Anyone that has gone through or is going through Architecture school has a bond of shared experiences that ties us, confreres. All-nighters, redoes, un-planned dieting, an unhealthy obsession with deconstructivism projects, and philosophy understood only among architects are all included within the package of a degree in architecture.
All of these elements very often lead to a guilty pleasure that all of us compatriots love indulging in, which is: discussions on how sorry we feel for ourselves. These conversations do get out of hand oftentimes. This aspect of ours requires self-moderation; self-moderation, from a certain perspective, to reduce self-inflicted stress. But this moderation that I ask for is primarily for the sake of avoiding certain embarrassing mishaps that I have been an accomplice in.
Before you skip this advice constructed through my own experience, I hope my recent elaborated break-down of a technical error that led to quite a reputation through the faculty of architecture stands as a valid reason.
A number of my university’s classes are held on an online platform, with lectures being held online on the university site, and workshops being conducted on the ever-famous zoom online meeting sessions. This embarrassing story of mine comes from one of the online seminars on Technology & Structures online, among a group of 20 students, a professor, and a teaching assistant.
A few of my compatriots may have already understood the subject I had mentioned prior, but to those who may be in doubt, I cannot stand Structures and Technologies! During the lectures and workshops of this particular sub-field, I often find myself making rounds on my phone, testing other classmates on humorous self-pity digital conversations. This is quite a difficult task, considering the need to avoid the teaching staff’s eagle eyes.
Imagine my joy when the opportunity for me to avoid education, to loathe pity was offered up on a gold platter. 20 different people, I could converse with, having no fear of being reprimanded! Such an opportunity was what dreams were made of! Or is it?
In the first seminar of my previous year’s technology class, I was in a deep conversation with a fellow empathizer on the deadly amount of workload in the design thesis, which required numerous physical models to be produced each week.
While engrossed in the conversation, I brought up the need for a long stress-relieving night out with a few friends. In pure humor, I sent him a formal invite I crafted in about a minute onto the chat. This was then followed by dead silence through every cam-screen on the group. And then, within a minute, the whole class erupted in a roar of laughter.
Utterly confused by what had gone down, I asked another one of the students in class for an explanation of what had happened. It turned out that there was no explanation needed, but only a closer look at where I had sent the invitation. It turned out that the file that I had shared was received by the entire group, the staff included. Red-faced, I just shut my cam and was never again turned on through the subject’s period. Legend has it that the invitation is being shared among the faculty of architecture even to this day.
College is filled with a multiplicity of events that leads to joy, sorrow, and on numerous occasions, utter embarrassment. But these are a part of the journey and will be a memory that we will all look back on fondly in the future. But what is of most importance is to not send through on live class sessions, no matter the reason!
