Being part of an architecture school is like being part of a long relationship that sticks with you for life. The experience of going through long days without sleep to complete work on time is a grueling struggle but completely worth it in the end. A combination of cups of coffee, dark bags under the eyes, and paper cuts on our hands moulded us for a future that would be tougher than college itself. A variety of these sleepless days resulted in hilarious moments and funny anecdotes to share among our peers through the years. One such experience which occurred in my first year still brings a smile to my face whenever I think about it.
It was our first week into architecture school, and we were new-borns in this world of drawing, sketching, designing, learning and understanding the tiny details that go into the formulation and execution of a single plan. We had started to crawl through the chaotic world of submissions and assignments with our classmates and the experience was satisfying.
We had an induction session with our seniors to break the ice and become familiar with the inner workings of the college. They played games, teased us about being the fresh, new saplings waiting to be watered and gave us advice about everything that happened on campus. One common advice that resonated throughout the senior batch to us was to make sure that we complete our assignments and submissions on time and try not to leave anything for the last night. They told us that the work never stops and submissions never end. Despite their advice ringing in our ears, we did not absorb it as seriously as they wanted us to which resulted in one of our first momentous experiences in architecture school.
Our classes encompassed only design related work in the first week and we had various assignments allotted to us for the same. We were under the impression that only the design subjects would have the workload and theory subjects would be lighter in comparison. Oh, the surprise we were in for!
The teachers of the theory subjects gave us assignments that added to the workload we had. A deadline for a few assignments was coming close and we had a mountain of things to do. The words of our seniors were now dawning upon us and we realised the dilemma we had. We realised it was not a “walk in the park” experience but a “Temple Run” one where we were running from the monster that was the submission date.
An upcoming review for the introductory work was closing in upon us and the nights were getting longer than the days. We barely slept and the work never ended. Our submission deadline was 12:30 in the afternoon and we were thriving on coffee and group motivation to get through. We promised each other that this would never happen again and we would “definitely” finish our work on time for the next submissions.
The night before the afternoon submission and review, all of us pulled through and stayed awake struggling to complete the models, drawings and various other components of the assignments. We had classes the following day before the review and we were struggling to keep ourselves awake for the same. The classroom we were working in was a pile of cardboard, paper, and sleepy teenagers with red eyes and ample cuts on their hands.
We were waiting for our next professor to walk in but due to our sheer exhaustion, we all collectively fell asleep right there amongst the cardboard, models, paper, and tables all over us. All of us, blissfully unaware of the fact that there are cameras in our classroom recording this, have fallen into a deep sleep amongst all our work. The teacher walked into the classroom and has just halted in her path in shock because she had never witnessed such a real experience before. She walked around looking at the students and their work and quietly slipped out of the room after capturing this moment in a few pictures.
Needless to say, the review we had that afternoon, got postponed because for a change the teachers decided to have a little mercy on us as it was just the beginning of the year and we managed to do well when we received our grades.
Looking back on this story now, I realise that it is not a “leave you in splits” hilarious incident but a funny memory that I can think about. It was an experience that still makes me have dreams of falling asleep during a meeting with a client. It has left a lasting impression and makes me work on all my projects on time and divide the work in a way that does not hamper my sleep especially the day before a meeting.
