WHAT YEAR IS IT?

Sorry, just woke up from post midterms hibernation.  And speaking of which, it’s midterms week!  Which means I am long due another blog post.

Obviously all of your awesome projects are going to be the main focus of this blog, but first I have a couple announcements and back of house stuff to talk about.

First of all, I’d like to congratulate the Virani sisters (Shifa and Nazifa) for BOTH getting published on SuckerPUNCH for their work in Sean Lally’s studio last semester.  Congrats, girls!  You can see their posts at the following links-

http://www.suckerpunchdaily.com/2014/02/10/a-new-sensorium/#more-35165

http://www.suckerpunchdaily.com/2014/01/28/simultaneous-plan/#more-34839

If you read SuckerPUNCH a lot, you may have also noticed the blurb about Sean’s new book- The Air from Other Planets.  Go out and get yourself a copy!  We’ve been reading pieces from it in our Tech class and it’s fascinating.

The Department of Urban Speculation is hosting a competition over the course of next week to rethink and redesign the common spaces on UIC East Campus (and boy does East Campus need it).  The competition is a 10 day charrette so the entire program won’t be available until the competition kicks off on Friday, but it seems like a good opportunity to explore your design sensibilities outside of studio.  Also, teams will be formed including grad students and undergrad students from all different years, so it’s also a great chance to work with some people you may not get to work with in school.

Also don’t forget that Spring Break is coming up!  Other than the much needed break this provides and the chance to get out of this frozen hell gorgeous city, this offers a good chance to get your portfolios and resumes sent out for summer internships and jobs.  Around now is when firms start looking, so get yourself into that pile of prospective employees!

Ok, now to the fun stuff.  Of course you know that midterms are ongoing this week for graduate students.  We just had ours Monday and I must say it went fantastic!  Alexander Eisenschmidt, Sarah Dunn, Grant Gibson, Molly Hunker, Allison Newmeyer, and Jiminez Lai all came to help give us a stellar midcrit with some really great advice.  I know my fellow first year grads and our fearless professor, inventor-of-architecture-drinking-games Stewart Hicks were very appreciative of the feedback.

But enough about us, I want to talk about some of the excellent undergraduate work coming out of our building’s west wing. 

As you may know, I have the privilege of being one of the student workers at the Laser Lounge, which is located through the undergrad studios.  Every time I go through there on the way to and back from work, I’m always distracted by something fascinating sitting on someone’s desk.  If you’re a grad student who’s never been over there I suggest you go check it out. 

So after seeing the amount of work the undergrads have been putting into their work, I decided to go check out the review of Grant Gibson’s studio.  They’ve been creating “inside out” architecture, in which they first take on the role of the industrial designer and create the objects in the room and work out from that, eventually designing the surfaces that create the interior.  From what I could see, they’ve been encouraged to work with unusual patterns and materials, and it definitely paid off in the end.  I was struck by how refined the color palettes and material palettes were.  Projects ranged from the textural to the plasticine, all exploring different methods of lighting and pattern to create striking interiors.  I couldn’t stop myself from trying to guess each one’s precedents, patterns, and logics of tessellation.  I took some pictures with my phone, so they’re not the best quality, but hopefully these give you a good idea of how cool these cubes turned out.  I wish I knew who did which cubes, but if you know, leave it in the comments below so we can match people to their work.

(the fact that I would have totally put a cut out of Miley Cyrus on one of those things speaks volumes about both my character and maturity level)

I Knew that UIC was producing good work and had an excellent faculty, but it still perks up my confidence to know that we have such a great team of undergrads as well.

Now I think that’s enough for one post.  Congrats to all of those done with their midterm reviews and good luck to everyone who still has them coming up this week.  Get some sleep this weekend.  You’ve earned it.

 (*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