We pinned up our first project yesterday. None of us really knew what to expect. During our first year of school, we were conditioned to have to defend our work. In this case, Bruce Webb, had us pin up in a lecture room around the walls. We got that taken care of in about 15-20 minutes and then the rest of our professors showed up. They had us walk around the room a look at the projects and then we all sat down and were asked which ones we liked, etc. It looks like that project won't even be graded-I think it served as a warm up for our main project which was handed to use today-the program that is.

We're going to spend the semester focused on the airport terminal. Specifically, one for a small city in Montana. Based on what I know now, it's a discovery of "place" as it relates to the airport. I suppose this could be understood in an autonomous sense as well as the airport as an extension of the city. That as well as an understanding of the permeability of certain realities of the airport were stressed.
From what I gather, I believe the project was chosen due to the fact that the whole idea of an airport as "place" has been largely altered due to recent events, and a careful criticism would be beneficial to us as designers.
I would be interested to know if other studios have worked on similar issues with the aiport in past years and what their experience was.

On another notes, a undergraduate architecture student I knew died of a heart attack. His funeral was today. My wife happened to work with him as her first job upon moving to Houston. Since he was an architecture student, we got to know each other. It was yet another reminder that my days are limited. He was only 23. I appreciated seeing so many Arch students there. I didn't really know any of them. I just see them around the building. Anyhow, he'll be missed. He was a really nice guy.