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 bar and the need for the whole architecture profession to organize and stop doing competitions en masse.

I see the valid points, I do, but I still have issues with the idea.

Of the handful of competitions I've done, it was more so about being furnished with an outside framework to test an existing idea or interest of my own. I was genuinely interested in the work from a personal standpoint- to see what I could do with a technique that intrigued me- not concerned with winning. In this way I think competitions present opportunities for designers.

Some of the responses to the ArchDaily link above echo that sentiment.

My professor and Charles Holland only seem to see the competitions as a business strategy, and maybe due to my student status I am not even in that mode of thinking right now.

Speaking of being a student--

Before I went back to school for arch I would read this site ALLLLL day. I always had it open at work and would refresh every hour or so. I haven't done that much at all since I've been back at school as I've cut back on lots of internet browsing (disclaimer: Robot Unicorn Attack not included).

However I just took a stroll through the Discussions section and I am happy to see the snark and sarcasm as unrelenting as I remember. What's funny is that while the same old familiar school discussions (you know the ones) haven't really changed, I still cannot contribute much more than my own experience. Before I went back I had very little idea about what each school was like (or architecture education in general, for that matter), especially since open houses and individual testimonials are so different. School is what you make it, and while every one has its own strengths and weaknesses and culture, you can certainly steer your classes and work in the directions you like.

That being said, I am in Ben Aranda's studio this semester. We are playing with (Rhino) blocks and have Socotra ("The Island of Bliss!") as our site and I am quite happy with my placement.

Here's a studio screenshot from a few weeks back: