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Starting Out

jae

Ok I'm new here. I'll start my first year in architecture school at Mississippi State University in a couple of days. I'm still learning about the basic architectural superstars like Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan, and le Corbusei. What should I expect in the future? Who should i look to for inspiration? Show me some architects that i've never heard of...but need to hear of. Anything would be helpfull.

Thanks
Jae

 
Aug 16, 07 7:54 pm
mdler

if you stick to those three, you will be fine

Aug 16, 07 8:28 pm  · 
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eastcoastarch03

oh yeah, fuck frank gehry

Aug 16, 07 8:31 pm  · 
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Apurimac

just be sure to spell corbu's name right "Le Corbusier".

I almost applied to MSU, too rural for me though.

Aug 16, 07 8:31 pm  · 
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mdler

seriously, though, just start looking around on the internet, in books, magazines, etc...find some stuff you like and some stuff you dont like

you will be learning plenty about architects and buildings in the very near future

Aug 16, 07 8:33 pm  · 
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mdler

Kahn, Zumthor, Rem, Zaha, Mies, Bunshaft, KPF, ZGF, OMA, SOM...

Aug 16, 07 8:34 pm  · 
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strlt_typ

sam mockbee
alvar aalto
r.m. schindler
bobbi permanti

Aug 16, 07 8:35 pm  · 
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eastcoastarch03

read read read, travel all you can on the weekends (i don't know whats in mississippi, but go for it), sketch till your hand is numb, talk to anyone and everyone in this field and never be afraid to ask questions. the best knowledge doesn't have to come from a classroom.

Aug 16, 07 8:36 pm  · 
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mdler

john lautner, neutra, ain....

Aug 16, 07 8:40 pm  · 
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mdler

dirnk drink drink, sleep all you can on the weekend, draft till your hand is numb, talk to anyone and everyone not in this field and never be afriad to ask a law student out. the best knowledge comes from the jobsite

Aug 16, 07 8:43 pm  · 
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eastcoastarch03

lewis tsurumaki lewis
thom mayne

Aug 16, 07 8:44 pm  · 
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mdler

the only question that you should be afraid to ask is 'where should I go to grad school'

Aug 16, 07 8:45 pm  · 
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mdler

and 'what should I do for my thesis?'

Aug 16, 07 8:45 pm  · 
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mdler

oh yea, I'm a dick, btw

Aug 16, 07 8:45 pm  · 
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mdler

but also very funny, so people put up with me

Aug 16, 07 8:46 pm  · 
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mdler

dont operate power tools when you are super tired or drunk

Aug 16, 07 8:47 pm  · 
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treekiller
bobbi permanti

dammson you're cruel....


jae- you used to be able to subscribe to a small magazine called progressive architecture but it's been dead for at least 10 years now. So read metropolis or dwell to keep up with the trends and some of the stuff that you won't learn in the first two years of architectural history.

remember to sleep, even if your classmates don't, you'll be better off. the first year is when the professors try to scare you and get rid of the weak students.

enjoy the ride.

Aug 16, 07 9:13 pm  · 
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jae

thanks for the btw mdler but its pretty appearent...except for the "funny" part...j/k

Aug 16, 07 9:29 pm  · 
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forget metropolis its shite. Drop a dime and get the uk pub Architecture Review or if you want something a little less architecture dork go with Wallpaper

Aug 16, 07 9:30 pm  · 
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jae

treekiller- are those online magazines or would i subscribe?

Aug 16, 07 9:31 pm  · 
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Apurimac

I'm sorry, but i like Arch. record.

Aug 16, 07 9:33 pm  · 
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eastcoastarch03

architect magazine is great, its new this year

architect

you can get it free if you work at a firm or have your own. but they really won't know if you have your own....

Aug 16, 07 9:37 pm  · 
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jae

i think i get what you're sayin...wink.

Aug 16, 07 9:40 pm  · 
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b3tadine[sutures]

hejduk
borromini
le doux
rossi
mies
piranesi

and forget the rest.

magazines - Detail --pricey
metroplis is not crap...
GA
architecture review
surface - cause wallpaper blows

sorry techno, jmho....

