Archinect
anchor

grad school of the uncanny

glitteringguts

Like many before me, I am seeking advice for grad schools. I have combed these forums but have yet to piece together the answers. Any advice is appreciated. All name-dropping and research suggestions encouraged.

My interests:

    imagination, speculation, creative misunderstanding
    storytelling through architecture; cascading layers of metaphor (as in literature)
    para-architectural landscapes, the folly (Nikola-Lenivets/Archstoyanie in Russia)
    the utopian, the surreal (Edward James’ Las Pozas, Paolo Soleri’s Arcosanti)
    the hermetic, the esoteric (Anselm Kiefer’s La Ribaute)
    the architecture of death and transcendence (mausoleums, temples, crypts, Turrell’s Roden Crater)
    architecture of the uncanny (Hejduk)
    the intersection of architecture with art, literature, anthropology, mythology, the humanities
    elemental materials: stone, brick, wood, metal
    Terunobu Fujimori’s ‘Red School’ ideals
    neo-archaic forms, primal geometries
    playgrounds
    
I am specifically NOT interested in:

    the digital avant-garde
    parametric modeling
    biomorphic forms (not the Hadid strain at least; love the Goetheanum, and certain organicists like Makovecz)
    laser cut and CNC-cut forms
    heavily photoshopped hollywood-style renderings (happy people, dusky skies, flying birds, shiny cars… for me it comes too close to the commercial, capitalist language of advertising; I am not anti-computer; I view it as a useful tool, but I think it is good to have a wider gap between representation and reality, and a healthy separation from the commercial world.)
     
I am looking for a school:

    that above all, is a place where I will have the freedom to pursue my own ideas… 
    that has a diverse faculty; many conflicting schools of thought; a range of guest critics and lecturers
    that has a thesis component; the longer the better (see freedom farm below)
    that is artsy, theoretical, yet also some emphasis on the build-able
    that has a strong interdisciplinary instinct (art, landscape, literature, humanities, history)
    that values the handmade concept model
    that has good facilities for making (wood, metal, concrete, etc)
    that has opportunities to build at full scale
    that is in a city with some significant architecture
    that is highly challenging

I don’t care much about:
    
    networks, employers, good career prospects, etc

But:

    I want a professional degree. I want to practice. More importantly I want to be independent.
    I may want to teach part-time in academia.
    
    
Other important things:

    I inhabit the fringe wherever I go. Though I will do my time at a prestigious firm to cut my teeth designing at a large scale in an urban context, my real interest lies in the small and remote (cabins, mountain huts, small houses, studios, apiaries, follies, pavilions, abandoned industrial landscapes). I often admire the scrappy, pragmatic work of the vernacular builder over the pristine perfection of the architect. 

    I am ambitious, but not a careerist. To borrow from Herzog, I see architecture school (and my future work) as a “Conquest of the Useless.” This is not meant as an insult, but rather an assertion of idealism.

    I want to build. I am a carpenter. I am improving my metalwork and masonry skills right now, out here at this artist residency where I have been encamped since August, building a large scale project.

The freedom farm:

    My ultimate intention is to create a landscape of architectural follies; a place for collaboration and experimentation; a remote studio. This may take the form of an artist residency with an inclination toward built forms in the landscape, from the para-architectural to sculpture to land art. Again, I think of Archstoyanie (if you know of other examples, please let me know.) I envision clusters of built forms constituting small ‘cities’ that gesture to each other across the landscape, perhaps with salvaged buildings moved to the site, stitched together by new interventions.

    I am also curious about the tradition of design-build studios at architecture schools, but somehow from what I have seen so far, I find this unsatisfying.

    I would like to formulate my thesis around this intent. 

Profile:

    Architecture undergrad at Dalhousie in Canada (2015).
    Previous careers in IT, carpentry, mineral exploration, etc.
    Canadian and EU citizen.

Questions:

    Why are all the living/practicing/contemporary architects I admire from everywhere but North America?

    Who is the American Fujimori? Who is the American Zumthor?

    Is there an architectural counterculture alive today? Does it exist in academia? Which are the radical schools? Is the new avant-garde exclusively digital?

    Are there no experimental architecture festivals (like Archstoyanie or Hello Wood) in North America other than Burning Man?

    Are there any particular faculty you think I should know about? Any readings you recommend? Particular programs? I know Anthony Vidler teaches at Cooper Union. Dana Buntrock at UC Berkeley.


I am wide open to suggestions or conversations. Thanks very much.

 
Oct 10, 15 2:35 pm
placebeyondthesplines

We should have some kind of Best Of collection of forum posts at the end of the year. I nominate this one for Most Exhaustingly Pretentious.

Oct 10, 15 11:17 pm  · 
 · 
no_form
2nd that
Oct 11, 15 1:35 am  · 
 · 
citizen

Just for sheer volume of typing this deserves some kind of recognition...

Oct 11, 15 2:12 am  · 
 · 
jungo

This hurt to read.

Oct 11, 15 5:16 am  · 
 · 
TED

Ouch! 

Try Amazon.com. Certain they can find a good fit.

@glitteringNuts You appear to be a student looking for service provider but will always be the complainer or person who give it 2 stars because it was less that you paid for. Education-consumer, 1st class. 

