week to discuss my answer to the question: What music do you listen to as you’re doing studio sketches or modeling?

First things first, I’ll just say, I have always been someone who’s been easily distracted no matter the context. So, getting me to focus and stay still to focus on specific tasks under a seemingly far away deadline is like pulling teeth. Whenever I do my structures assignments, I’d say that I listen to anything really, I find that classical music is alright too (I did used to be in orchestra, in case you were wondering how I don’t fall asleep listening to it for two hours straight). For any assignments that involve in-depth writing, like essays or reading, I listen to instrumentals. Again, orchestral music is great with me for this. I also really enjoy listening to dub step or even just instrumentals to tropical pop songs, and even remixes. I’ve even done quite well listening to non-English music. As soon as I hear English music, I find it inevitable that the lyrics will end up somewhere in my paper haha. As for my studio design sketching and modeling, I guess I do not really distinguished playlists for either of the tasks. I enjoy listening to anything really, as long as its upbeat. So, pretty much anything within the genres: pop, EDM, tropical house, and synthetic instrumentals, I find quite inspiring to my work actually. Besides the fact that sometimes I will find myself awake or still-awake at unearthly hours, I just find that anything upbeat and catchy just sets a great groove for me to “settle” into the work that I need to do. I oftentimes find that the beats and catchy lyrics keep me energized for hours, as I’m usually doing some sort of tedious, repetitive task either with my knives on the cutting mat or on my laptop with the software. I do also think that the devices that I use to listen to my music influence my ability to make this work as well. Sometimes. if there is just too much linework, or powerful renderings that need to be done, I will go to the BT Lab (our PC classrooms with very powerful computers) and I just end up listening off of their PC with my earbuds. If I’m at my desk doing my work on my laptop, I’ll just listen off of my laptop with my earbuds or my wireless headphones- the only downside with the headphones is I often get too warm or my head starts to hurt from the weight and pressure put on my ears for the extended period of time. Now, if I’m modeling, I find it immensely more convenient to use my wireless headphones- you can imagine, there’s a ton of materials and blades and sketches scattered on the desk, so the last thing you need or want is a tangled wire of your headphone getting caught on stuff, as you’re constantly re-positioning in order to produce the most effective cuts. I’ve definitely forgotten to charge my headphones and ended up using earbuds, and the result was just some wasted minutes to untangle things, or bring my phone and headphones along wherever I moved. Aaanddd, here’s what you would consider the click bait of this post: an excerpt of my playlist! I hope ya’ll will give it a go, whether you’re sprawled in bed or doing your own work. If you do, (or don’t I guess) and have comments or suggestions, feel free to drop your thoughts in the comments below, or reach out to my instagram at: themichiganarchitect Ciao 🙂

TheMichiganArchitect Work Playlist Winter 2020 🙂

Mike Perry feat. Tessa: Stay Young

Sistek feat. Tudor & Amy J Pryce: Pitfalls

Doja Cat: Say So

Far East Movement feat. Jay Park: Sxwme

Maggie Lindemann (Cheat Codes and CADE Remix): Pretty Girl

Bazzi (Bazzi vs Young Bombs Remix): Mine

Timeflies: Once In a While

Timeflies & Shy Martin: Raincoat

Alex Ross feat. Dakota & T-Pain: Dreams

Ali Simpson: Guilty

Allie X: Catch

Overstreet: Carried Away

Lovelytheband: Broken

Jax Jones & Ella Henderson: This is Real

Arizona: Electric Touch

Kim Petras: Icy

Alexandra Stan: Little Lies

Adventure Club & Crankdat feat. Krewella: Next Life

One Republic (Arty Remix): I Lived

The Knocks feat. Foster The People): Ride or Die

Austin Mahone: Better With You

Tiesto feat. Stevie Appleton: BLUE

Hi Everyone!

I’m back again to discuss this week’s topic: Studio Workplace Experience.

You’re probably going back to the title, re-reading it, and scratching your head in confusion, like what the heck is she talking about?!

Well, to clarify, this week I will be sharing with you my experience and observance of how my classmates and I work on projects (and sometimes a plethora of other assignments and activities)in our work spaces within studio or our other favorite lounges or nooks within the Art and Architecture Building.

