We recently registered for next semester's classes and it sort of hit me that this is coming to an end soon. As this was the last chance to take the classes I wanted, it's been the hardest registration period, and my decisions ultimately were made by what I was ok with not learning, at least in a structured class setting. I am sure I will change up my schedule a few times before January when the semester actually starts.

This is final review week but as a third year my studio presents near the end. Next monday, to be precise, so it seems we still have a long, long time to finish. No matter how they structure the fall semester it always seems to fly by. Though I really enjoyed my studio and other classes this semester it will be nice to catch up on some things I have neglected since October.

So much for my last post about leaving frequent, harried sentences more often... Anyways I've been meaning (for almost a month now) to reblog this because it is exactly what my Professional Practice professor has been telling the whole class, including the chance meeting of a future client in a... View full entry

When I started this blog (two years ago now) I as enthusiastic about my level of blogging activity. I've had blogs before (on all sorts of things- hiking, biking, train trips, motorcycling, canoeing) but sooner or later they all died off. On one hand blogging is amazing in that it provides a... View full entry

The halfway mark of my M.Arch program has snuck up on me. I am not going to reminisce and tell you it went by too fast or too slow or that it was tough but I pulled through- I am just saying that when I started I thought I had three comfy years for the economy to turn around, but now that period... View full entry

We just had our midterm reviews this week, but in my studio the sense of accomplishment and respite that comes right after a major pinup has been hampered by how the review actually went. “Worst review I’ve ever been in.” “I never thought I would hear comments like that at... View full entry

School has been back in session for a month but it feels like we’ve been here for a whole semester already. Working with partners, this semester we are in the housing studio, a long-running institution within the school best known among students for its demanding pace. I ended up getting my... View full entry

This summer I participated in the 2009 China-Lab Summer Workshop in Beijing, China. The project started as a continuation of ongoing megablock research, a concept that China-Lab has been researching for some time, but the work soon turned towards the study of informal spaces and material recycling... View full entry

This saturday starting at 5PM is the End of Year Exhibition, held in Avery and Buell Halls. Every studio and many other classes are designing specific exhibition spaces to show their work from the past semester. The studio designs often overshadow the work of the individual students. All are... View full entry

Today was the last class of the year for the first-year M.Arches at Columbia with the Architectural Drawing and Representation 2 final review. I was reminded of what I was supposed to learn last semester- that I need to stop looking for answers behind every pencil stroke and let the process lead... View full entry

Several weeks ago a class of adorable 5 year olds marched through the studio while it was in session. This isn't out of the ordinary, as potential students and (sometimes) their families visit fairly regularly, as do classes from other schools or programs. When it became obvious that the class of... View full entry

Over the past two months I have sort of hated blogs. Stopped looking at them, stopped logging into this, stopped caring about the pseudo-gossipy nature of it all. I think it was a post-election downer, or something, since I was checking political blogs every 3 minutes right up until election... View full entry

The studio is packed tonight- our final review is 10 days away. The markets are lower than they were before the dot-com boom. Detroit is begging Congress for money. A studio mate said that his family told him they aren't exchanging presents this year. Wasn't there some talk of a bailout? Oh yeah... View full entry

Still plugging away on this latest project. It is a science lab, with a public component. I am trying to make mine use car exhaust. Just two more weeks before the final review. It snuck up on us. So far I have the ugliest model of my career: But, my career has just started, so I plenty of time to... View full entry

I wasn't the only one having a hard time concentrating in studio today because of the election. From a little after 6pm EST on justabout every computer was intermittently checking election coverage. When Obama had about 200 electoral votes a few of us decided to leave and see what was happening on... View full entry

Engineering lab field trip: i View full entry

Who? What? When? How? But not why. Consider: Last week was the Ecogram conference here at Columbia. I saw several good and not-so good presentations and ideas. Our latest studio project has a big environmental component, and a lot of students are seizing that and pushing it. Flip through a... View full entry

Halfway over already!?^ Our task was to design a small pod for a climatologist to spend 12 hours observing, resting, eating, and recording. A bathroom had to be included as well. We were to base our designs on the dimensions of our own bodies, and discover the "volumetric differential between... View full entry

Everyone is done with midterms reviews now and able to catch up on other stuff, so half the class showed up for studio today with new haircuts. More tomorrow. View full entry

I did it. I sliced the tip of my finger off. A few times in the past weeks I nicked a finger, or got a decently deep cut, but last night was gold. When I realized what was happening it was already too late, and there on my cutting mat was a clump of cells that used to be part of me. This probably... View full entry

Between these parameters, however wide, is where I am. My latest studio project is all about trying to personally resolve this issue. A week ago, someone wanted to clarify the difference between drawing and mapping. This was distilled into data vs. perception, then how to connect the two... View full entry

On wednesday Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works Architecture lectured about a number of his works and notions of occupation. If you're keeping score, AWA controversially redesigned the Museum of Arts and Design here in New York City, at 2 Columbus Circle in Manhattan. To make a long story short, the... View full entry

I’ve come to relish the unforeseen turns projects take in school. Not knowing what the finished product will look like, or what ideas will come, is at the same time both exciting and dangerous. In the latter sense, a perfect example is my latest (and first, actually) short paper for my... View full entry

Though I can't wait to settle into a routine, the first week was a good one, full of activity. I like lists: -The school-wide orientation packed the auditorium from wall to wall. People were standing three deep in the back, sitting in the aisles and even around the speakers in the front. This is... View full entry

We had the new-student orientation on Friday, and thanks to a Facebook page for all incoming Fall 2008 Columbia architecture students I met lots of the new class all on day one. As orientation and classes approached, members planned dinners, drinks and lunches with open invites for all. When the... View full entry

Just registered for all my classes, which were of course pre-determined for me. That's not a complaint, though. My schedule looks like this: Core Studio 1- MWF 2-6pm Arch. Tech. 1- T 4-6pm, Th 1-3pm Arch. Hist. 1- Th 11-1pm Arch. Drawing & Representation 1- T 6-8pm 4 classes, 18 credits, half... View full entry

Hi everyone. All the basics have been posted here, but I just want to say that I am excited to use this blog as a record of my upcoming schooling. Tomorrow I can register for classes and Friday is Orientation, but that does little to alleviate my anticipation to start school. Despite what I... View full entry