be an architect

Back to school tomorrow. I am excited and a bit nervous. Last quarter _{my first} was really tough. But I think I am better prepared this time around. I keep comparing it all to boot camp. When I started I was full of attitude and out of shape. And spent the quarter struggling to keep up, constantly being pushed to my limits. It was good for me, but not fun. I want to say it was, but it was NOT. A lot of that had to do with getting used to being a student again. Getting used to the pace. Re-learning a lot of software. And learning a TON of new stuff on structure and assemblies _{very happy about this.}

Mostly I had completely lost touch with my own creative process that used to seem like second nature. I spent a LOT of time paralyzed in fear of failure. I hate admitting that, but it was by far the biggest hurtle of them all. My ego really took a good _{albeit healthy} knock going from the professional world back to school. I felt like a mumbling idiot most the time, not getting the accolades of a planetary do-gooder who had gotten a little too inflated with her little niche in the world. I discovered a monster chasm between by technical knowledge and my creative abilities. My left brain was hard on the right, criticizing its every move with my trusty arsenal of consultant thoughts.

But I pushed through and ended up with a project I was proud of _{though barely complete enough to present.} And I did keep up with work on the side _{though not as many hours as I had thought I could do} and my first online teaching gig with the BAC was pretty successful.

Now I am in much better shape. I feel like I have the muscles – and most importantly the TRUST in myself to thrive. I’ve been getting excited about the upcoming studio assignment and starting to stumble back upon that passion I was afraid I lost. Some early ideas for thesis or independent study brewin’.

Things I want to focus on this quarter…
- collect more source material
- start more abstract
- TAKE CHANCES!!! Just throw it out there. There is plenty of time to poke holes, readjust, and refine
- work in a way that can be easily shared at any stage, establish a fluid digital process
- keep a journal of all desk crits, come prepared with questions
- when I get stuck, built lots of models fast
- force my self to do perspectives early and often to keep focused on the human experience
- seek out mentorship

The big theme is strengthening my design process – in need of major reinforcements. That’s what I am here for.

I’m sitting in the basement computer lab, waiting for CAD to install in my laptop. Gonna give it a good go tonight. Time to get back on the saddle. My SketchUp drawings don’t print well and are hard to edit. Its been a few years since I’ve done any real drafting and I hope it goes easy, like riding a bike.

I can’t believe the quarter is almost over. And I’ve just found some conviction for my project. I am wishing for time to slow down and speed up at the same time. Gotta try and focus on the moment. Remember that I am learning lots along the way. I forgot about growing pains.

This is so good for me. I say that to myself a million times a day. This is so good for me.

sure do love their modernism.

David Byrne turns a beautiful old ferry station into an instrument.

I really want to go to university and become a qualified architect :)

Something profound happened this morning. Last night I was exhausted after teaching and talking all day. I slept deeply. Vivid dreaming. Tending a garden, which was in the front yard of my Dad’s house. I had violets planted in rows. And I was talking to Victor – my colleague and mentor – who was sitting at a table in the middle of the yard trying to work. I was thinking about a radical new building design I had heard of, trying to understand a how it worked – sorting the images out in my head while watering the flowers. What I remember about the building is that it had huge rain catchers, which fed into an underground chamber used to make and store ice cream and draw air to cool the space above. I was asking Victor questions and finally I stopped and said – I think I know how it should look. I walked over to the desk and grabbed some trace and a pen and sketched it out. Victor smiled and we laughed about how you could build a ramp through the underground chamber and sled through the mounds of ice cream. He left and looked over my drawings, impressed with the way it came together and sat down to add some craftsman-style details to the beams beneath the eaves.

As I woke up my head was flooded with images that moved out of the land of ice cream sledding and started to form into more concrete elements that tie together so many of the ideas I have had over the last year or so. I grabbed my sketch book and in my chicken scratch started to describe beautiful scoops that reach out from the building to catch water and create shade and outdoor space beneath their wings. Manipulating a daylight scheme with shading devices and light shelves to also catch and move water. Water storage that forms thermal columns or directed through a series of planters for biological water treatment. Cooling towers moving air over an underground reservoir to provide natural displacement ventilation. A cascade of opportunities to integrate ecological processes into building form. A second ecological skin wrapped around an old building giving it new life.

I can’t wait to get back home and set up a proper studio space. Dedicate some time to pulling imagery – a day at the library printing and making copies, going through my own photography. Need some better trace for the chimeric assembly of ideas. Get some better tools to use with my clay. And before long I know I will need the right challenge to focus my investigations and keep them well fed. Time to start looking for a design competition.

I don’t have many hours left. Have more than enough actual hours but need more construction observation experience. Had a good performance review with my boss who is very supportive. They said they would send me to visit two of my projects under construction! I gotta move on that. And I need to sign up for some Habitat for Humanity work days.

I am a registered Architect and I’ve wanted to do it since I was 12. In fact, I almost lost my life trying to peek inside of a nearby construction project near my childhood home. Apparently, the neighborhood kids were breakin’ the windows, I came by on the wrong day. I met my passion and the unforgiving barrel of a shotgun on the same day. Thank goodness they didn’t shoot. In my spare time, I teach college courses in design, color theory, and construction document assembly. Here’s an image of a futuristic dormitory project I designed stacked above a sinewy convocation hall. The project was never commissioned by Georgia State, but hey, I love this stuff!!!!!!!!

aaahhh done with my 2nd year…3 more years to go. yay for me!!!!
anyone else who’s addicted to architecture?