Archinect - Princeton University School of Architecture

Hello, Mercer County!

2007-09-08T21:17:30-04:00

Annual cicada, Tibicen linnei

I moved to Princeton just yesterday ... I begin the PhD at Princeton's School of Architecture here soon. I register on Wednesday, and classes start on the 17th ...

My new apartment is totally brimming with unpacked boxes ... so more updates as things get along.

I can actually hear crickets and cicadas (see above) outside my window. A beautiful noise I have not heard in decades.

Film: The Station Agent

2004-09-25T10:12:30-04:00

I watched 'The Station Agent' last night. I thought it was a very good character driven comedy that happens to be set in New Jersey. Best quote about New Jersey: "Have you ever been there? There ain't nothin there. Nothin."

I now have a crush on Patricia Clarkson.

Focus on Frist

2004-09-22T18:48:20-04:00

Frist is the place for everything: food, coffee, batteries...a break from the architecture building. At Michigan they call it the North Campus Commons but unlike the Commons, there's good food and good coffee. It's next door to the architecture building and is open until 2 am so naturally it is the preferred place to be during class breaks and meal times (when ever that may be).

Professional Practice Class

2004-09-22T10:32:45-04:00

I would like to take a moment to praise Robert Hillier of the Hillier Group who sets aside Monday mornings to teach the professional practice class. This is a mandatory class that focuses on working within a firm but with the additional radiance of Bob's personality. He offers countless anecdotes and witticisms that make the class an enjoyable experience. I'm not one who is easily intrigued by the professional world but I'm learning a lot from the class.

Moment of Inspiration

2004-09-22T00:43:33-04:00

So Sorry

2004-09-20T23:39:47-04:00

I would like apologize for not writing anything for a while and unfortunately (or fortunately) tonight won't be the long-winded explanation of what has transpired. Hopefully I will get to that sooner rather than later.

Short story short:

We had a pin-up today. I was a nervous wreck but I think it went fairly well. I did my presentation in powerpoint which turned out to be the best possible decision. The lights were off and everyone was intently focused on the projection screen at the other end of the room. No one could see my trembling.

The studio is concerned with what we deem as "normal". Most people are focusing on some aspect of the building code or similar regulating principle of building design. I won't be able to explain it well so please take my word that it is open ended enough for us to have individual projects but focused enough to feel that we are heading towards something. Maybe I'm just experiencing a temporary lack of critical ability rendering me unable to say any...

The Creature that Lives Beneath

2004-09-14T22:23:29-04:00

This animal has been lurking underneath my back porch offering delusions of a bestial wilderness in my otherwise genteel trailer park.

I Choose Door #3

2004-09-13T20:34:45-04:00

Today were the presentations for studio: Jesse Reiser, Mario Gandelsonas, Elizabeth Diller, Paul Lewis - in that order. It was a strange decision: on one hand I felt my life hung in the balance while on the other I knew they were all great choices. The only limitation - at some point I need to take the Integrated Building Design Studio while I'm here. It's the token studio that focuses on the typically more neglected aspects of design in school: structure, wall sections etc. This semester it is taught by Paul Lewis. Back to the presentations:

Reiser - BMW delivery center in Munich. something about knots and women bringing your keys to you as you drive away in your car.

Gandelsonas - Hotel in China. Urban issues.

Diller - "normal". A list that includes: zoning ordinances, building codes, human comfort...program to be decided later, presumably by me.

Lewis - Food Hotel on a farm. Inegrated Building Design Studio.

I was racked with indesiciveness...

I chose (drum roll) Elizabet...

The Football

2004-09-12T11:14:38-04:00

Since football isn't the pastime of choice at Princeton as their football team ended with a 2-8 record last year and ranked 205 at this season's start, I'm instead forced to continue following Michigan football. I have yet to find something to fill the void left from what has been such a large part of my Fall Saturdays. Maybe the time would be best spent in studio...

Needless to say I'm very disappointed with the loss to Notre Dame.

Manuel De Landa

2004-09-09T21:56:35-04:00

I attended the Manuel De Landa "seminar" this evening. It is the first of a series of 10 lectures he will be giving under the guise of a course called ARC 537. There's a sense that you're supposed to feel lucky to be able to sit in front of him while he talks. He didn't neglect to mention the other schools he's "teaching" at this semester: Penn, Columbia among others. The class was interesting and I will probably sign up for it - but even if I don't, I will probably attend the class anyway. Instead of a summary of the lecture or his biography, I found this conversation between him and D.J. Spooky a.k.a. Paul Miller:

PM: In A Thousand Years Nonlinear History you point out that "human history is a narrative of contingencies not necessities, of missed opportunities to follow different routes of development." My question is this: history is always a framework of interpretation; do you feel that somehow we have moved into our frameworks, moved into the picture and lost the frame?"

M...

