Yesterday, in a surprise move, my studio critic dropped this tiny piece of confetti on my model and said "maybe this will inspire you." Last week he told us about his stint in the Finnish military. On the one hand I'm encouraged to "party" and on the other I'm worried that if I don't deliver a... View full entry

Here at the GSD we have an all-student mailing list eponymously named student-announce which is usually a mix of "who has such and such book checked out from the library", "anyone wanna sell me some plexiglas?", and general requests to be more cognizant that our bathrooms are, in fact, unisex... View full entry

Reigning pickup line for the semester: "No, you're my favorite architect." View full entry

The studio has smelled a bit like a candle store lately after we cast beeswax for our materials class last week. Given a quarter sheet of plywood and a quarter sheet of blue insulation foam we were asked to construct a mold and cast a corner detail. The suspiciously named "Super White" release... View full entry

As part of the 40th anniversary celebration of the Carpenter Center, artist Pierre Huyghe was comissioned to develop a project in honor of the building and Le Corbusier. While the project was officially a collaboration between many parties at Harvard, GSD faculty member Michael Meredith and a... View full entry

Rainy weather turns Gund Hall into a large scale, high stakes game of battleship. Is your computer safe? Would those drawings look better with some artistic splatters contributed by mother nature? After watching my buttmate's desk slowly become dotted with drops of water, I arrived to studio the... View full entry

Thanks to the heat turning off at midnight, it has been so cold in studio recently that I'm bundled up scarf, hat, and even wearing my headphones in lieu of ear muffs. Unfortunately gloves really degrade one's ability to use a mouse or any sort of model building implements or I'd have those on too. View full entry

At RISD it was Frame Magazine that held the most coveted position in studio. Here it seems to be El Croquis that I find on people's desks more often than any other. The almost empty shelf of back issues in the library would support this theory. Do schools have preferred publications? What's yours? View full entry

I have not been showing my own work on this blog because I think it's more useful for me to tell you about the school itself and what it's like to be a student here. However, I have posted my my three pronged bridge project elsewhere if you're curious. It's not the most thorough representation of... View full entry

Today there's even less of a theme or narrative tying these images together than usual. Despite there being 4+ full weeks of class left I'm starting to feel the crunch-- mostly because I've been seriously slacking since the bridge project was completed.Last night a puff of 3d printer dust set off... View full entry

While I liked the second project quite a bit, it truly exhausted my mental and physical faculties and I'm glad that it's now over. The focus of the three pronged bridge was basically to build a large model. Being in Marco's studio this means a large, well crafted, not-any-kind-of-paper-product... View full entry

Thanks for turning off the heat at night, adminstration. That feels real nice from about 3-5am when the thermal lag is wearing off and the sun still isn't up.This entry sponsored by the laser cutter-- I hate waiting for you, but I love what you do for me. View full entry

After hearing from a friend at Columbia (hey DL!) that he's suffering from scheduling woes with classes piling up work at an unmanageable pace, I thought it might be worthwhile to mention the way similar issues are dealt with here. So far the school has been very willing to re-arrange our... View full entry

Frustrated with the tedium of assembling tiny trusses for his model, studio mate JL announced that he wishes he had little 1/8th scale construction workers... But then decided against it because he'd have to build them 1/8th scale scaffolding. JC, also in our studio, asks, "do you get to pay 1/8th... View full entry

What better to do while waiting for the laser cutter than to explain the incracies of our class schedule? Apparently nothing. Here at the GSD our school year is divided into two semesters and each of those further divided into two modules. Since this is the middle week of the semester, we've just... View full entry

*First of all, let me say that I am not trying to jinx anything here, but if it happens just please know that it's not our fault. See below. I was surprised to find a row of ameri-striped cloth booths sitting in the Pit a few days ago. They looked oddly like voting stations, but surely it must be... View full entry

Apparently there's an admissions open house next week. I'm sure the school is going to keep you very busy if you stop by, but if there's any other questions you may have about the M.Arch I program please feel free to contact me via this website by leaving a comment or sending email. View full entry

The studio critics are constantly asking for diagrammatic representations of our projects but one of my friends has a more basic issue: americans can't pronounce his name!Can you figure it out? View full entry

Thought people might like to see a few images from the exhibition in our lobby right now. Alejandro's presentation including his work on the Elemental housing project was great.Almost weightless paper models are supported by thin metal shelves. A small thread reaches for the wall but hangs... View full entry

Buttmate BB points out that the door at the end of the mezzanine hallway in our auditorium has a small circular window which forms a moon when the lights are out. Seems appropriate for what is, by all evidence, the most popular napping place in our building. One first hand account tells me that... View full entry

In case you missed it in the forums, Mason White has posted a safety card from when he was a student at the GSD (recently?) and it's comic gold.Check out the whole thing! View full entry

Work on the second project of the semester has begun. We are to create a bridge which connects all three sides of a triangular courtyard. As with the last project, there is an array of rules and regulations specified in neat figures but shrouded in words like "spiracular." Actually, the project... View full entry

I suppose only two architects could have a drunken conversation about glasses in the middle of some dancefest. Recalling this story inspired my friend Judith to note that "Eye glasses are the peacock feathers of the architecture world." She's a smart one, that Judith. View full entry

Monday was our final review for the hidden room project. Most people I've spoken to seem to agree that the critics went easier than we had expected, so the day was constructive but not that intense. Many of the comments centered on the fine distinction between multi-valency and vagueness. Last... View full entry

Just curious, am I the only one who still uses a Tsquare? View full entry

We're about a third of the way through the semester and one weekend away from the final crit of our first project. So far Sergeant Stienberg's studio (don't kill me if you read this, Marco) has been dominating the late night hours with generally more people here than the other groups. The verdict... View full entry

Penn has squirrels, we have a bird. The random chirps have some people convinced they're hallucinating. Personally, I'm going to lock up my models at night so they don't turn into the beginnings of a nest. View full entry

As a note for those concerned about their applications for next year, you may be advised to get a degree in science before doing your masters in architecture. Although it may not be a law of admissions, the empirical evidence suggests that the hard sciences are a good springboard for an... View full entry

Thanks to my average 3am bedtime I haven't yet finished unpacking (or installing the trim on that new pergo floor...). This weekend, however, I did find a box of old CDs and took the time to encode some of Autechre's back catalog. How could I have forgotten you, Autechre? My friend douglas... View full entry

We've been wondering when this would happen: three weeks in and it's the first all nighter. On a Sunday, no less. Ick. View full entry