During the education process in architecture schools, most students used to have been through feelings as sequences such as anger, sadness, and fun. This transition of emotions can be frustrating at first; however, as soon as they start spending more time in the faculty of architecture, they will know that ridiculousness is a part of this society. Eventually, they will end up laughing at the past experiences. In my writing, I would like to share a few of my personal experiences that I find entertaining after three years in the department of architecture.
In the first semester of university, I took a studio class that was not related to architectural design; nevertheless, it tutored how to abstract. Since we all have been busy with mathematics and positive sciences in high school, we were not familiar with the design concepts; therefore, this studio was a good step to start the design process. One of my stories occurred in that class. We had an assignment for the abstraction of a movement. Since it was one of the first homework, I devoted myself to it, tried to make it best, and I did not sleep for hours to finish it. The next day, I brought the work I had done, put it on the lecturer’s desk. Therefore, when she comes, she can directly start giving feedback on the assignments that lay on her desk. Our class was quite crowded; hence, there is always a group of people surrounding her desk. When it was time to criticize my work, I could not see the desk clearly due to the people around it, but I heard what she was saying and praised me and declared that she found me talented in abstracting. I was floating on the air until I saw her, holding my paper upside down. And after that, I decided to take the credits for the inverted work and never mentioned her.
My second experience was in the second semester. At that time, we took the first architectural studio, which was the most challenging one, and our lecturer was an Ivy graduate, a sophisticated lady. She wanted us to make five models for the next class, and I was ardent to show my artistry to her. I worked for the models all night and brought them to the studio. This story’s funny aspects were not related to the lecturer; they were three of my models, which were quite absurd. One of them was a roof in the shape of a cloud with fences, the other one was an hourglass, and the last one was simply a slide. I am glad that she did not humiliate me, and she advised me to discard them and start five new ones. I assume I did not get the previous studio’s purpose and demonstrate my knowledge in my models. Luckily, my instructor helped me through, and I left behind the models that resemble craftwork, which belongs to the kindergarten and finished that studio with a good grade.
Moreover, in my latter semesters at the university, I learned that putting assignments upside down was a prevailing concept for the lecturers. In my experience, it was not on purpose; however, it could be used for toying a model or searching for further potentials for the project. For that time, it was to make fun of a weak submission. It happened to one of my friends who was designing a community center, prepared his model for the feedback then submitted his work to be criticized. The lecturer looked at the model for a couple of seconds wordlessly. Suddenly he broke the peace and suggested that it would be better to put the model bottom-up and function it as a car washing service. Then we started laughing loudly. It might seem a bit cold-blooded from an objective perspective, and sometimes I agree with that, but after a while, you admit it is not a good project and understand why your instructor did that.
After a memory that might be considered tragicomic, I would like to continue with a story that will create a titter. One of our lecturers’ feed his cat in his office at the university, and for the final submissions, he wanted us to hand over our models and posters there. When I was there to submit, something happened. The cat left her comfy pillow and tried to lay inside of a model. While trying to get inside, she broke it and then finally solved how to sit inside. After laughing at the circumstance, I realized it was the model of my best friend. Luckily, she got an A, so not blaming the cat.
Finally, we had an assignment for the art history class. It is required to creating an imitation of a painting in the baroque style by photography, and it is supposed to be group work. First, we thought it was an easy task, and we postponed it until last night before submission. Then, we realized we did not have appropriate costumes for the photoshoot, and it was not possible to find any since it was too late. Hence, we decided to use what we have already rather than taking zero. We used a garbage bag instead of a beaver hat, and we used an Ikea ruler instead of a tiara. Also, we spent some time convincing the unlucky friend who had to wear a garbage bag. It took almost two hours to take the photo because we could not stand without laughing at each other. After the submission, we learned that this assignment would not be graded, and we were so relieved.
After all, now it is my final year at university. I am already feeling a bit bitter and knowing that have arrived at the end of a journey; nonetheless, I am glad I have accumulated a plethora of memories that will be remembered and laughed in retrospect, addition to that happy to be able to laugh at my missteps, and looking forward to having amusing memories as an architect as well.
