I will be there and am certainly up for some drinks afterwards

I'll be there, but I have other plans afterwards...but you guys from 'nect should wear nametimes with your ID so we know who you are.

how about red arm bands?

actually, nevermind---that's a little terrifying.

i'll be there! i'll be the person having the panic attack

haha , well ill be the short guy (about 5'4) that looks really young!

is everyone planning on staying for the entire program (read: campus tour, etc.)?

i'll be there too. i say everyone from archinect come wearing hot pink lipstick.

I'll be there too, I'll be the asian guy who looks very lost.

I will meet you for drinks but I didn't apply and am not going to the open house :P

froccli - done. and i'll throw in the gold lame leggings for free

I'll probably look like Michael Caine in "The Ipcress File."

I can loan you my hot pink lipstick tD.

i don't think anyone remembers what michael caine looks like before 1970, so maybe you should borrow namby's hot pink lipstick.

jk, i know what you look like, so i will find you tokyo :)

anyone going to open house straight from jfk at 7am?

say we write our archinect sns on our name tags.............hmm

OR how about a pre-open house gathering...

weeellll tD and chase both have my # so if you do end up meeting for drinks, give me a call... there are some of you I'll probably end up meeting at Yale!

hey guys
i'm new to archinect so i don't know anyone, but at the risk of sounding like i'm about to start middle school, if you see me tomorrow say hi! chances are i'll be wearing red..
kelsey

Or maybe we could have a code word kind of thing.

A: Architecture...

B: Sucks!

And we'll know you're an Archinecter.

anybody back from the open house yet? I'm uneasy about a few things and am very curious what you all think.

just got home...and also feeling uneasy. mostly about how the issue of space wasn't actually directly addressed, even in the Q&A at the end. walking into those studios was a real eye-opener: sharing a computer is one thing, but sharing a desk presents a more complicated issue. i'm a twin, i actually enjoy sharing - but not having a personal work 'zone' would really be hard. my 'best' work has been during those reticent hours in studio sitting around at your desk talking to others from a few feet away, maybe sitting on email or watching a dvd. i got the impression that there must be many fewer opportunities for this kind of low-intensity but highly imaginative ‘thinking' time.

in any case, the city is dense enough - the stress of constantly defending an autonomous space for thinking would be really frustrating. I don’t need tons of room – just two or three feet to put up pictures and dumb stuff like that.

there were a few other things – specifically the general ‘emotional’ atmosphere of the place (seemed pretty detached, distant) - that struck me as odd, but the space issue is the one that’s at the front of my mind right now.

what’s on your mind, sconie?

Hope I'm not horning in, kdollaghan, but your fears are valid. The studio culture there is incredibly competitive. I was there last fall for half of the semester (had to go on medical leave), and I ended up working at home as much as possible to avoid being there. Some students thrive in that kind of atmosphere; it really bothered me. Working on top of your neighbor is distracting and frustrating at times. It always feels like someone is looking over your shoulder at what you're doing. The facilities and computers are horrible, especially when consider how much you're paying.

In addition, the school is quite disorganized (especially in how incredibly late everything runs. Wigley jokes about it, but it's really unprofessional and inexcusable.) and, aside from Architectural History, I had disappointing critics. Instead of returning to Columbia, I've decided to pursue my MArch elsewhere.

That was my experience. Hope that's helpful. I know that others love it and are quite happy there. Maybe they'll have more positive things to say.

I'm one of those detached and distant drones up on the 6th floor studios at columbia, and I think every one of the points made by squaresquared and kdollaghan are completely valid.

the density and chaos wigley claims to love can be extremely frustrating at times, especially at those moments when you've burnt out and need to "think". that's why everyone is constantly in the world of their iPod, because it's the only way you won't be distracted by your neighbors a foot or two away. I assure you, at 2 or three in the morning before a big crit, the studio life we all know and love is still very much there.

the facilities are shit. that is my complaint; the fabrication lab (CNC mill, waterjet, etc) are overworked, rarely working, and generally useless unless you are in a dedicated "fabrication" studio, in which case you have precedence over all other students. the printers are useless (everyone presents with powerpoint anyway) and the 3d printers are generally backed up and often broken. I've got to say the people behind all of the facilities are trying their best to work in a stressful situation, but the result is that you get a very distant relationship, which often leads to a lot of tension and harsh words.

