Since when did a fetish for software to make cartoons become a “very tech school”?

Thanks for the information

since the time when certain schools figured out those "cartoons" can be realized as real buildings if you teach them how to make it into one versus certain schools who are still teaching how to draw on mayline

Yeah I'm sure the Sultan of Despotistan would love to build your cartoon with his slave labor force. He'll need the RCP and structural calcs as well or are you just the cartoonist?

Which buildings are you referring to tomahawk_619? Asking for a friend...

@randomised: of course if you are working at some boring small office, you can say these skills just for "cartoon". I was working for a famous office and I used ZBrush there. And I know a lot of other big offices use Maya, Zbrush... maybe you knew Zaha office uses Maya for a lot of their built projects? Morpheus hotel, a "cartoon" for you? Of course, I was also working for some small office which only doing boxes and obviously they don't need Rhino or Maya, just SketchUp is enough.... even draw by hand with T-ruler and drawing board and water color as 19th century.

I am not against any tools or tell you this one is better than that one, but you should understand that every tool is well positioned for its context. They dont use Grasshopper for doing Tadao Ando boxes and of course they can not use SketchUp for Gehry "cartoon".

It is cartoon software, used and developed to make cartoons...using such software in architecture school doesn't make it a "very tech school". It makes it a very software and form-driven school (interesting read: https://archinect.com/sleepless/housecleaning-for-architecture). 

A very tech school would focus on how one can realise that shit in the real world, make it work, make it happen, make it buildable, make it stand, make it last, etc. as opposed to the simply lazy laser cutting or 3D printing of a "thesis". 

I am saying this as an architect having used Maya (and Grasshopper) in a professional environment during my career, got stuff built that went in one way or the other through Maya. But that's not what they teach in SCI-Arc, it never goes beyond the image...

They used to teach that stuff in Delft, in the Hyperbody studio (the how to get that freaky stuff built-stuff). Something SCI-Arc CEO(!) Hernan Diaz Alonso could have benefitted from, but that studio retired I guess (I think) when the world moved on from blobby form making and the professor that taught the course (the brilliant Kas Oosterhuis) retired.

You are misundestading the context. The goal of these stuidos is not making something will be built. These "cartoon" thesis are exercises to give students the ability to think, find problems, develop ideas ...etc.. Almost architectural schools have class of drawing by hand in 1st or 2nd semester, that doesnt mean student will use that skill at their future jobs (drawing by hand with technical pens on A0 paper), but to teach them how to understanding the architectural standards.

For me, I did a lot of "cartoon" projects when I was at school and these "useless" skills are very useful for me. I can do very complex modelling so with the simpler geometries in real-life job, I can do better than the guys only know autocad & sketchup to do boxes. And as I said , I even use Zbrush when I was at a famous world-class office.

You are misunderstanding the meaning of “very tech school”...it is perfectly okay, I applaud it even, for students to develop their ability to think, find problems and develop ideas, but when you solely use cartoon software to do that, that doesn’t make it a “very tech school”, just a school that is stuck in digital formalism/episteme without the techné...in the end you’ll just be a simple modeller using software with those skills and the people that did learn how to realise their digital cartoon turds in the real world (like architects, because they went to a school that taught both the episteme and the techné) with all their limitations, challenges and constraints will be telling you what to do and how to do it...and to get it done by yesterday...

huyvuvn, you've drank the koolaid. let us know when you've woken up, but my best bet is you'll end up working in one of those exploitative offices you so admired making "peanuts" (get it? cartoons).

Hey, i want to work for one of those exploitative offices and see what it is like. Although i think using maya and zbrush for architecture project is really dumb as they are not really designed for architecture. Should just use rhino, 3ds max. Maybe those tools are better for curved building? but shouldn't the final CD set be done in Revit anyway? Who would use those tools past schematic design. Meh i hate those dumb curved building, iconic form is the past already. It is all about sustainability/building performance and getting architecture back to a collective whole.

yes, the morpheus hotel is less a cartoon and more a bloated, extravagant waste of materials and resources

Jay - that's a great attitude to have. Especially the part about working for one of these firms to figure out what it is really like. So many people talk shit but few of them have ever thought outside the "square box plus cladding" paradigm that it is impossible to take their criticism seriously (though many are valid) until you experience it for yourself.

Well, i do want to learn the whole project delivery process on those complicated projects. I want to see their CD sets, i wonder if it is all figured out down to all details or just leave to the good GC and shop drawing. The thing with those big name design firms is that many of them are only design architects. They only do schematic design and then throw it to a production firm for the actual work. Had a coworker's friend working on one of those big name fancy buildings, spent a couple months just to coordinate plenum space MEP stuff. I would not want to do that for that duration.

I can only speak to the place that I work at, but it is a mix of both. The people here really know their shit on the technical side, but we also depend on good subs and GC's. We try to detail all unusual conditions and key elements for design and longevity, but will often assume (maybe to the detriment of the project) that the GC can follow manufacturer's instructions and we don't need to draw every banal intersection or transition. There is lots of coordination and re-work in shops though. Most of it comes down to not building boxes - you're always going to have to support, educate and engage the subs more.

The best thing about working for one of those blobitecture high design firms is working with amazing coworkers and world class consultants during the early design process. That's the real gem. Modelling with maya is just playing with legos, fun yet mindless.

spam. the deleted ones here were selling miter saws, ironically given the topic.