sorry to all my fans for the late update...no internet at home yet!

first day of school...

to start with we attended a rather confusing description of the unit/credit/modules system. something very simple became quite complicated, given the fact that they tried to describe all the postgraduate course structures but i had been warned that the school had a somewhat erratic way of conducting administration.



but to the good points: all the units were presented in a very exhaustive fashion, despite an average time of 1/2 hour per unit. student are allocated to the units with a lottery system: you put your first three choices in order and then submit your request. precedence is given to the fifth year students, but apparently in the last three years all students got either their first or second choice.

some images:

lundberg of UFO


rick nys, studio 2


my final list was as follows:

1 unit 1 Beigel/Christou, city rooms

a very design orientated unit, based on the concept of room applied to different scales, from actual room, to city room, to landscape rooms. reading the city at this variety of levels will be interesting. the final project will be based on the integration of industry and housing in an urban area.

2 unit 5 Fluid, London's Olimpic bid
fluid is a young london practice that works heavily around local authorities and bases its design on extensive consultation. the brief revolves around the creation of an olimpic village, with particular attention to what will happen after the show is over.

3 unit 8 Chora, Thames gateway
Raoul Buschouten is an ex AA diploma unit tutor and a visiting professor at both Columbia and the Berlage Institute. Possibly the most avantguard figure in the school. The unit proposes to find a new method of urban planning where the architect is involved at all levels and all scales.


I have to say that i was surprised by how amiable both staff and fifth year student turned out to be, despite the uprising popularity of the school. there's a very good atmosphere and a lack of attitude.

apart from all this... the flat still misses a few things, but nothing that a quick run to your local ikea can't fix. plus i'm planning a bit of furniture-making in the workshop, which should be near empty in this period.

so, in the end, i was assigned to my second choice, the fluid people.
I alreadfy had doubts about my choice, and the indroductory meeting confirmed my doubts. they have a very situationist/phenomenological approach to design, which is not exactly my cup of tea. so being the italian that i am (you know, good dress sense, subvert the rules, cook good pasta and all that)
i managed in 10 minutes flat to be transferred to the chora people. got thrown in at the deep end, as we are prepearing an exhibit for the archilab 2004 conference in orleans. right on!