now: competitiveness, to me, is less about competing to be the best (studios aren't graded, after all) and competing to better yourself. I've found that in every studio there is a good culture of shared learning; I've given and recieved a TON of informal crits, and impromptu tutorials on how to better use a software, make a better use of time, or generally interpret the critics' comments.

the faculty is composed of a great variety of minds, with matching egos, and very little time to commit to individuals. I'm torn as to whether I prefer the big names to the full-time profs, but the opportunity is there for a wide range of critics.

The fact that we're in NYC clinches the deal for me: Yesterday, I had a crit, and a number of artists' works were brought up, including james turrel and walter de maria, both of whom happen to have new exhibitions in Chelsea, that i'm going to look at today. there aren't many places where you can do things like that on a whim; In my undergraduate program, we had whatever the library had to offer as documentation, and maybe every once in a while you could make the 3 hour drive up to a real city and see some decent work. Being in NYC opens a LOT of doors, and I think is a great backdrop for an architecture education. The lectures here are very good, and when supplemented with all the other lectures one can attend in the city, there's no better place to talk, think, or hear about architecture from all over the world. I guess it's a toss-up among the schools here; from what I gather, Cornell, Pratt, Parsons, etc. each have similar situations. It's the nature of new york to have crowded, malfuntioning, overstressed environments. you just have to live with it.

I must say I don't think that some of the people here are necessarily painting a realistic picture of this institution. frankly, everyone i have talked to at different schools complains about their facilities - even at schools that i thought were completely loaded with the goods. I too joined the bandwagon thinking that Columbia's facilities were somehow inferior at one point but you have to maintain some perspective. Realistically, they have all the exact stuff that other schools have (probably more than avg.)- 3d printer, multiple laser cutters, multiple plotters, water jet, cnc mills, etc. In fact, there is someone attending to the printers and laser cutters in case of breakdown, which is kinda remarkable if you think about it. I have experience doing projects on the waterjet and cnc mill and people are on call to fix the equipment at all times of night if they do break down (pretty much only the waterjet which is made to breakdown).

my point is to beware of people ranting for the sake of ranting - keep in mind that certain perspectives don't paint the bigger picture quite accurately; because when it comes down to it, according to word-of-mouth from anyone at any architecture school everything, everywhere must totally suck - now is this really true? anyway, the internet bulletin board collects a lot of ranters with agendas.

my bias perspective on some of the issues brought up: since when is anyone at this school competitive? I actually think that there could be more healthy competition. The idea that columbia is some sort of hyper-competitive cock-fighting pen is a myth for the most part. most people that sense the most competition are the people are the people creating the competitive atmosphere. on the contrary, there is an overall sense of collaboration in the air here - we are all in it against overwhelming schedules, deadlines, and ,yes, the cramped space.

i can't vouch for every person teaching at the school but i think that, like many good schools, there are amazing teachers and some duds. the amazing people far outnumber the duds. but, then again, my dud-ly professors are actually other people's favorite professors. columbia is a place of varying opinions about what architecture is - and that's what makes it amazing because you can formulate your opinion on your own within these strong opinions. I've known people who take studios with people because they disagree with the professor's take on architecture. this place loves debates more than any other school i've come across and it's kinda cool because of it (i.e. black suits at the white table in wood auditorium). teachers are accessible when you choose someone that is here to teach (i.e. not a big-name for the sake of a big-name studio). and even with big-name studios, there is usually a collaborative teaching team (with a less busy, less famous person).

to conclude, this is not a cushy school but a good one. it has its share of frustrations but not outside the bounds of most schools.

