Studio has done a major turn around, at least for me. After the pithy email volley, Julio came in on Monday with a new perspective on studio. He didn't understand that we, as a whole, kind of didn't know how to make buildings. He had looked at our archived work over the weekend and realized that our core studios are much different than what he was used to teaching at GSD and Syracuse. We basically know how to make vaguely spatial object things using lots of rigor and lines. He said what we are doing is not a formula that you can just plug information into and get a finished result (which is sort of what seems to come from the algorithm/generative studios). For us, more than half of our models are laser cut...thingies, so they aren't really study models. You basically have to finish whatever you were doing in order to make some shape that really isn't much more telling of its spatial qualities even when in physical form. Like those damn rib models that they seem to love so much.

For Wednesday, I made this hideous foam core model with writing all over it and half of the cuts were made with scissors or no straight edge. I thought he was going to be pissed but he liked it a lot. This is the first semester that I'm designing in model and it's so much better. For the past three I've mostly just spun Rhino models around all day and gotten nothing. 2/3 of my critics have played lip service to model building, either not caring, or wanting stupid stacked plexi or ribs. The one guy, god he was so annoying, he just wanted everything laser cut and plexi. He didn't care what it was. Just laser cut something. Out models were just exercises in laser cutting crap. My other critic (who I still maintain was excellent) wanted models, but I really just didn't know how to work in model as a real design tool and not just object making. So Julio just wants me to keep building models this weekend and I'm actually kind of excited to work on it. Well, other than wanting to rather play outside, but I have too much to do right now.

I really wish Julio would have made this realization a few weeks ago because I think we could have had some solid, kickass projects. He really crits, reacts, and teaches very differently now and it's great. Rather than talking about the carrots in the minestrone soup, he talks about spaces and structures etc. He's imparting the knowledge that I know he has. He won the Young Architect award this year as well as a competition in Norway just during this semester, so I know he's good and has something to offer. I think the semester could wrap up very well. Like seriously, it feels like a total 180. I think other people are more excited now too, but it's been hard to tell because today is the career fair, so most people have been working on resumes and such, not studio. But I'll keep you posted on the trick move.