haha the school that I'm thinking of probably doesn't exist!

did you look at Cincinnati?

your post made me laugh with scripting crap, fantasy statements, so true. We hired people that had those qualities, but had no idea where to put a downspout. There should definitely be a balance, but sometimes, especially in this economy, you want to build.....

my bad, you are interested in West Coast programs....

haven't looked at Cincinnati but I know they have a pretty cool studio. Thanks anyway!

Virginia Polytechnic Institute?

EVerything I've heard about their program seems to suggest they give their students a super practice - oriented education. Highly regarded, and the Virginia weather is bound to be warmer than Pennsylvania.

I've actually thought about Virginia tech, but again not interested in the east coast, i know it sounds crazy cuz theres UPenn , Columbia and all that good stuff. But I want a different experience than a college town in PA, a school with good facilities is very important to me, and finally a program that wouldn't turn me into a Rhino scripting douche bag. Thanks anyway ADavin ill keep VT in mind.

Understandable - but i think you are selling yourself short - a lot of these schools (Upenn, Columbia) are about the farthest thing you can get from college town (although at both these schools you could very well turn into a Rhino Scripting d-bag haha).

Also, east coast is a gross generalization. You've got the Northeast, the Mid-Atlantic, Mid Coast, the South, and finally Florida. Each one is distinctly different from the next, politically and socially.

you're actually right! and I do know that UPenn is in Philly and Columbia is in NYC. Alright ill make it easier...California and Florida

what about miami's program? idk about their graduate program, but my co-worker went to their undergrad and it apparently is quite good.

Miami is sin city! plus i've visited their school..prob one of the shittiest studios i've ever seen but thanks for your help. Alright I guess im gona make it a lot easier now lets stick with California, and maybe USC.

Do you guys think USC can offer what I mentioned above??

I think you are being super limiting but specifying warm weather. An MArch2 program is typically only a year long. You seriously cannot endure 1 winter? Your lack of ambition is peculiar.

But yes, USC would offer that. It is a strong program that would prepare you well to build. It is super expensive if you don't get a scholarship though. But if you are rich and you want to meet more rich people so that you can stay rich, USC is a perfect fit.

BTW, Cincinnati does not have a strong MAch2 program.

Also, look into UT Austin. I think its warm there.

Jk3, Miami is good.

But the area where U of M is... is awful. It's practically Baltimore with palm trees.

And as for living conditions? Make L.A. have sex with New York and you pretty much get Miami. Expect to pay $1000-1800 dollars for a box in a small low-rise building that's a 45 minute drive away from everything else.

IIT

Do you all not understand warm weather?

I'd vote for CCA.

Sure, it's a pretentious-as-hell art school.

But it is in San Fransisco:

A) warm-ish weather
B) great "community" feel
C) Access to wealthy people
D) pretentious as hell art schools are art schools... they don't give a damn which style you subscribe too as long as it is pretty and sellable

Look into UT (Texas)...great facilities, great diversity of studios, professors, and students, warm weather, lots of hand rendering and computer rendering. good balance of theoretical and practical architecture...very well rounded program. Great school-I loved it.

Yeah, cca is a good choice for what youre looking for, considering that it's in potrero hill, which is actually sunny 90% of the time compared to the rest of sf.

UT Austin might also be good considering your criteria.

As far as LA goes, I've been told that USC is good for undergrad but less so for grad. Just a rumor that I heard.

Also, I feel the need here to make an argument on behalf of UCLA. Sure, it is true that the building itself can, at times, resemble a trash dump. But that's not to say that the shop facilities are bad; we do have two 3d printers, three lasercutters, two mills, vacuum formers and a woodshop. Plus, you get Your own desk and plenty of space (unlike, say, Columbia or Berkeley). Considering the M.Arch 2 degree is one year, you can handle a crappy building if it means access to incredible teachers and classmates, with the added benefit of beautiful weather...

@msmit106, most of the programs ive looked at for M.Arch 2 are 5 terms, and I can endure 1 winter , i did that for 5 years at PSU, but all i wanted is to get a solid education in a different place than State College Pennsylvania (nowhere Pennsylvania) thats why I was looking at schools in the west coast, there's nothing wrong with that, but thanks a lot for your help

If you are looking for Material Research, Design Build, Sustainability and unreal facilities, you should take a gander at Arizona (UofA).

35,000sqft of studio space (new building) I think its like 45sqft per student
laser cutters, 3d printers, wind tunnels, full wood/metel shops, ex.
M.Arch II classes are generally small, focused and implement testing though construction and computer simulation.

Although, Tucson does have some gnarly temp swings, low's in the 30's high's in the 100+. Yearly ave. about 75 degrees.

Your money, your time and your education...you have the right to be picky! Good luck! Cheers!

Thanks a lot guys this really helped!

'Rhino scripting douche-bag' is just TOO DAMN FUNNY
I do hope you find what you're looking for.

Just a question - why not look for a graduate-level building technologies course if that's your interest? I've mentioned before that design studio should not be solely governed by 'construction drafting ditch-pigs'

@job job - yea building technologies is one of my interests and that could be part of a sustainability masters program. I heard from one of my professors that having a masters in sustainability will be easier to sell yourself in the job market, he also told me that Cal Poly SLO offers that, but I couldnt find anything on their website about it, do you guys know? Or if UCLA and USC offer that as an option under the M.Arch?

the area around UM is nice, it's coral gables.

I think your 4th and last point in the original post is the only one that has much validity. The AA doesnt even have dedicated studios at all, students work from home. And it produced Rem and Zaha, and Peter Cook still rocks that shit.

And who cares much about the weather? Isn't the scale of an architecture career [a lifetime] much more weighty than 1.5 years[if you do go for an M.Arch.]?

However, as a caveat, I would say that PRODUCTION facilities are very important. [cnc, laser, stl, 5D router, etc.]

you're right production facilities are very important, but guess what its my money and my education, so I have the right to be picky as shit

yes, of course you do. but wouldnt it benefit you to be picky about the right things?

i think ruling out the gsd, the gaud, and the gsapp on the basis of geography alone is a naive move. ESPECIALLY since it's your time and money. just trying to help a brother/sister out, dsh.

come on you cant say that California doesn't have good arch schools (if you read the the whole thread we were talking about schools in Cali). I mean having a little bit of everything is not gonna hurt right? a good school (cal poly slo), awesome weather, hot chicks what else do you need haha. I would rather go there than Pratt institute where everybody is fuckin depressed in studio cuz its -20 F outside and pay like 800 $ for a shitty apartment. But thanks for helping a brother out!

also......good weed

lol, yre hilarious, dsh! yeah, i totally agree that a maximum of 2 years of grad school is worth way more than a lifetime of a career! got any more gems of advice?

well according to my criteria what schools came to your mind? (forget about the weather)

okey dokey, dsh, since you asked so nicely:


youre never going to get me to espouse, advocate or denounce a particular school on such a public forum as Archinect. I may want to attend one of those schools in the near distant future!

that said, i can offer alternative questions, that, i think you should be asking as priorities, rather than 'is the geography warm' considering you are going to spend, cajole, borrow, be awarded a scholarship of, a lot of money. [60K usd is no joke, as it does extend to nearly twice that in terms of interest. still want to procede?]


here's my top 4 questions[assuming you have a real need of arch grad school]:

1 what is your agenda in terms of architectural inquiry, and how does that coalesce with what is offered at the school in question? in other words, how and why and when will the school make you a better architect than penn state did? why should you pay thousands to study there? don't forget, they are offering you a service. as a consumer, you do have the upper hand.

2 What is the method of teaching? is it more hands on like rural studio [sam mockbee, rest his soul]? or is it more theoretical in terms of computation like sci arc or pratt? or is it more product based like Stevens and they're relationships with major producers of architecture and architecture products? [IE Hunter Douglas and SOM]

3 Faculty, faculty, faculty. [This, really, is pervasive across all questions, and pertains to every single question. But I put it here because I believe if you can garner a good agenda, then your faculty will support that. ] Do you prefer to study under a Toshiko Mori or a Michael Speaks or a Rem or a Stan Allen? and why? bear in mind your professors will have an agenda no matter where you choose to study.

4 YES! You were on about this one! Yes, I would definitely pick a school that has a traditional woodshop, a foam cutter, a laser cutter, a cnc milling machine, and powder and sls nylon printers. Advanced fabrication is advanced design, it's utterly stupid to not adopt new tech in our profession.

Anyways, hope that helps and that I wasnt too annoying.

Well I'm no idiot and I understand completely where you're coming from, you have lots of valid points. But lets imagine that Zaha or Rem went to penn state instead of the AA, then we would say that wow penn state is really good school we should all go to it cuz it produced zaha and rem. I dont believe in such thing!! The degree is what you make out of it, and if your talented you're gonna stay that way whether at penn state or AA of Harvard. I know a lot of ppl who went to Harvard for grad school that are not doing shit but teach first year studio because at the end architecture is a business and architects happen to be the worst at it.

