Archinect - University of Maryland (Dave)

Life after a summer in Paris

2009-09-11T22:17:48-04:00

I have not updated in a while. I apologize.

I had a great experience this summer. I travelled to about a dozen major European cities. I saw so much amazing architecture. Paris was my favorite city, which I might be biased to because I lived there for five of the eleven weeks I was in Europe. The city has so much beautiful architecture. I also loved the culture. Traveling was a lot of fun. Hostels provide awesome opportunities to meet great people, especially the hostels with bars in them.

The transition back to the US wasn't too difficult. I spent most of the time in NYC. I looked Columbias program. I really liked it.

Studio begun last week. I already pulled two-near all nighters (three hours of sleep). I luckily have a really good crit this semester who I can tell is going to work us hard. I'm excited. I have a high expectations this semester.

The rest of the semester will consist of me preparing for graduate school and the possibility of going to England next semester for a...

Dream summer

2009-05-27T02:01:45-04:00

Paris. London. Normandy. Rome. Lyon. Barcelona. Prague. Crete. Santorini. Athens. Milan. Naples.

Expect many pictures.

First five cities are for a study abroad through the architecture school. We will be living there for six weeks. The course is heavy on sketching and water coloring (so excited to learn how to watercolor.) A few of us will travels during the weekends. Then afterwards, I am traveling with a friend for about three weeks to Barcelona, Prague and Greece. The last two weeks, or ten days, will be spent with my parents, brother, grandma, aunt and cousins in Italy meeting our family.

It will be a wonderful summer. I am so lucky.

studio relationships

2009-04-20T21:10:37-04:00

I just heard an interesting fact the other day: 20% of my class is in a studio relationship. So out of 50, there are ten people dating. None of whom were dating before studio. I am lucky enough to be in that category. Who knew that studio is such a matchmaker.

Summer/Quad Conference/Urban Project

2009-04-11T18:43:47-04:00

Quick Update:

I am determining whether or not I am staying Europe for a few weeks after my study abroad in Paris. The program ends July 11th and my cousins and grandma are traveling to Italy to meet my extended family August 1st. My grandma hasn't seen her family in over twenty years so it would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see her in her natural environment. That would leave two weeks to fill in Europe. I am stuck because I would love to travel alone for two weeks. That would be a dream come true. But, I feel that it is a stretch since I am not in control of my monetary needs at the moment, which leaves the final say in the hands of my parents who are not as thrilled with the idea as much as I am. Well my Dad is, but my mom is not. As much as I want to push my "master plan," I feel like I am flirting with the spoiled kid syndrome where I feel entitled to any good idea out there. In that case, I just want to wait it out, see what my parents decide and hope to God they say...

So Excited

2009-04-03T12:56:31-04:00

So in about a half an hour, I'm going to Baltimore to pick up Moshe Safdie! I'm so excited. We, UMD, is hosting the quad conference for AIAS and he is our keynote speaker. I am getting the privilege to pick him and his wife up with our AIAS president.

Moshe and his wife will be sitting in my car very soon. I am flipping out a little. I definitely get architecture star struck. (starchitecture struck?)

Warning: Architecture Corniness

2009-03-28T00:47:00-04:00

A group of my classmates are interested in redeveloping a publication by our old critics that attempts to create a dialogue for architecture. The conversations we were having were thoughtful perceptions on our take towards architecture. While we were talking, I sat back and realized that it was a friday night and there were seven of us arguing our thoughts about design when it clicked with me that I am so privileged to be in an environment that challenges us so much that we want to discuss academia in our social lives. Personally I have been dorky enough my whole life that I have been searching for an environment like this since I'm kid, so its a perfect fit for me. I sought people out growing up who would just want to sit down and discuss some theory that overanalyzes a part of society for hours and love it. I think back to when I was in high school to what I wanted college to be, and with a few slight differences, what I experienced tonight, sitting around with friends with beer a...

First Post

2009-03-15T22:22:58-04:00

I really wanted to write a blog after I saw that we weren't represented. I just learned that a critic from last semester was a blogger for Maryland which was enlightening to see.

My hopes for this blog is to inform those interested about how we approach architecture at Maryland. I find it fascinating to see how other schools learn how to design.

The basic about UMD:

We are a four year school. We start design studio our junior year after two years of completing core requirements. We have an application process for studio our sophomore year that requires a portfolio and a good GPA. That was our first glimpse at the stress architecture induces.

The first two years were good for learning how to acclimate to college. I admire the students who were able to jump into architecture the first day of college because I don't think that I could have done it. I was too distracted by college life, but then I got over it after two years of it. It was also helpful to pursue other interests/cl...