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Thursday, June 16, 2011

Sexy architects

I'm not sure where this is originally from; I got it via Mirage Studio 7's blog. Have a laugh, I did.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Back to Blogging

So I passed my first year of college (hooray!) and have emerged all the wiser. Perhaps. I definitely have a better understanding of the ways design fits into the world. I attended a graphic design conference where graphic designers talked about their work and the purposes behind them, from social and political to just pure marketing. It really opened my (little Asian) eyes to the reach and range design has. I'll be sure not to sleep in and skip out on the first half again next year...

I also really enjoyed my freshman seminar class. The 3 hour evening classes were absolutely no fun to sit through and I admit I made good use of my phone's many features during that time,
but I learned a lot from the assignments. Design exercises like creating building facades that respond to not just aesthetics but also the surroundings and planning a residential college in the middle of campus taught me to pay attention to the interactions between building and environment. Now a lot of building dements don't seem so random. Some still do though, and they probably are (Gehry, anyone? More on him later).

A more unpleasant contribution to my architectural experience however was a class I took on the history of modern Western architecture, "The Experience of Modernity: A Survey of Modern Architecture in the West". Just like it's name, you put in more effort than what you got out. While I found it very interesting, I could have learned all the material from reading a book. Even precept was students repeating information from readings. The class got real though, when, on the last day of lecture, the professor gave a very inspiring speech about how we, the class, were the ones in line to make change and bring about a better future. There was no more typing and Facebook was temporarily ignored as she spoke about us and architecture carrying social, environmental, and moral responsibility. It was cheesy but it was also the most meaningful lecture she gave.

Now, looking back with my newfound knowledge, past projects I've designed and previous posts I've written seem close to atrocious to me. Though I'm always harsh on my own work regardless of when it was done, let's look at what's to come as new and improved. I'm like technology, always getting better (and more costly, as my parents would like to point out).