The Climate

2004-09-09T13:04:01-04:00

New Jersey has relatively warm summers and cold winters, with moderate temperatures in the fall and spring. From June through August, it's common for temperatures to reach the 90s F/32+ C during the day in all parts of the state, though cool sea breezes keep the coast comfortable in a state with fairly high humidity (68% average on the coast, 57% inland). At the shore, when the moist breeze can make it seem chilly despite the mid 60s F/17 C temperatures. Expect rain to be evenly distributed throughout the summer. In the cold winter months New Jersey gets its share of snowstorms, particularly in the higher elevations of the northwestern part of the state, close to the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. Trenton and Newark range from 24 to 41 F/-3 to 5 C in January, while it's 24 to 42 F/-3 to 6 C in Atlantic

Lunch & Learn

2004-09-09T11:08:04-04:00

There's a student run series called Lunch and Learn that takes place on Wednesdays...during lunch. The schedule:

9/15 SPAM: Everyone talks about it, but OIT is doing something about it (Dan Oberst)

9/22 Blackboard content system and new BB features (Dennis Hood, Matt Hood)

9/29 Create and edit your own video extravaganzas (David Hopkins)

10/6 Blogs, Weblogs, Powerful web journals (Kati Lovasz)
Location: Carl A. Fields Center Ã¢â‚¬“ Liberation Hall

10/13 A computer deconstructed (Adam Re)

10/20 Better than Google: Find articles and more at the library (Nancy Pressman Levy)

10/27 Electronic election systems: e-voting security and paper trails (Michelle Mulder)
Location: Dodd's Auditorium, Robertson Hall Ã¢â‚¬“ No food or beverages allowed.

11/10 Technology in language teaching: Fitting new media into the classroom (Jamie Rankin)

11/17 ARTstor: A digital library for the humanities (Bill Ying, Max Marmor)

12/15 Our new web content management system (Reed Meister)

1/5 The ne...

The Gym

2004-09-09T10:15:30-04:00

By now you all know how important muscle mass is to the profession of architecture. Princeton has not overlooked the physical aspect of our education by including the Dillon Gym and Stevens Fitness Center.

By the numbers:

29 pieces of selectorized equipment
22 Nautilus:
-Leg Press, Prone Leg Curl, Seated Leg Curl, Leg Extension (2), Hip Abduction, Hip Adduction, 10 degree Chest, Vertical Chest, Pec Fly, Super Pullover, Women's Pullover, Weight-Assisted Dip/Chin, Lateral Raise, Overhead Press, Preacher Curl, Tricep Extension, Abdominal, Rotary Torso, Low Back, Multi-Exercise and 4-Way Neck
-2 Cybex
-Rotary Hip and Rowing
-5 Body Masters:-Cable Cross-over, Lat Pulldown (2) and Low Row (2)
-1 stretching area
-2 stretch machines (MedX and PreCor)
-1 12' x 15' stretching mat (Resilite)
-59 pieces of cardiovascular equipment
-9 FreeClimbers (StairMaster; 2 types)
-5 4000PTs (StairMaster)
-1 StepMill (StairMaster)
-10 Stratus upright cycles (StairMaster)
-4 Str...

The DBar

2004-09-08T22:58:41-04:00

You may have been thinking, "Stewart, you post all this information about academics, where do students go for cheap booze?" Well, I have an answer for you.

The D-Bar, or the Debasement Bar, so called because of its location in the basement of the Graduate College, is a nonprofit, student-run operation that provides a much-needed relaxation zone for graduate students every night from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Emphasis is placed on the fact that the D-Bar is a club Ã¢â‚¬” everyone living in the Graduate College is automatically a member, and others can buy membership. Members may bring guests over the age of 21.

The D-Bar offers an extensive menu, with the cheapest beers at $1.75, cocktails from $3.25, shots, wine, whiskies, cognac and soft drinks, as well as food including peanuts, mini-pizzas and wasabi peas.

Campus Design

2004-09-08T19:56:28-04:00

If you're interested, I found this website that lists the architect of every building on the Princeton campus.

The Orientation/Initial Look at Classes

2004-09-08T18:19:16-04:00

Today was an informal orientation led by Stan Allen for new graduate students. Although it was informative, I doubt much of what was discussed is relevent here. He gave some admissions numbers and it drove home how small the school really is, a big change for me coming from Michigan.

I also met with Stan Allen to discuss which classes I place out of and which ones I should take this semester. Nothing is set yet but the ones I'm looking at (besides studio) are:

ARC 537
Theories of Self-Organization and the Dynamics of Cities
Maximum Enrollment: 20
Professor(s): Manuel J. DeLanda

Description/Objectives:
Cities are among the most complex entities that arise, either bureaucratically or spontaneously, out of human activity. But even those cities in which urban structure was the result of a deliberate act of planning house many processes which represent the spontaneous emergence of order out of chaos. This seminar will examine a variety of these processes, from markets to symbioti...