The reason why I'm leaning towards cal poly slo is because of there concentration on sustainability and energy-conscious design. I've heard a lot of professors say that you can sell yourself easier to the job market with such a degree. There program is very hands-on which I'm interested in cuz ive had enough theory, so think that way it could diversify my education. Also a degree from cal poly is an excellent one, AND its got all the good stuff I mentioned , so why not go there?

Lets hope I get in for Gods sake!

Sure, just because a school produced well known architects in the past in no way means that all of the people who graduate from that institution will actually make talented, driven, ethical, pertinent architects. And of course fame isn't a great measure of how good an architect is either. I just referenced those because I was sure everyone would get the reference. Not everyone necessarily knows who people like John Nastasi, Paul Lewis, Chris Lasch, etc. are.

Perhaps you were being facetious in your orginal post, but that seemed odd, given that you seemed also to want sincere responses. There's nothing wrong with wanting to go to school in a nice environment, but that seems to me to be of less importance than things like content, process, methodology, levels of pragmatism v. abstraction, etc. So it seemed your priorities were deeply misguided, in my opinion.

if boosting yourself professionally is all you are striving for anyways, why go back to school at all? You have the professional degree, in my experience, that is all anyone in the profession cares about (academically at least) . What matters, in the eyes of strictly "professional" firms (ie. 95%) is what you've done in the profession, what you've built, so why not just skip the burden of time + money spent on school and jump in? unless of course you do have some sort of research agenda (which im not convinced you do). generally, it seems like everyone I meet who goes/gets the march 2 is in it to become a teacher or a research-based professional, and that doesnt seem to be your goal.

@taas...well most M.Arch 1 and 2 students go to school not knowing what thesis to pursue, but the reason why I wanna do it is because I felt like i wanted to learn more, and 5 years of undergrad were not enough for a lot of reasons theres no need to get into details. And two years is nothing I'm gona jump into the real world sooner or later its not gonna hurt me Im just gonna learn more.

I understand, I just feel like if your agenda is leaning towards the extreme of learning things that will 'make you look good professionally', then you're going to get/learn more of that in the profession itself. not an academic environment. perhaps, it just has to do with those 'details' you speak of, and there is a research agenda, to each his own.. goodluck

what do you think will make me look good professionally these days?

these days? not much (maybe that's your point?). but generally, in my experience, built work, ability to work in a professional setting (that is, use tools such as revit in a professional manner), and specialization (ie be able to do something no one else in the office can do as well as you). maybe you can get those things at particular schools, but certainly not the one I went to/am going to now.

yea I mean I can learn revit thats no big deal...plus these days everybody is becoming a revit monkey! Energy conscious design is gonna be in high demand soon, but what I was thinking of is should just study for the LEED certificate and skip school, but I like going to school. Are you doing your masters?

interesting. I can see your point if you want to specialize in 'energy conscious design'.. that kind of technical training might help you tremendously (I just dont define it as 'architecture' per se, hence the confusion re: architecture school). I'm doing my masters, yes, but I have a rather theoretical/academic-tailored project I'm working on refining, things I know I can find in a professional setting.

*cant find

dsh5016,

The program at Cal Poly specifically states that it is a graduate degree with a focus on research. You obviously need a defined topic to peruse and also to appoint a 3 person thesis guidance committee (one of which comes from outside the faculty of architecture). Are you prepared to do that?

Of course, that doesn't all need to be explicitly defined now, but is nevertheless something to consider, given that you'll be asked to state your intent upon application.

Energy conscious design covers a wide range of topics. What is it that most interests you? Is it looking into new techniques of modelling and predicting insulation, solar gains, thermal properties etc. (perhaps with the help of mechanical engineers or computer scientists) , developing more efficient building systems or alternative energy sources (again with mech engineers), sustainable methods of construction or light-weight structures (computer aided design, structural engineering), or maybe something entirely different involving ecology, biology, biomimetics, or agriculture?

This isn't another professional course in architecture. It's a self directed research program. You need to take possession of it and create your own topic and research goals. Without that, I think it's a waste of your time and the school's. You'd be better off just entering the workforce now while working on skills immediately of use to the majority of architecture practices.

@IamGray, if you are in the program could you tell me more about it? I thought the first year was mostly lecture based courses, then the second year you do your research. I am more interested in a design thesis. And to be honest Im not interested in punching numbers but rather the theory and psychology that is related to sustainable architecture, and I dont know if i can do that at cal poly?

@wittyusername could you tell me about the suprastudio at UCLA, I heard that I will basically be a slave for some starchitect..

... SCAD has a real-world based type of environment...