Hi folks,

It's been a while since I've posted, and I am back in full swing of my final year now at GSAPP.

Summer 2007 engulfed me with travels and contemplations of the professional world within and without architecture- after an academic year of Kurgan, a summer of freelance + relaxation, + overall reflection I am back in the think mode.

This fall, there were 17 choices for studio- an overwhelmingly large number of choices, an influx of M.Arch II students, and I chose (again) a studio that was able to travel for a bit. Craig Konyk's Historic Preservation studio situated in Casablanca took us (all 25 of us) to Morocco last week for 5 packed days to study the issue of migrancy from Africa to Europe in the city. The trip was fantastically disorganized- students from both the Historic Preservation and Architecture departments combined itineries and travel agendas to visit sites in Casablanca, Marrakesh, Fez, Rabat... all during the Ramadan holiday. Armed with no cellphones, different hotels, and students with varying degrees of cognition of group travel, we embarked on a short, but intense visit to our site and the surrounds...

The trip was interesting, whirlwind, to say the least. Our first day, (after a flight of no sleep) we visited our site in Casablanca, to discover that the modernist Team 10 site had been completely filled-in. I guess we knew this, from Google earth satellite photos, where the site appeared completely built-in. Since our studio is supposed to deal with historic preservation, the big question that faced us, was the meaning of preservation on a site that has so dramatically changed, and shifted due to local economics and incentives.

While I am tempted, upon return, to design our site as an architectural project, I am also ridden with a factor of reality that- given certain architectural and urban design master planning, people will adapt and build what they want to build. My project this semester will try to deal with these local desires- and their relation to the architect as the planner of infrastructure. Political, social, and economic infrastructures, + the exciting possibility of ongoing relations between project design, local populations, and the interaction between both users and developers.

In addition to studio, I am taking the prerequisite Building systems II class, Graphic Narratives with Michael Rock (2x4), and Pro Practice. I'm enjoying the Graphic Narratives class, which is allowing me to exorcise the graphic design bug in me- if anything, it's a great class to help articulate some of the narrative interests I have in my work.

More saucy stuff to come...
ML

this one goes out to one of the founders of archinect. i heard from a good friend who knows you well that you MUST eat the eel sushi last. i know this, but i just wanted to spread the word, because it is a dessert sushi, and maybe prior to that, to eat the flying fish roe sushi which also has a... View full entry

Ah, the beginning of another semester... I am again, in Laura kurgan's studio this semester, and we are doing a redesign studio in New Orleans. While I was initially hesitant to really focus my energies at school, I'm now very excited about the group of 7 that we are, and the work that we will do... View full entry

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Hello again, after a bit of an absence. Today was our third quarter review, and it's interesting to see how projects are evolving now, as the final review grows near. It's been a very emotional semester for some, having to deal with difficult partnerships or personal disasters, all the while... View full entry

This semester I am taking Mark Wigley's History of Architectural Theory course, along with a score of other students jam-packed in one of Avery's least-favorite rooms. The course is quite popular, and I understand why- attending the institution of Columbia, being 'fashioned' into one of its... View full entry

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I just spent a lovely New York evening saying farewell to a dear friend of mine who decided to take the year off for work. Several of my fellow classmates sat around a dazzling array of delicious japanese/korean bbq down near the Cooper Union, cooking away at tasty dishes, talking about school and... View full entry

Today was our first day of studio. I think many of us were still in the daze of late summer, so hearing all of the statistics and information that Laura Kurgan gave in her studio presentation made me dizzy. It's all good though- I'm in a great studio with really smart, fun students who I think... View full entry

Columbia University (Miki) Hi Just Checking In... 2 comments Hi... this is my first entry into the archinect website, and I'm happy to say that I'm the first female to enter into the Columbia GSAPP posts as of late. I'm a practical-minded, sweethearted gal with a heart of stone. I welcome... View full entry

Hi... this is my first entry into the archinect website, and I'm happy to say that I'm the first female to enter into the Columbia GSAPP posts as of late. I'm a practical-minded, sweethearted gal with a heart of stone. I welcome opinions and questions from left, right, up, down, sideways, and... View full entry