Today were the presentations for studio: Jesse Reiser, Mario Gandelsonas, Elizabeth Diller, Paul Lewis - in that order. It was a strange decision: on one hand I felt my life hung in the balance while on the other I knew they were all great choices. The only limitation - at some point I need to take the Integrated Building Design Studio while I'm here. It's the token studio that focuses on the typically more neglected aspects of design in school: structure, wall sections etc. This semester it is taught by Paul Lewis. Back to the presentations:

Reiser - BMW delivery center in Munich. something about knots and women bringing your keys to you as you drive away in your car.

Gandelsonas - Hotel in China. Urban issues.

Diller - "normal". A list that includes: zoning ordinances, building codes, human comfort...program to be decided later, presumably by me.

Lewis - Food Hotel on a farm. Inegrated Building Design Studio.

I was racked with indesiciveness...

I chose (drum roll) Elizabeth Diller.



Pros - open program, interesting research (normalcy), Liz Diller. Paul Lewis' studio was a very close second. I could have gone either way but in the end I had to make a decision.

We were also assigned desks. We were able to make our selection in order of seniority. Since the 3 year students are in their core studio with Stan Allen, the incoming 2 year students (me) got the shaft. I'm somewhere in the kitchen or something. I'll get some pictures once I have it set up.

Also, you may or may not be familiar with the statistics of Let's Make a Deal but I think it's pretty interesting. You can check out the problem here or you can take my word for it: change your answer.