Simian, I agree with a lot of what you have to say. I don't have an agenda; I just am trying to share my admittedly limited experience with the school to prospective students. My experience as an undergrad student at RISD was wholly different than as a grad student at Columbia, so that's what I'm using as a yardstick. Everyone has their own take on things.

make sure you join columbia house while you're there. you can get like ten albums for a dollar and only have to buy one a year for the rest of your life.

squared -
no, you weren't horning in at all! i really was interested to hear what someone who attended but ended up leaving the school would say. can i ask where you ended up finishing your grad studies at (if you did return?)?

it's incredible how two peoples' equally legitimate experiences at the same school can differ. and i think simian makes a good point about ranting, especially in reference to some of the people i asked yesterday at the open house about all this stuff. i'm a senior at this embarrassingly cushy school where people constantly complain about the facilities. but honestly, at my school we have beautiful facilities, it's just a symptom of the demographic being pretty much composed of spoiled brats (like myself). i'm don't think this is the case with columbia. after hearing a bunch of opinions similar to squared's and seeing avery for myself, i'm inclined to take them very seriously. though i can definitely see how that tightly-packed environment could actually be a very positive thing in some cases. personally, i'm just concerned about the spirit crushing debt i'm about to subject myself to, and the regret i might feel as i take out student loans to be able to pay for what may end up being a really difficult situation.

anyways, thanks squared, misterTT and simian for giving such eloquent responses to something that could have easily become one of those school vs. school threads.

vado, i heard you can get the new alanis morrisett as a throw in if you recruit a friend

i went to the movies with her!

what movie?

kdollaghan, I'm starting at Cranbrook in September. Bill Massie, who graduated from the GSAPP during the legendary period of the early nineties, is the new architect-in-residence at Cranbrook, and is bringing the department into the 21st century with digital fabrication. I chose to go there because in some ways, it is the opposite of Columbia in that they emphasize full-scale construction, which forces you to resolve a whole slew of problems that might not be encountered solely by clicking a mouse button. I am also interested in focusing specifically on humanitarian/socially-based architecture, which is possible there.

Were I to stay in a more traditional architecture school (like any of the Ivies' programs), I would have to say that I wouldn't have decided to leave Columbia. There are great opportunites there, despite the shortcomings.

Good luck with your decision!

you know ive called breasts a lot of different things. but never lumps. lumps are coal.

vado, did she remind you of the mess you left when you went away? It's not fair.

alright. back in it.

a quick preface: I began with two days at UCLAs open house(I’m currently living in California) then Columbia and now Im in Phila to visit Penndesign. Ill do my best not to make too many comparison in order to avoid digressions. Also, I will be a 3+ MArch student.

Firstly, I would like to voice my appreciation to those students and alumni who have more experience at Columbia than I—which is a whopping one day—Thanks for your help squaresquared, misterTT and simian. Here’s my commentary on the open house and how Columbia was presented, please take it with a grain of salt. I understand that the program is big, but I felt its was rubbed in our collective faces by having everyone, MArch, AUD and Advanced all sit to gather in the Wood. The 150 student Q&A was kind tough too. Maybe they wanted to give us the NY experience, but I was under the impression that masters studies entails greater intimacy. Furthermore, There were few faculty members to question individually, though the tours of the Avery library and fab lab were a little more personal the sandwiches at lunch were tasty too. At the end of the day, there was Q&A with third year students. It was nice to be exclusively with my cohort at this point. It was shocked though when one student admitted to having made only two models in her three years at Columbia (I saw very few models in the studios, no starch base or pvc models). Lastly, we were informed that the first semester drawing class in now done in rhino, which confuses me. In ending this short rant, I would like to say that I do appreciate the amount of autonomy that the student seem to gain by the third year and that taking the initiative is rewarded(independent study and collaborative projects for example). And that’s my impression.

Yes, my impression of Columbia is far from robust so please let me know what you thought, and current students or alumni please let me know if I’m terribly, terribly wrong(it happens regularly enough, no worries).

Wow Orequal...That video made my night

sconie, i was in that march q&a and was also amazed about the drawing class.

re: facilities at columbia. i did a summer studio there and yeah, the spaces were a little cramped, but you figure out how to work it out. the tight quarters tend to foster a lot of comraderie and i had a lot of fun. it certainly was conducive to really interesting conversations and debates while simultaneously working. i think having a nice space is important, but all the emphasis being placed on it seems a little ridiculous.

as far as the open house went, i was pretty impressed with all of the research labs. they seem to be doing a lot of really interesting and cutting-edge research that i don't think you could get involved in at other schools. it is definitely more academic (vs. being more practice-oriented) and their approach to architecture as being tools to address problems in many scales, not just at the bldg scale was great. i sat in on a couple of reviews and was more impressed with the smaller studios. granted these were intermittent reviews so we didn't get to hear most of the juicy stuff but the faculty seemed to be very involved and engaged. adminstration was kind of a mess and the student body appeared to be a little younger than i had expected. it didn't seem competitive and in fact there seemed to be a lot of collaborative work) and mark wigley was pushing all the right buttons...overall, i was pleasantly surprised.

again, just my observations from open house.

