Hey all,

Here I am, finally able to post my first blog entry on the UIC Archinect blog.  Why have I not been able to post an entry yet, you may ask?  After all, Catlan, you've had this up and running for a month.  Get your stuff together, man!

The answer is simply that I've been horrifically, mind numbingly busy.  Apparently grad school does that.  Who knew?

Anyways, now that the dust of midterms has started to settle, I figured it was time I get started.

This first semester has featured a lot of really cool stuff and goings on, and I've tried to gather as much as I possibly could about the various studios and their goings-ons:

First of all, toward the beginning of the semester we had a great lecture by a good friend of the school, Greg Lynn, who was instrumental in the digital architecture revolution.  He showed a ton of his body of work, but my personal favorite was a house molded out of carbon fiber (furniture included) that reconfigured itself by rotating on a large wheel.  What was yours?  Let me know in the comments (are people allowed to post comments on this?)!

Other events highlights included the grad school open house, which was a thing that happened that I wasn't quite present for so I'll let someone else fill you in on that.  But it happened.

Recently we had four of our professors present their work and interests in a rapid fire, pechakucha style set of presentations.  For those of you unfamiliar with pechakucha, it's a format of presentation in which there are 20 slides presented in 20 seconds apiece.  Honestly, the 20 seconds a piece part is up for a bit of shuffling around so long as you only spend 6 minutes and 40 seconds over all.  I, personally, was delighted by how succinctly our faculty was able to present their ideas and current projects.  There's supposed to be one more of these sessions this semester and two more next semester so be sure not to miss them!

On Monday, Jose Oubrerie, our visiting professor and friend, gave an overview of his fascinating work and history completing Corbusier's design for the chapel at Ferminy.  Unfortunately I was sitting near the back and can sometimes be bad with accents, but luckily for me I'd seen him lecture over the same subject in my undergrad.  Also, bonus points for using a slide projector.  The man's got style.  His work is absolutely fascinating, but my favorite he showed was the Miller House, lauded by critics across the spectrum.  You can read more about it here:

http://www.archdaily.com/417322/

(Note to self- figure out how to do that cool thing where I make the word "here" into the link)

In general news about the goings on of our faculty-

Congrats to Jimenez Lai for winning a prestigious award for young architects from the Lisbon Triennale (http://www.archdaily.com/tag/jimenez-lai/)

Congrats to Paul Preissner for completing this awesome pavilion in collaboration with Indie Architecture (http://www.frameweb.com/news/two-barns-by-indie-architecture-and-paul-preissner-architects)

And if you haven't read it yet, make sure to check out his essay that got published on SuckerPUNCH, which will also be featured in the book Fresh Punches (http://www.suckerpunchdaily.com/2013/10/18/strange-thoughts/#more-33644)

Ok, now drawings are calling so I need to sign off and get to work.  Look for a post soon in which I'll try to explain what the other crazy kids in our school (both grad and undergrad) are up to in their studios!

(*insert catchy sign off phrase here*)

Catlan

HEY YOU!  I try to keep tabs on everything going on at UIC and in the larger architecture world but I CAN'T DO IT ALONE!  Any news you heard?  Interesting projects or news from the school?  Did a student or professor's work get published or awarded?  Interesting projects or opinions in general?  Help me out and let me know!  Find me in the architecture building where I live, send a carrier pigeon or smoke signals, shout the news into the nearest potted plant, or perhaps just email me at uicarchinectblognews@gmail.com