The Building

2004-09-07T17:41:00-04:00

I apologize if this post seems negative but I found this information regarding the Architecture building interesting. I actually think the building isn't too bad but I haven't spent too much time in it yet, we'll see.

1963. Fisher, Nes, Campbell and Partners

In the end the arch-citadel of reaction remained at Princeton, cozy in its Gothic... A notable compromise that lacked conviction appeared at Princeton in 1960, where Douglas Orr...sought to placate young demands for a modern architecture while assuring old tigers that their house was safe from 'chaos and a jumble of new and daring styles, each screaming for a place in the magazines'...Gothic was gone, but its replacement..was worse, however much it tried to be all things to all men. In 1960 Saarinen was to do the new colleges at Yale, Harvard had commissioned LeCorbusier to design its Fine Arts Building, Pei and Stubbins were designing for MIT. But the pockets of resistance remained, particularly at distinguished Old Nassau wher...

The Campus

2004-09-07T17:14:42-04:00

The campus is beautiful - beautiful people, buildings, landscape. Go to this website for an interesting history of the campus.

You can also download a map.

PreSchool

2004-09-07T12:51:30-04:00

During the summer I received a series of emails outlining things to do over the summer. I thought you might find them interesting. They included the mandatory purchase of a PC and a reading list:

Computer:

Intel Pentium 4 3.0GHz (w/800MHz FSB/ 1MB cache)
1 GB Dual Channel DDR SDRAM
160 GB Serial ATA @ 7200 RPM
128 MB, ATI Radeon 9800 Pro
21 inch SVGA CRT capable of 1280 x 1024 display
Photo-quality Color Inkjet
10/100 PCI Ethernet
Optional
CD-RW/DVD combo and 512MB USB 2.0 Micro-drive
Microsoft Windows 2000 or XP Professional **Not XP Home**

Reading List:

To better prepare you for the start of classes in the fall, we have put together some recommendations for summer reading

These books provide specific background for the M.Arch. curriculum:

Alan Colquhoun, Modern Architecture (Oxford, 2002)
The best general history of modern architecture to date

Robin Evans, Translations from Drawing to Building and Other Essays (AA Publications, 1997)
Wide-ranging essays on the ...

The Town

2004-09-07T11:08:16-04:00

IÃ¯Â¿Â½m going to give a first impression account of the town of Princeton. Admittedly, my opinion is biased and I have spent a limited amount of time here. IÃ¯Â¿Â½ll try to keep it civil (pun intended).

From what I can tell there are two streets: Route 1 and Nassau.

I think Route 1 leads straight to hell. Well closeÃ¯Â¿Â½Newark. ItÃ¯Â¿Â½s a 70 mph six lane highway with stop lights every mile and endless strip malls. Nothing in the Chicago driving experience can prepare you for it Ã¯Â¿Â½ stopping, merging, accelerating, dodging. There are 15 strip malls in a one mile stretch, none of them labeled or visible from the street. Once you find yourself in a strip mall parking lot you need to fight for a parking space near the Super Mega Store where all you want to purchase is taco seasoning. Then if you want to go to the book store next door, you need to get back in your car and drive to the other end of the parking lot and start the routine over.

Nassau is the walkable street in town...

The Living

2004-09-06T20:55:03-04:00

I live in Butler Housing with my girlfriend - labeled by the Housing Department as my Ã¯Â¿Â½domestic partner.Ã¯Â¿Â½ ItÃ¯Â¿Â½s a two bedroom and is the only on-campus housing that will accommodate our cat, Lola. It feels like a trailer park for graduate students. ItÃ¯Â¿Â½s a long walk from campus but thereÃ¯Â¿Â½s a shuttle service - weÃ¯Â¿Â½ll see how that goes. There is a community room for parties, a mini-laundry mat, and a computer cluster with 10 or so computers. The kitchen appliances and bathroom fixtures are new but the floor is musty basement style linoleum.

The Move

2004-09-06T16:23:49-04:00

As this is my first post, IÃ¯Â¿Â½ll try to give a brief explanation as to how I believe this blog will unfold. Although I will try to keep my explanations objective, it is impossible for me to eliminate the tendency to relay my personal experience and opinions rather than some catalogue of the schoolÃ¯Â¿Â½s strengths and weaknesses. My experience will be one path among many and may not play to what students may find here. That said, hereÃ¯Â¿Â½s the beginning of my story:

IÃ¯Â¿Â½ve spent the past few days moving from Chicago to Princeton, NJ. The drive is about 13 hours but I made a stop in my hometown of Ann Arbor along the way. I left Ann Arbor around 7 PM and arrived in Princeton at 5:30 AM. I couldn't help getting a picture of the Climax exit in western Michigan along the way.