I never got to ask during Q&A if working among so many students ever proved to be a hindrance. I’m sure it must at times. Is there cooping or freaking out? Is it easy/difficult to get attention? how are partners chosen? I assume that partners change every semester?

Also, I felt that the exposure I got to the actual projects/assignments/problems was limited. Really all I walked away with was a conversation I had with a third year student during lunch. I guess don’t really have a feel for what the specific studio are about and that’s the stuff that makes me excited about a program. At ucla we actually got to sit in on the lottery for the next years research studios. Same goes for the faculty now that I think of it. I asked Wigley during the Q&A if the any or most of the faculty practice. He said yes and that their projects range from the theoretical to the realized, that some faculty never leave their desk and other are at construction sites. I know that Tschumi and Holl have offices, but what about the junior faculty? what are they doing specifically?

Also, I thought it was interesting how the students disagreed with Wigley’s statement, “99% of the students stay in the field after graduating” . For example; one of the panelists worked for a summer rendering interiors for what sounded like an and ad agency(graphic design, right?) and then they’re going into real estate. another panelist said that their doing research into some gaming platform. is this common?

Thanks for listening in.

i must say that i really enjoy rhino, but kdollaghan, are you amazed in a good way?

sconie -
both - amazed in a good way, because it displays the fluid relationship between digital and analogue which seemed to be the norm at c,
but also a little dissapointed - hand drawing for me has a certain meditative quality to it? as in, you're forced to think harder about what you're actually depicting. but honestly sometimes i think i'm a better modeller than a drawer, so who am i to complain?g
as to how much exposure to the studios we got - i actually agree with you. there are lot of repeated images from studios (in the abstract, the slides at the beginning of the presentation), but i wish we would have been given a little more of a chance to understand how the studio assignments are framed and what some of them specifically entail each semester. someone i talked to at cornell gave me a really specific rundown of each studio he'd taken since he got there - and it really blew me away. definitely something that could have tipped me over the edge for columbia - right now i'm going on an assumption that the studios will be as engaging as the program makes them sound, rather than on information about individual studios that excite me.

i remember one of the students commented on how wigley's "99%" comments were due to the fact that he has a far-ranging view of what constitutes
"architecture," which is an attractive quality to me...

i'm also curious just how much of a difference having a columbia degree makes after school, in reference to some of their comments about getting interviews in chicago because they came from an east-coast ivy.

Sconie - Clearly UCLA is the only place to be. :-)

i enjoyed the open house. the students were friendly as were the faculty. wigley's intro was good, hes a captivating speaker. lunch was surprisingly good, those little sandwiches were tasty.

after lunch i went on the avery library tour and the fab lab tour. i think avery library is a great asset of the school. their collection is really second to none. the fab lab tour wasnt too exciting... a router and a waterjet in a tiny no window room in some basement where the manhattan project started. however the guy who showed us around for that said they will be getting more equipment (exciting!) and are looking to move into a new space too (even more exciting!).

after the tours i went and walked around the studio spaces. Although they are small, I didnt feel too cramped. Maybe when it comes to building a model i would feel differently, but in the core studio spaces there was at least one row of desks for cutting/model making. i dont mind the tight space, i felt comfortable there and will definitely be there in september.

More Questions: can you take books out of the Avery library? do Columbia students learn tool pathing? how to use a laser cutter?

Being Critical: I’m sorry about being so critical, but I feel like I have to since I am entering an expensive, time intensive masters of architecture program--which brings me to my first concern--I would like to become an architect some day(personal choice), and I feel that having any other agenda or looking for alternatives before, during or after seems to me like conceding defeat. Thus, I was a little disappointed by the "99%" discrepancy. The man is the dean and he wants us to go to Columbia.

In regards to the whole name recognition issue, I don’t think I would want to work for any organization that chose its employees solely based on name--I think someone is settling for less if a firm hires you because of your schools rep and not your work. also, I think its important to remind our selves that a schools reputation among the public is different that within the world of architecture. Personally, I would never go to a school based solely on its name, maybe I just love research and exploring the differences between all of the different schools. I think Columbia must offer far more in terms of connections that just its name. does it?

kdollaghan- what other schools are in the running?

Deadlines are coming up!
good luck all.

sconie, no you cannot take books out of avery library, what they do is give you shelf space where you can have books youre interested in put on. they will be kept there for the semester.

yes, you learn tool pathing if you take the classes that use the router. as for laser cutting, you drop your files off at the output shop and they laser cut it for you. however, your files must be correctly set up, etc. so yes, you will know how to use a laser cutter.

people enter architecture from all different backgrounds. some of them might decide later on they dont want to be an architect. i dont understand your concern of what other people do after they graduate. obviously you can go on to practice architecture after your master's, no matter from what school really... it is simply up to you. the dean is not going to know off the top of his head how many people go on to be architects or go on to do other things.

i feel columbia has a lot to offer other than its name. it seems like a great place to start networking, hopefully meeting future clients. it offers you the chance to study and live in one of the worlds best cities.

good luck in making your decision!

could someone from Columbia tell me if the only thing you are allowed to operate is the cnc mill(and wood shop of course)? what happens when its crunch time? do you still have to wait 48 hours? do you have the option of learning gc(parametric and associative design system). I visited penn yesterday and the first year students were talking about doing gc which is very appealing--I assume because of the cecil/arup connection.

as someone about to finish up my first year at columbia, i thought i'd comment on the drawing class since it's the first year that computer drafting/modeling has been integrated into the course. it's broken up into several sections with each instructor taking a slightly different spin on the course objectives. in my section, the instructor had us drafting by hand and rhino was meant more to help with drawing ideas that were difficult to conceptualize in our heads - like projecting our drawing onto a curved surface. overall, the drawing course will get you thinking about how you represent your work rather than just learning how to use a lead pointer with HB lead to make a line.

about the space, yes. we all know. it's small. but you get your own desk - there is no sharing as someone had previously thought. you share a computer only in your first year. but then at least half of the people in my year have their own laptops anyways so it's not really a problem.

as for the school being competitive, i haven't experienced anything negative. if anything, i've had more times of people giving advice or wanting to bounce off ideas than spying/intimidating each other with massive amounts of competitiveness. but then again, i will say this - if you yourself weren't competitive in some sense you wouldn't be considering this or any other similar school.

lastly, about the detached feeling that some people got - please realize that if you wandered into the first year studio spaces or ran into any of us, half of my year had our 3/4 studio reviews that afternoon (myself included). the rest of my year had their reviews the following friday, so they were most likely ignoring everything in the world in order to get their own work done for their reviews. at least for me, i know i was more concerned about getting plots from the print shop to run over to my review than being chummy chummy with the prospective students wandering around. oh and on a related topic, the critics. had some really good visiting jurors, actually. and my studio critics for both semesters were dedicated, willing to reschedule desk crit times if they had to be away, and pushed my thought processes in many ways.

so that's all. adding my biased opinion to the mix.

milkdud - thanks for clearing that up!!!
sconie - now i'm just trying to decide between cornell and columbia. right now on the basic pro/con list: cornell has better facilities and fewer people, but columbia is in ny, has kenneth frampton, and is more active in terms of research. what about you - penn and columbia, or are there others?

sconie- you can operate the cnc mill and waterjet, while printers, laser cutters and 3dprints are handled in the output shop.

as for generative components, it operates just like the other visual studies courses, which range from rhino, to maya to maya scripting to processing, to unreal editor, to 3dmax parametrics, etc. It's all a matter of what you're into, and who is teaching in a current term. Alisa Andrasek seems to be the one into GC the most; she's teaches a pretty cool set of courses based on it.

so have you guys made your decision yet? i just sent my deposit in.