We skipped dinner

Here I am right before I leave to pick you up. I look good but as usual, you look better.

We walk down to the Commons. It is cold outside and there are clusters of snow left from last nights storm. There is a chilling breeze but we don't mind, the white Christmas lights multiply in this kind of weather.

After stopping by a used book store we head over to the Cinemapolis, Ithaca's independent theatre ("Playing whatever we feel like since 19__").

By the box office you notice the butterflies up ahead and kid me, "watch out for the moths."

You wanted to see Coco Before Chanel but it was my turn to choose. I went to buy our tickets for A Serious Man. The guy at the counter noticed we were poor but in love, "tonight is two for one." I take the one ticket, rip it and give you half.


The theatre is small but so is Ithaca. The movie was a Coen brothers film, you hated it. I still need some time to decide.

I walked you home and kissed you goodnight. It was a good date.

Judgment Day

So three days ago we hit the culmination of our semester: the final review. As it turns out, the main component of an architectural education is the design studio. It is the design studio that takes up most of my time and it is the design studio that makes people do crazy things like stay up all night.

At no point in the semester are any type of grades handed out and the final review is the point where you showcase what you have learned for the entire semester. The best part is that this is done in front of a jury of outside critics whose objectives are first, to showcase everything they know and second, offer you some advice on your design methods. It is the former that really shatters a student's self-esteem but really, you can't take these sort of things personally.

If I have been delinquent in updating my blog it is because for the past two weeks I have spent nearly all of my time preparing for the final review. Just to give you an idea of what the atmosphere was like in Rand Hall in the days leading up to our review, one of my classmates didn't sleep for two nights. Yes, for three days he lived in Rand Hall and only slept with a keyboard as his pillow. I was so exhausted that the two days after the review, I didn't wake up until after 1pm and didn't extract myself from bed until the sun was setting.

Anyways, here are the plots from my final project. You can click on them to get a better look, in reality each of these panels was 3ft wide and 7ft long.
Note: We have only been working on this project for about five weeks and it is my first building project so be kind....

The project was to build a facility for visiting professors. The site was an existing structure on campus, a largely ignored, half completed building that houses Cornell's squash courts.

My project interpreted the site as two elements: the hallway and the squash court. Taking those two elements, whose existing state determines the current structure, and interpreting them based on the phenomenological aspects of the buildings, a new structure emerges as part of a dialogue between the two. The hallway became a twisted skewer, the cells became distinct units, and the structure that emerged was what you see in the renderings.

The intent of the facility was to invert the myth of an isolated intellectual by intersecting the professor's life with the life of the university.

I am happy with the way the presentation turned out but there are some rather fatal shortcomings in the structural manifestations of my ideas and the critics basically ripped me apart for them. ("So it goes." - Vonnegut)

~

Now I have just a week left and an overwhelming amount of writing to get done before that time is up... precisely what I am avoiding by writing this post but hey, studio is done and life is good.

Indeterminate

I am at the end of my break.

From last Wednesday to today I have been on holiday and I cannot quite tell you what I have done. I am trying to think of the causes and this is what I have come up with.

First, my movement was constricted to about a mile and half radius from my apartment. This is actually the norm for my semester but something about the holiday and the travel plans of my classmates allowed this fact to blur any distinction in my activities.

Second, is that for the past five days (I am sincerely incredulous that such time has passed) I have only had one appointment, Thanksgiving dinner with some friends. The rest of the time I had no commitments. This contributed to me, somehow, slipping out of the normal conventions of time. The best example I can give for this is that conventional names for meals could only be loosely applied to my day. Breakfast might be the first meal of my day but that could be at three in the afternoon.

Third, winter has really begin to set in. The gloomy weather, filtered sunlight, and early sunsets have created a landscape that only varies between two states: night and twilight. As soon as the sun rises, it looks like it has begun to set. Again, this allowed me for just a bit, to exist outside of time.

Anyways, I am speaking of the break in a really existential way but please don't worry. I spent a lot of time with friends and had an amazing break, I just don't know where it went.