Students create their own place in the world - so get off your soap box, open your eyes and find only 1 thing/ =1 person that is interesting about a school. you build the school

Oct 11, 15 8:21 am  · 
 · 

I don't say this lightly: You should look for a wealthy spouse.

Oct 11, 15 8:49 am  · 
 · 
Non Sequitur
Wow...
Oct 11, 15 10:31 am  · 
 · 
placebeyondthesplines

@citizen

Balkins is always going to make that a tough category.

Oct 11, 15 8:21 pm  · 
 · 
citizen

LOL, place... so is Quondam.  

Oct 11, 15 8:53 pm  · 
 · 
I feel like we should all marry wealthy spouses in this profession.

I went on a few dates with a surgeon once. She cut after the third date.
Oct 12, 15 4:49 pm  · 
 · 
citizen

Where'd she cut you, Josh?  No place important, I hope  ;o)

Oct 12, 15 5:34 pm  · 
 · 
curtkram

what kind of surgeon?

plastic surgeon trying to mold you into the perfect guy?  nip tuck while you're not paying attention?

Oct 12, 15 5:42 pm  · 
 · 
3tk

Isn't there an old PJ saying about becoming an architect that pursues what they want: born wealthy, marry wealth or... nope, only 2 paths?

Oct 12, 15 6:03 pm  · 
 · 
alrightalright

to actually answer your question:

 

unfortunately, to the demise of the profession, there are very few places left that embody what you describe: cooper and risd come to mind immediately. essentially, schools that are embedded or closely associated with an art school are what you should look for

Oct 15, 15 1:54 pm  · 
 · 

I just saw a lecture by Brian MacKay-Lyons. The work is wonderful and somewhat immutable, as much so as a piece of architecture can be, I suppose.

He has built what you're looking for: on a big piece of land in Nova Scotia, he's cleared a bunch of it and built a lot of new buildings over the years, sometimes bringing in historic structures and rehabbing them, building guest housing for students who come and do his Ghost Lab studio, gathering energies and craftsmanship and events in one place.  Maybe you should go do a Ghost Lab?

http://mlsarchitects.ca/ghost.htm

Oct 15, 15 4:14 pm  · 
 · 
Non Sequitur

Donna, the OP is actually a DAL graduate where MacKay-Lyons teaches. It would be the first record of a miracle for the OP not to know about him and Ghost Labs.

Oct 15, 15 4:45 pm  · 
 · 
DeTwan

He makes structures that are more representative of art than place. Perhaps this is where all the ppl that want to be architects, and are having their mid life crisis can go and 'become an architect" for a small sum. Seems like a genius idea! 

Oct 15, 15 4:50 pm  · 
 · 
null pointer

i have an answer but i'd out myself with it. goddammit.

 

there is a place out there.

Oct 15, 15 5:29 pm  · 
 · 
Oh gosh, thanks Non Seq. I was posting and in the back of my mind thinking "But surely s/he has heard of Ghost Lab already" but didn't bother re-reading the post to verify if BM-L had been mentioned. Thanks for the fix.
Oct 15, 15 6:13 pm  · 
 · 
archiwutm8

Central Saint Martin's, nuff said. You'd fit in too.

Oct 16, 15 4:37 am  · 
 · 

Ha. You can't walk three steps around the faculty of arch. in Halifax without hearing about BML and his magnificence (considering he built the damn school).

Oct 16, 15 10:09 am  · 
 · 
Bench

Also - the 'real' Ghost Lab ended a few years back (2009-2010?). He replaced it with a one-off week-long lecture forum/series at his farm and in Lunenburg in 2011, and I believe that was supposed to be something of a cap to it. Don't think anything has happened since.

Oct 16, 15 1:14 pm  · 
 · 

(Stephanie: my sense at the lecture was that it's no surprise BML and Richard Serra are friends - they both have that monumentally large "YES I CAN!!" ego of many men of their generation [granted, BML would be at the very end of Serra's generation, but nonetheless, it's the whole Action Art/AbEx excessive manliness attitude that they share].  Am I right?)

Oct 16, 15 1:27 pm  · 
 · 
JLC-1

to the OP, not a grad school, but fits the bill in most of your categories, the architecture school of the catholic university in valparaiso, chile. http://www.ead.pucv.cl/

Oct 16, 15 1:41 pm  · 
 · 
boy in a well

princeton or yale, bitch.

what?

Oct 17, 15 12:22 am  · 
 · 
bowling_ball

Yup, Valparaiso as mentioned above.

Oct 17, 15 1:02 am  · 
 · 

Action Art/AbEx excessive manliness attitude

Oh, oh. Totally. 

Which has also, by the way, infiltrated the entire academic architectural staff at Dal. I think there is not a one of them who hasn't either interned for or is currently working for BML. At one point 4 out of 5 studios were being run by current / former BML employees. 

The over-saturation of his presence tended to really put me off his whole approach, but some students seriously worshipped the guy.

Oct 19, 15 10:48 am  · 
 · 
vado retro

And after completing my half Windsor knot and straightening my collar I looked for a suitable rod from which to hang myself...

Oct 19, 15 11:06 am  · 
 · 

Block this user


Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?

Archinect


This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.

  • ×Search in: