Archinect - Features

Post-Digital Rendering: Leaving Drawing Behind

2021-04-01T11:21:00-04:00

Not too long ago, a novel graphic representation, rebelling against the digital tools and techniques that dominated the past two decades, took the architecture world by surprise. Post-Digital Drawing, coming mostly from European offices, started propagating across professional circles, competitions, and academia. This style of representation, noted by Sam Jacob, embraces digital technology in a critical way; utilizes digital tools like Photoshop and Illustrator, and techniques like drawing and collage without aiming for realism. Instead, "this new cult of the drawing explores and exploits its artificiality, making us as viewers aware that we are looking at space as a fictional form of representation. This is in strict opposition to the digital rendering’s desire to make the fiction seem 'real.'" However, by taking a look at the work of emerging practices, competitions, and academia today, one can discern that an evolution starts to emerge. Ironically, this evolution of the Post-Digi...

How to Face a Jury in Architecture School

2019-09-03T07:00:00-04:00

A while back, we talked about how our ability to communicate as creative people can sometimes make or break our success. Effective communication is one factor of life as an architecture student, but another one is in how we face up to a jury of people ready to critique our work. It is something sure to cause most new students to melt in anxiety. The moments leading up to a review can be filled with uncertainty and worry. Standing in front of a group of people and presenting something we’ve created can be daunting, and we brood over the stamp of approval we yearn for. Our primary preoccupation tends to be a fear of looking bad, of not appearing smart, capable, and competent enough. And the need to be seen in this favorable light is what often encourages the uneasiness that swells within us.

To fight this, we must modify our view of the jury and the part they have to play in our development.

The Architecture Student’s Presentation Roadmap

2019-07-10T11:54:00-04:00

If you’re an architecture student, then you’ve probably had to endure the daunting arena that is the critique, or the pin-up, or the review. Whatever it’s called for you, one thing is for sure: the quality of your presentations in school significantly impact how your work is received. Most students spend hours on their projects but then sell them short by not communicating them well to others. There’s nothing more frustrating than knowing you have a great project and not being prepared enough to help a professor or juror see that as well. Having a roadmap to guide you can provide just what you need to enter a presentation confident and ready for action. This is your roadmap.

Archinect's Guide to Presentations, Part II: The Lecture

2016-04-25T10:23:00-04:00

Just like planning out the look of your presentation, taking your time and planning ahead will take you a long way when putting together your script. Practicing again and again will give the polish you need to seal the deal. Take a few friends out for coffee and talk them through it. Refine your thoughts in the shower. Present again in front of the mirror, looking at yourself in the eye. The more you run through it, the surer you’ll feel about it.

“An absolutely insanely private, esoteric conversation”: Thom Mayne on ‘M’

2016-03-21T13:49:00-04:00

How does an architect tell his story? Thom Mayne, who spent decades struggling to put the idiosyncratic visual terrain of his imagination into relatable speech, has chosen to tell his story with ‘M.’ Ostensibly the latest monograph by Morphosis, ‘M’ is also in Mayne’s view a comprehensive tour of his sensibility.

Archinect's Guide to Presentations, Part I: The Visuals

2015-12-29T14:21:00-05:00

It’s 4:30 in the morning, and you are just heading to bed after polishing your latest project. The client meeting starts in three hours and you have yet to go home, change, and come back to whip up a quick presentation. What you don’t realize in the wee hours of the day is that excellent design will get you nowhere without a compelling presentation. How do we convey our façade intention to a client who has never heard of a detailed wall section? How do we convince government officials to allow the development of air rights above a listed building? How do we demonstrate to our future employer that we are the candidate of their dreams?