Drawing Class

So last Friday was our final Analog Drawing class. We were assigned an article on the "Innocent Eye" (the current mode of pedagogy in most architecture schools) and were to create a Pecha-Kucha style presentation in response to the article. Pecha Kucha is a way of quickly presenting an idea, 15-20 slides, 15 seconds each... great for architects because everyone knows how much they can talk.

Anyways, Thursday rolls around and I still had no idea what I was going to do for my presentation. The article was fairly strait forward, tracing the history of the current mode of education back to the 18th century to prove that it is not as natural as its proponents would suggest.

Anyways, Friday morning (Go time) rolls around and I wake up early to put together a presentation. Still confused I take a shower and have a stroke of brilliance. I got out of the shower at 7:15 and had exactly an hour to implement my idea. Here is the results...

So thinking about the article I realized that the best response would be in the form of a narrative. To tell this narrative I used drawing as a medium, figuring it would be approapriate to show how much I learned in my drawing class. Anyways, this is the story about a guy named Johnny Appleseed. (Preface: you might be tempted to think of this as autobiographical but that would be a mistake)


However, Johnny just happened to grow up in San Diego and go to school in Santa Barbara.


What both of these places have in common is that they are in California, the sun shines all of the time, and you never have to wear more than two layers.


One day Johnny had an idea that might give some direction to his life and possibly utilize a disparate set of talents.


Johnny wants to become and architect. (Depicted above is Frank Loyd Wright's "Falling Water")


Anyways, Johnny set about trying to fulfill this dream. The biggest difficulty came when Johnny realized that he knew nothing about architecture school.


Somehow or another Johnny is accepted to a few schools and he chooses to move to Ithaca, NY to attend Cornell University.


Upon the commencement of his stories, Johnny is introduced to a discipline that is not as strait forward as one would think.


He is also introduced to architecture school culture. Which is a bit of a shock.


He is also introduced to his future as a designer. Which is also a shock.


Johnny begins to realize that he knows very little. (Notice in high school you know everything)


However, the positive side is that Johnny's knowledge about architecture school is increasing rapidly. The stepped nature of the plot is due to a spike every Wednesday in theory class. Julia and Maegan did their undergraduate work as architecture students.


So, Johnny had set out to obtain a pair of "innocent eyes."


Fortunately Johnny was educated from an early age in a way that Maholy-Nagy and Gyogry Kepes would approve of.


The conclusion of the story is that Johnny has been exposed to this mode of design education for a while. However, having entered into a semester where it has been much more deliberate and intense, he is not yet able to critique the efficacy and bias of this pedagogical imperative and is far from a place where he might offer an alternative that would embrace the postmodern virtues (no that is not an oxymoron) that characterize our age.

-

So that was my presentation. My classmates loved it and my teacher implored that I never show those drawing to any of the other architecture faculty.

I need two hands to count....

the amount of Northface jackets I see in this cafe.

the hours I could have been working this weekend.

the number of leaves left on the tree outside the window.

the degrees it is above freezing.

the number of people sleeping in Rand at this very moment.

the number of meals I have had oatmeal for in the last few days.

the number of pages I have left to write for tomorrow.

the circulation possibilities of the Arts Quad.

the days before it snows again.

the number of classes left in the semester.

the number of times I have exercised this semester (Wait!... one, two... six. Ok, we're ok)

the times I have slept through both of my alarms.

the number of times I have overheard the word "postmodernism" ... today (It is only 10:20am)

It is that time of year again....

That's right, tis the season, of Girl Scout Cookies.

On Wednesday I had just finished with my theory lecture and was walking into Rand Hall, home of the architecture studios. Just inside, on the first floor, there were three little blond girls and one mom. They were busily employed setting up a table and had lugged up to Rand as many boxes as those little arms could carry. Judging by the number of boxes behind the table, they must have made at least a dozen trips to the car.

This was the scene as it unfolded at approximately 11:45am. When I came back down the stairs just before noon, they were gone.

