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Lian (Harvard GSD M.Arch.I)

I graduated in 2013, but still blog here once in a while.

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    Ten signs that the GSD has ruined me

    By Lian Chikako Chang
    Nov 22, '10 11:49 AM EST

    Ten signs that the GSD has ruined me:

    1. I briefly considered making Mom a diagram for Christmas. This follows on my present from last year, which was prepared on the laser cutter.

    2. When 45 minutes go by without an email appearing in my inbox, I check my server settings.

    3. I don't have strong opinions on whether a haircut is "pretty," but when the hairdresser uses un-rigorous technique (volumizing with a a round brush before the final pass of cutting), I go ballistic.

    4. When classmate A tells me that he slept with classmate B the night before, I assume that he means that they napped on adjacent couches in the lounge.

    5. (Sign that the GSD has ruined all of us: this is indeed what classmate A meant.)

    6. I can't enjoy an activity without taking photos or at least thinking of how to frame and light the shot.

    7. When a medical student friend tells me that she'll be working 80 hours a week for her residency, I accidentally offend her by responding "oh, that's not so bad."

    8. I think of Trader Joe's snacks as a luxury.

    9. I tell my roommates that we need to reduce the Heating Degree Days (HDD) in our apartment.

    10. When cutting apples, I do this:image

    Thanks for reading!
    Lian

    P.S. Welcome to Andreas Viglakis, a GSD MAUD student who has just joined the ranks of Archinect school bloggers.

    P.P.S. A quick update on studio:

    image [My below-grade lobby space, as of Nov 11.]

    image [Elevation ideas at our Nov 11 pin-up with Dean Mostafavi. This did NOT go over well.]

    image [Dean Mohsen Mostafavi is on the left.]

    image [New elevation idea: louvers that follow the slope of the south facade, which will go over a long strip window and some punched (but less punchy than before) windows. Also, the landscape is becoming less of a monumental plinth and more topographical--and, I hope, more complex in the way it negotiates its relationship with the ground and the object-buildings. I'll post other views of this exterior space over the next couple of weeks.]

    image [Alice Tully hall and the Tokyo International Forum have been important precedents for me.]

    image [A few weekends ago, I attended a conference at the Kennedy School of Government and found this space at the public center of one of their buildings. Looking past its stylistic awkwardness, I thought this was a really great space that allows for spontaneous and casual theatricality while also accommodating staged events. If all goes well, you'll be able to find this kind of space at different exterior, interior, and in-between moments in my project.]



     
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About this Blog

This blog was most active from 2009-2013. Writing about my experiences and life at Harvard GSD started out as a way for me to process my experiences as an M.Arch.I student, and evolved into a record of the intellectual and cultural life of the Cambridge architecture (and to a lesser extent, design/technology) community, through live-blogs. These days, I work as a data storyteller (and blogger at Littldata.com) in San Francisco, and still post here once in a while.

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