You walk into your university’s studio building with a cup of coffee in one hand, your materials in your other hand, and your backpack slugged against your back. You are greeted by colleagues, all fiercely working on their final models or drawings at their desks. Walking over to your desk you lay everything you brought down. In one direction you see one of your classmates ordering delivery food while gulping down her third red bull. On the other direction, you see your other colleague passed out on their desk, with his backpack as his pillow and headphones on to block out the talking and sound of tools shuffling. It is only the afternoon, but every student is present today, and will most likely be inside the studio building until the morning of your final project reviews.
The life of an architecture student involves countless sleepless nights, hours typing and scrolling away on your laptop, and researching historical architectural feats, among other things. Throughout the semester, you spend countless hours in your studio class, discussing architectural inspirations and critiques with your professor. You discuss drawing after drawing, and helplessly watch your professor draw red marks on the pages. Then you go back to your computer and spend another night on photoshop, AutoCAD, or Rhino. You readjust and rescale, change the textures on walls or floors, and add finishing touches to your sheets. You search up rendering tips on youtube and ask your friends for help when you aren’t sure what function to use on software. After submitting your sections, plans, and renders for what feels like the billionth time, you can’t wait for that final submission to your professor. With the final weekend dwindling, all you are focused on is the details and presentation of your work, ensuring that you have a successful final review.
With the finishing touches of your drawings completed, it is time to begin the long and delicate process of constructing the final model. After spending time and money at the nearest material store, you lug your construction pieces back to the studio. You have the design idea you have been working on for weeks all set up in your head, and you are ready to present that idea and concept in your final model. All the study models you have constructed before have been leading up to this moment. And so you begin. Time passes and people come and go, but you are so focused on your work that it seems like your hands are moving on their own. Soon your desk is covered in a mess of matte board, wood, and other materials, and your fingers have dried up glue stuck to them. The bags on your eyes feel heavy, but you push forward, working to complete that final model before the deadline.
Looking up from your workspace after what feels like forever, you still have half of your model to construct, but the whines from your stomach cannot be ignored any longer. So you and some also tired classmates head somewhere for a quick bite, discussing your projects and the difficulties of architecture. There is very little downtime in the life of an architecture student, but the lengthy time spent working alongside your colleagues can build long-lasting friendships. Seeing as how you spend most of your waking hours at the studio or working on something architecturally related, you begin to understand how collaborative the architecture profession is. As a group, you all earn new skills, new thought processes, and build connections that can help you in your personal life and professional life. During the crucial days before the final review, the people beside you are the ones that keep you sane, stopping by and commenting on your work, offering help if you aren’t sure what process to take with a design, or simply being there for a quick laugh or break. Through the laughs, tears, frustrations, and complaints that come with being an architecture student, it is the collaborative and teamwork aspect of architecture that pushes your designs and presentations to the best you can be.
As you glue together the last piece of your final model you see the sunrise shine through the studio window. You look around and see a mix of students at the studio, either passed out, still furiously working on their projects, and those who are just coming in from their homes. You stand up from your chair and admire the glimmering final model on your desk, and sigh in relief as you have officially completed all your work for your final presentation. Quickly cleaning up the leftover materials on your workspace, you pack up your belongings and head out to get a couple of hours of rest. After some much-needed shut-eye and food, you clean yourself up so you are as presentable as the work you’ll be presenting later today. Heading out the door, you leave behind all anxiety and doubt about yourself and your project because you know you have put all your effort and time into this final submission. As the clock dwindles down, It is time to head to the studio and put everything you have worked for this semester to use and to impress your colleagues, professor, and critics.
