Tipping toes into the architectural experience as a first-year was a culture shock, to say the least. Architecture students have long been creatures of the night, a nocturnal lifestyle is what we pull off at our best! With a cup of coffee, strained eyes and busy hands, we spend the night drafting those cumbersome plans while the city sleeps. We all are familiar with the image of a mad scientist, well, architecture students are mad artists as well as scientists for many reasons! The dedication to honing our skills through endless hours does prepare us for the “real world” or “the workplace” as our professors put it. The open-ended brief can sometimes be vague but it can be a playground where we explore our initial strategies freely. However, the gap between an idea conceived in our mind, the translation of it into a sketch, and then illustrating concrete plans or models is a constant grind against the mill. Sometimes, the workload is so much that our computer crashes resulting in exasperation on our end. There is also the much dreaded creative block we often encounter as we experiment with various designs and prototypes. Without a doubt, arriving at a concept will be frustrating no matter how experienced the student may be. This is a divergent process until our fast-approaching deadlines remind us to converge to a point when we can finally freeze our design. Perfecting this creative process is a craft in and of itself!
Sometimes conversing with your friends is a delightful exchange where each person bounces off each other’s approach. It’s funny how the biblical proverb, “Iron sharpens Iron, so one man sharpens another.”, stands true when you interact with the studio. Blasting music, watching some movies, and maybe ordering pizza is all a part of the studio’s work-live-play culture. The challenging, frenzied pace of this lifestyle does have it’s weak and strong moments. Skipping out on our social lives is one. An unexpected catch when enrolling in school is the amount of money one spends during the course. A fond comment often used amongst peers, is, ‘Do I need to sell my kidneys?’. That self deprecative humor is often a coping mechanism. Also as students, we have a special connection with coffee, the antidote to drooping eyelids, and depleting energy. This can backfire as we struggle to fall asleep when we most desire it. Which in turn can take a toll on our physical and mental health without even realizing it! Remember that feeling when all you wanna do is hit the bedsheets after a long day at the studio?
Unlike the romanticized starchitect persona, there is no affordance of pride as a student, patience is key. So hold still as you watch your professors scribble all over your sheets! You must first learn the rules to break them after all! Strangely, students will also find themselves mirroring their professors in conversations, with words like ‘juxtaposition’,’contrast’ or ‘ambiguous’. All those feedback sessions have greatly improved your vocabulary and design process!
Nevertheless, it’s an exciting rush as you breeze through each day. The principles of architecture slowly marinate our brain, priorities, lifestyle, habits, and how we perceive the world around us. It trains the eye to be detail-oriented, as sharp as a hawk. The constant nudges from the professors to observe, sketch, and apply during site visits seeps into the way we consider our world. Whether it is the materiality, form, landscape, or a peculiar structure of the building. Another ingrained trait we hold is sharp eyes on the constant lookout for reusable supplies to make models. The trend of adaptive reuse is extended to our environment as we scour the premise for old cardboard, foam, or wood.
Alas! The cathartic climax of every semester, a public show and tell is the essence of every design jury. The days leading up to the review are packed with vigorous activity – mental breakdowns are to be expected in between as production rolls out. This includes drafting those detailed drawings that never seem to be near perfection and preparing files for your laser-cut model in a fully booked studio. Yet somehow, we fall into the rhythm of demands expected and deliver – although it took an all-nighter! Anticipating the order of your turn can either give you relief or trauma when you learn you’re the first one to present. Discussing with your friends on how the guest jurors are, is the main chatter. Guest jurors are often an enigma, you don’t know what to expect. Will they understand the idea you are trying to sell? or interrupt you with queries or be just downright rude?! The nervous energy before a jury can be chilling as presenting one’s design is like exposing a child you labored over with love, before an unamused group of critics. However, surviving the critique can hone your skills, and test the idea you are trying to sell. Part prose and visual.
Regardless of the outcome, whether you survived your worst or best jury, the end is rewarding. Architecture is one of those few programs where you truly deserve a participation medal because you deserve it! Here, the medal is not for the one one who finishes first but simply for all who finished it. Perhaps, this is because the profession values the worth of the process more than the product. Therefore, change is most expected and welcomed in the life of an architecture student. If you want to embarrass an architecture student, show them their old projects and you will see them visibly cringe! Although it seems amusing, it indicates a sign of the student’s metamorphosis as they endure the persistent growing pains of this craft. All those blood, sweat, and tears would have been worth it to produce a design that impacts the environment, it’s people, and their well being. It will do well to remember that as students, we are worms. At the ripened time, we will soon earn our wings or that degree, so hang in there!