Aug 16, 07 9:48 pm  · 
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outed

jae -

just keep an open mind and be self-analytical as you look at all these architects work - try to find out what their ideas are about, what motivates them and helps guide their creation. see which architects they take inspiration and ideas from. go look at their work. repeat as many times as you possibly can and go back as far into history as you can. all of the architects that are 'stars' today draw from historical precedents. thom mayne was as addicted to renaissance gardens as anyone.

personally, for someone just starting out, i'd stick to the 'masters' - the three you have there are just fine. throw in mies van der rohe and alvar aalto and you could spend a very long time just trying to master what they have brought to modern architecture. study palladio, even if you think you'll never use a classical language.

skip the current magazines until you hit 4th year or so. it's tempting to crib the form, but form without content (the content YOU put into it) is pretty much like worthless. you need some kind of intellectual, historical context to understand what great work is. you're not likely to find it in many of the magazines.

finally, go see as much great work as you can in person. keep your eyes open all the time. ALL the time. observe the world around you. make notes, sketch constantly. refine your hand/eye coordination. but see work in person. you won't have any real idea of what architecture can be until you do. none.

good luck - listen to david buege whenever he comes up from jackson. he may be the crankiest of the bunch, but the man knows what he's talking about. david duvall is a great person to learn from as well (for different reasons). there are others as well...

Aug 16, 07 9:55 pm  · 
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holz.box

don't forget the local/regional influences:

trahan architects
sambo mockbee
clark & menefee
paul rudolph

travel to see lectures - find someone willing to drive a few hours with to just to keep educating yourself.

Aug 16, 07 10:06 pm  · 
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won and done williams

beta, those are very strange influences. not that i would disagree, but it's pretty far from the usual suspects. i'd love to see what kind of architecture that brew produces.

Aug 16, 07 10:11 pm  · 
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b3tadine[sutures]

...i am different for difference's sake....

Aug 16, 07 10:15 pm  · 
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holz.box

mies and rossi and piranesi are hardly strange influences?

Aug 16, 07 10:25 pm  · 
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vado retro

use your library more than your computer for research.

Aug 16, 07 10:34 pm  · 
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cadalyst

definetly attend lecture series', most are free to students, and you get first hand knowledge from some very smart architects or designers.

Aug 16, 07 10:53 pm  · 
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won and done williams

to each, his own, holz

Aug 16, 07 10:56 pm  · 
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ff33º

A modern definition:

1. architect

An overworked and underpaid employee - of a pretentious registered practitioner of the arts (a prat). Many years in tertiary education have left the 'architect' bitter and in debt - and unable to relate to the remainder of society.

'I am an 'architect' - the rest of you are unimaginative scum.'

from: www.urbandictionary.com




Aug 17, 07 12:37 am  · 
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Just keep an open mind to everything, even if you do not initially agree with suggestions or advice. Sometimes it will be difficult and you will at one point or another come across an instructor whos viewpoints you do not generally agree with, but there is always something to learn.

One knock on architects and designers is that they always think they are right without a thorough analysis of what is being offered to them. That is the beginning stage of the "ego". Just keep an open mind, always. Thats the only advice I can give.

Aug 17, 07 7:12 am  · 
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One knock on architects and designers is that they always think they are right without a thorough analysis of what is being offered to them.

wtf?! my clients think i consider things too long! and i never think i'm right. always second-guessing myself.

i don't really even understand where you're coming from, huanmic. what is archinect's discussion board if not an unloading of a lot of our insecurities and angst and ANALYSIS of what's right, wrong, or unanswerable?

Aug 17, 07 7:35 am  · 
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err OMA (p2an ducks for cover)

Aug 17, 07 10:13 am  · 
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aquapura

That architect from there's something about mary. His work will be in arch history for sure.

Aug 17, 07 10:28 am  · 
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lletdownl

id just like to add a little warning, especially when studying older work.
You will be hearing a lot about 'context'... understand and think about the fact that FLW, Corbusier and Mies were responding to more than just physical context...

i think you'll find architecture more and more interesting when you think about the fact that great architecture responds to economic context, social context, political context... etc... not just that the site is urban or rural, on a busy street or in a quiet corner, on a mountain or on a flood plain...

Aug 17, 07 10:36 am  · 
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won and done williams

nice post, lletdownl. couldn't agree more. that's where the best architecture begins.

Aug 17, 07 10:47 am  · 
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eastcoastarch03

very well said lletdownl

Aug 17, 07 10:56 am  · 
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mdler

Carlo Scarpa is basically all you need. If you show up to 1st yr studio and throw down some Brioni Tomb and Castelvecchio, you will have the professors loving you long time...

rock the crayon on yellow trace as well...

Aug 17, 07 3:45 pm  · 
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vado retro

steven you need to write a manifest and attach it to all correspondence to your client. this will set them straight.

Aug 17, 07 3:55 pm  · 
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funkitecture

sketch endlessly





Aug 17, 07 4:03 pm  · 
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mdler

one rule of studio - if there is ass-crack showing, you are allowed to pour SOBO down it

Aug 17, 07 4:04 pm  · 
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vado retro

wow how ironic one of my school projects i used the asscrack concept.

Aug 17, 07 4:29 pm  · 
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mdler

what is SOBO??? I will have to show you

Aug 17, 07 4:38 pm  · 
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vado retro

keep your sobo out of that asscrack!

Aug 17, 07 4:42 pm  · 
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