Let's just say it was a smart move by a few future entrepreneurs. Keep in mind that most architecture students spend about 75% of their time in Rand and I am not just talking about waking hours. So when these cute little ambassador's of a timeless tradition set up shop, they cleared their inventory in about 15 minutes.

The guy who walked into Rand behind me, a Master's student, asked if they would accept a check. "Yes? Great I will take seven boxes of Thin Mints." As I was walking up the stairs I was nearly trampled by student's rushing to the opportunity below.

I just thought this a great anecdote in terms of the work environment here.

The Avant-Garde

"White on white" by Kazimir Malevich

"Fountain" by Marcel Duchamp

Wednesday, I was sitting in a lecture by a young architect from Los Angeles who works primarily on installations. The lecture was titled "The spaces between a mouse and a hammer" and presented some remarkably forward thinking projects. I was excited by the work but also by a new idea, that I am joining the avant-garde. After all, I have spent all semester designing buildings that don't look or function like buildings and can appreciate the artistic and philosophical advances made by Malevich and Duchamp in the above pieces. What else do you need?

Anyways, my mind began to wander and I began to unpack what that meant. What does it mean to be part of the avant-garde? How can one elevate oneself to such a position within society?

Well, if you must know, there are two ways to get in. One option is to pay outrageous sums of money for an ivy-league education in design. The other option is be naturally intuitive, intelligent, and creative. Fortunately, in either case the results are the same: low paying jobs and general lack of appreciation.

Now, if you make it that far you will probably notice that other people your age are actually getting paid and the logical question to ask is: "What concession is there to being in the avant-garde? What do we get out of all this?" The answer: a false sense of superiority.

Luckily, you and all your friends from design school get to enjoy this together (at the same time shielding you from any outside critics) and while you might have to roll up that avant-garde scarf to use as a pillow at night, it might just be worth it. Gallery openings, installation art, New York or Los Angeles, who cares if you don't have money to pay rent or buy groceries, you are part of the avant-garde and doesn't it just feeeeel good to be a starving artist?

No? Wow you are even more prepared for position than you thought. That is right, you just entered into the realm of "tortured creative soul." You are a captain of the front guard. Your life may be a living hell but at least you are not living like the rest of those zombies in America, oblivious to their own enslavement and the true nature of the world. (Notice we are back to the false sense of superiority)

Lecture Series

Daniel Libeskind of Studio Daniel Libeskind

Thom Mayne of Mophosis
(Two weeks ago named as part of Obama's Committee on the Arts and Humanities)

Last week was a big week for the AAP Lecture series as two big name architects joined us on campus: Daniel Libeskind and Thom Mayne. What I found truly amazing, was how different they were. Both are fairly successful. Both dress in the architect's black. However they embodied two completely different models of working.

Libeskind, first of all, made the mistake of presenting a generic presentation to a highly intellectual, architectural audience. He also spoke singularly and possessively of his work: "I do this" or "I do that." Thom Mayne had a much more advanced presentation (still based on his studio's work) but also spoke collectively about the design process: "We choose" or "We tried."

If you really want a breakdown of how they view the architectural practice just look at what they chose to name their respective studios.

Ready for the Weekend

Last week went by incredibly quickly... actually all of my weeks are going quickly... anyways, when Friday rolled around, specifically 7:00pm on Friday night when I finally got to leave campus, I realized a whole week had passed in what felt like two days. Someone could have told me it was Wednesday and I would have no problem believing it.

I also realized that it had been at least two days since my last solid meal. Along with some of my classmates, I set out immediately to rectify the situation. We went down to a sports bar in the Commons and I had the best, worst burger of my life. By that I mean that the food was in truth, sub par. However, when most of my nutrients for the week were either eaten out of a box or a cup, the burnt "California Burger" was unbelievably sumptuous.

After dinner we attempted to elongate our Friday in any way we could and it ended up being a great night.