So, in case I have not mentioned in my previous posts, our studio space is located on the third floor of the architecture side of the building, and extends across the common space of the new wing, into the new, secluded studios. “Studio space” simply refers to the literal rows of desks that we do all of our project crafting in. Often, whenever you walk by, it’s quite easy to tell when a review (presentation) is coming up, because that is when most (or all) our desks are junked up with piles and piles of papers of various sizes (there’s blueprint sized papers, and then there’s nicer expensive print-outs on poster-sized papers, and then there’s just ordinary print papers too), piles of models and sometimes even residue of the craft (scraps of material, crumbs, knives, trash bags, you name it).

Personally, I really love my studio desk. Why? Well, it’s my personal space. I store whatever I want there conveniently, I decorate it however I wish, there’s plenty of USB and electrical outlet plugs right at my desk, and I’m a bit of a clean freak so it’s often impossible for me to efficiently work elsewhere because I’d spend too much time pickily searching for the “perfect desk” where it’s non-shaky, it’s clean, and spacious, with easy access to electrical outlets. Also, it’s considered my property (at least for the time being until I switch to a new desk next semester) so even if there is someone borrowing my desk, I can kick them out back to their own desk or some other space. Elsewhere, I own no property, and it’s often packed with people, so I waste my time looking for the space, and it does not even guarantee that I will get a spot.

And I even have a key to the drawers that I store my materials in. Oftentimes people leave them unlocked because of the natural “sharing culture” we have within studio, but I wouldn’t recommend doing that because:

1) you’ve already paid $20 deposit for your drawer key. Might as well use it, right?

2) materials are expensive!! Often, I developed favorites amongst my supplies, and if it’s missing it literally feels like someone stole my child. Not to mention, sometimes things are hard to obtain another duplicate of because it’s very commonplace that the company of that object no longer produces that exact version OR they produced other versions that you aren’t fond of due to unfamiliarity or pricing.

AND

3) Our media center (where we buy food and materials) is not always open, so if someone sees material on your desk, it’s pretty much fair game to them, and it’s often awkward and difficult to hunt down your thief due to the sharing culture of studio, along with the fact that people will take free materials whenever possible!

Anyway, all of those above reasons are likely reasons why nearly most of the people who attend our college are usually around all the time, even if we don’t have something assigned for studio. Sometimes people just hang here out of convenience. Legit, people will have meals together at their desks, and sometimes have hours’ worth of The Office watch party (using their monitors or one of the moveable campus monitors) for leisure. Or, I’ve often found myself doing non-studio work at my desk as well because of the sort of factory-like, productive nature of our studio space, along with the fact that people are constantly moving in this space, and they can and will see whatever I do and they may or may not judge my actions. I often find difficulties focusing sometimes, so this productive environment really helps keep me motivated and productive! Many of my friends feel the same way, so they do the same.

As for workplace habits, I’d say I see most people having headphones in, either listening to music or podcasts or Netflix white-noise, or even talking on the phone/video-calling. I’m one of those people who really enjoy working alongside music, and feel less motivated without the audio stimulation, especially for model-making. Other classmates I’ve seen, and definitely been sort of admirable but also confused about how they can still craft meticulously alongside watching a show. Like, come on, are you not worried you’ll slice your finger, when you’re holding one side of the material down as you slice, but your eyes aren’t the material you’re cutting?! Trust me, I’ve seen countless accidents occur simply from fatigue at 2am where the knife slips and you slice off a part of your hand- which isn’t very fun! Or, other people who are able to craft while eating a multiple-pieced snack, like wow, are you not worried your fingerprints are gonna make an appearance on that perfect model? Or, you feel indifferent about having a sticky project? Or even a project that smells like vinegar? Anyway, who am I to judge? I just find some of my peers’ habits interesting, and accept that we are all different in our habits and values.

Well, that is all for today!

I’d love to hear your views on my insights!

As usual, if you’re interested in seeing more of my photography and studio work, give me a follow on Instagram: @themichiganarchitect !

Ciao for now 🙂

Tag: Taubman architecture

In the Eyes of An Architecture Student: What Music do you Listen to for Studio Work?

From the Eyes of an Architecture Student: Studio Workspace Experience