Fresher at archinect blog project, I'm currently crossing one of the worse critical euphoric and stressful season of a common architecture student. Anyway, ORGANIZATION and the so called "PRODUCTIVE DISTRACTION".

Currently in my last year of Grad. Dip. Architecture, thesis is the most heard and spoken word ever.
Anyway, is going well. 349 things to do until the end of January. It's fine, more than one month to do it.
Problem? yes, as in the middle we have the celebration of the consumerism and the great and amazing delicatessen - food - and the new year's eve. A few would say "and?"...work,"have a break to eat the turkey" and comeback to work. "Stop working to drink the champagne at midnight" and return.
Well, for someone whose hometown is more than 2000km from university, it implies to get a return flight trip. Trying to pretend that nothing changes is purely waist of time.
Anyway, you can't complain when you are working and you don't need to worry about doing lunch/dinner, tea and cookies, coffee or going to supermarket. Mum does!
This sounds like more free time to work, but we have to add all the additional distractions we are consequently having.

Drafting this panorama, and not at the best context, I write down a brief description of the school and the programme I am currently into.

CSA - Canterbury School of Architecture, is a laboratory for architecture and spatial design – a supportive, progressive and experimental educational environment for our students, staff and collaborators. The heart of the school is the design studios – a series of open, chaotic and creative spaces where we embrace and debate the future and foster ways of thinking through our design practice. We’re committed to exploring the potentials of architecture and spatial design through our actions and agency. This requires a commitment – a commitment to take a position, to take responsibility and to act with rigor and optimism. In short it requires the kind of entrepreneurship necessary to make a creative contribution as an architect or designer to the future.

This academic year is composed by 4 modules, Technical Dissertation, MPL - Management, Practice and Law, and Design Studio.

Design Studio compromises 3 different studio approaches. I choosed the one called "COOP COAST".

COOP COAST, over the course of the academic year 2010/11, is investigating the political, socioeconomic and spatial realities of coastal towns, both in Kent and across the English Channel. Oscillating between macro and micro scales, between urban and rural, temporal and typological conditions, the studio embraces strategic and activist design practices alike; and will explore the potential for cooperative action within the realms of regional design, programmatic urbanism and performative architecture.

After "the break" (working) some more posts will follow

PS: If anyone of you guys is facing the same christmas break issues, please state your feelings here