"This is what we do to pussies"

On Saturday morning I came into studio to find this and other LoLcatz-type pictures everywhere. Ever wonder who makes all of those silly pictures? It is B.Arch students who try to work on a Friday night. Come on kids, Friday is the one night we can actually not feel guilty about having a little down time. Saturday we have to work again but Friday is all ours.


The weather actually took a positive turn this weekend. Saturday I was walking around in a long sleeve shirt and Sunday I actually wore shorts!

And now I am getting ready to go out for dinner and then... see Brian Regan at the State St. Theatre! WOOO!

Here Comes the Cold

I have been in the extreme cold before and that is why it is surprising that I have found so many occasions in the past two days to let go of my dignity. I think it is having to find the ideal medium of warm clothing, so as to brave the cold but also be prepared to sweat while walking up hill and shed layers upon arrival. Anyways here are my top three moments:

Embarrassing moment 1:
Walking home from studio at night I had to say goodbye to Kari because it was too cold to hold the phone. It was around two in the morning and in my semi-hypothermic state I try to wrap my scarf to cover my entire face. The problem was that breathing into my scarf caused my glasses to fog and I fell into giant pile of leaves on the side of the walkway.

Embarrassing moment 2:
This morning I missed the bus and had to walk to class. Normally I don't mind walking but it was near freezing outside. I decided to break into a jog to get the blood flowing and halfway up the Slope I realized that was only bringing the cold air into my lungs at an accelerated rate. Never before have I been cold ON THE INSIDE... I thought I might die.

Embarrassing moment 3:
Walking home tonight I zipped my jacket up all the way and put my face inside to the effect that I looked like Darth Vader without his mask.

The Small World of Architecture

In case you are curious here is the latest list of rankings for architecture schools. People tend to agree/disagree with the system based on where their institution ends up.
"2010 Best Architecture Schools in the United States"


Also worth noting are some of the current superstars in architecture. Koolhaus designed Cornell's new architecture building. I went to a lecture by Shigeru Ban a couple of weeks ago and Tom Mayne is going to be lecturing at Cornell on Thursday.
"10 Most Creative People in Architecture"

Halloween (Isaiah 5:11)

To experience Halloween in New York is wonderful. It is the closest I have been to the idealized version of the holiday conveyed in movies. For example, on Halloween morning, I look out my window to see crows perched on a tree without leaves, against a dismally grey autumn sky. The formerly brilliantly colored leaf carpet is now uniformly brown and scatters with the occasional gust of cold wind. Even better, once the sun sets thin clouds veil and unveil a full moon... I know right!

This Halloween is also the closet I have come to experiencing the typical collegiate holiday... yes I went out, twice actually. Because Ithaca is a college town Halloween started for me, on Friday (for many it even started on Thursday). This might have been prompted by two classmates suggesting that I don't go out with them nearly enough but it sounded fun. I have been out to see Isla Vista (UCSB) at Halloween time and Ithaca's party scene didn't seem nearly as tragic.

Anyways, both nights I spent with the other M.Arch students. Friday night I dressed up as Lenny Kravits and went to a party hosted by the architecture undergraduates. As lame as that sounds let me first explain that there is an annual tradition hosted by the undergraduate program called Dragon Day and not only do they get funding from the school, but the undergraduates also fund-raise by selling t-shirts. These t-shirts are apparently a BIG DEAL because last year Dragon Day cost about $15,000 but they raised nearly $30,000. I don't know how this works but the undergraduates use the rest to throw parties...

It was still lame.

There was a dance floor and DJ that wasn't all that bad, especially when the M.Arch students were clustered together. However, once that bubble burst I realized that I was surrounded by a bunch of 18-20 yr old kids who were drunk out of their minds, a strange experience for a former RA. My bubble was actually literally burst by one intoxicated undergrad female who tripped and knocked me down with her. By the way the quickest way to recover in such a situation, is turn and help the people helping you help the girl up (it establishes who the drunk one is).

The cops came shortly after we got there and as all the kids scatter the M.Arch students could just walk out casually and not worry about having been drinking. Overall it was fun and I felt like I bonded with some of my classmates. Even going to bed around five in the morning, I was willing to do it all again the next night when we went to an exclusively graduate party.

This time I dressed as a lumberjack. The party was an older and surprisingly international crowd, every conversation I overheard was laced with different accents. It was also jam packed, real fire-hazard sort of crowding. Anyways, I realized the main difference between the two parties: age. But that was also a fun night and ended at a similar time.

The best part is that I also somehow found the time to make a sweet model for Monday and Jim really liked it.

Kari Visits Ithaca

Last weekend was hands down the best of my semester. We did not do much but every moment was worth it.
It was the perfect Fall weekend, not only in the company but also in terms of the weather. The colors of Ithaca in the Fall are outrageously beautiful and while the leaves began to turn a while ago, the ground is currently carpeted with the fallen foliage.

This is actually a stream that is down and across the street from me

The weekend was filled with good food and coffee. Kari's birthday was last Tuesday and so I used the weekend to treat her to as many birthday treats as I could.


Saturday night I took her out for dessert at a restaurant that does not print a dessert menu, instead they let their patrons walk up to a glass, refrigerated bar that contains cakes, mousses, tarts, truffles, etc. and choose with their eyes. It was important that the dessert be perfect because Kari had not had dessert in three months. She had a rich, flour-less chocolate cake and I had a blueberry crumble tart a la mode.

Sunday we went out to a late breakfast at a place in town called the Mate Factor. It is run by a pseudo-psycho-religious group who live communally, make their own clothes, and cook amazing food. After breakfast I had to walk off the richest Belgian waffle I have ever had and so we headed down to the lake inlet.

It was a great weekend. Monday when time for studio began to loom closer, I decided that the better decision would be to keep Kari to myself for a little longer and ride the bus with her to the airport. In terms of studio the only acceptable excuse for skipping is death or the swine flu. So I emailed my professor, told him I was not going to make it but was going to take my girlfriend to the airport.

The next day I found out he came into studio and simply said, "Aparrarently... John thinks that taking his girlfriend to the airport is an acceptable excuse to miss studio..." My classmates, probably relieved that they would not have to cover for me, quickly pointed out that in the very least I was honest.

Anyways, Jim was pleased with what I had to show on Wednesday and even teased me about it yesterday. This is good, but it would have been worth it either way.

Fall from a different perspective.

One of the girls in my program has been taking prolific amounts of pictures since arriving in August. She lost her camera before coming out so most of them were on a cell phone. I never noticed but she always had that thing out and finally, last weekend or so, she posted a fbook album with over two hundred photos. However, because of some creepers in her past life, not everyone can view the album. So I stole some of the pictures of me and here they are!

This is a few of the 1st and 2nd year M.Arch students outside of the Big Red Barn for TGIF.


Noah and I during one of our reviews.


Me gearing up to give a presentation of my dinner party idea. There is a drawing on the big white sheet of paper but in incredibly light lines.



Speaking of the Dinner Party... This is me right before a blind contour drawing that was one student's method of documentation. Deborah here let me grab the candle.


Towards the end of the dinner.


Group shot! This is what everyone looks like after a couple glasses of wine. Which, I guess, is also the reason for the photographer to crop out most of the group.


Strolling through the Farmer's market on a beautiful Saturday.


Working on the cold floor of the unforgiving studio.


My first experience with the laser cutter. This was my jig for the dinner party model.


Maybe we could get more sleep if we didn't spend so much time just hanging out in studio. To be fair we are learning from each other but my guess is this picture isn't the pinnacle of productivity, Colin, whose desk that is, is not even there.


Me during my final review for the first project. Those are two of the jurors on the right.


Ok this is a fairly egocentric post (ok most of my posts are) but I thought it would be a nice change to have some pictures with subjects in them and since most of the time, I am the one taking the picture, it was a rare chance to show me in action.

Anyways, I need to get back to work. We have our review for the second project tomorrow. I am not nearly as worried about this one because I fully accept that I am very new to this and have everything to learn. Furthermore, Kari is coming this weekend and it is pretty hard to get me down with that so near in my future.