good question, i nearly always ignored my tutors crtiques and ended up being praised for doing my own thing.
but it is extremely tricky to know when to listen and when to do your own thing, i think you will probably has an internal sense of when to take there suggestions onboard and when not too.

I think it depends on where the professor is coming from. Depending on why they said something, I would process it differently so for example -

1. When they say something simply for shock value or amusement - laugh it off

2. When they throw at you random ideas & feedback - they might have some good ideas so listen with a grain of salt

3. When they only say something when they mean it - listen to what they have to say

And I think each professor has a general way of things, but they can change depending on what mood they're in. Obviously the difficult thing is to know why they said something.

I would say if they crit your shoes they have stepped over the lines.

You'll have professors like that every now and then. I remember in one of my studios, some of the students ran out in tears after how harshly the profs critiqued them.

I've been ripped a bunch too. The best thing to do is not to worry about it, take anything that sounds personal with a grain of salt, listen to the actual criticism, take some of the advice, stand your ground too, and then have a big smirk on your face.

It has been said time and again that this field isn't for the faint of heart.

^because its populated by egomaniacs

Don't take criticism an inch and compliments a mile. Everything should be subsequent to one's own intrinsic level of confidence and understanding.

methinks knox is one of those asshole instructors

Critics and crits vary in many ways, but one factor that might be the most defining is the lack/presence of an audience: if a critic says harsh things to you during a desk crit - just you two and your work - then you better listen. In bigger, midterm- or final-, crits or any crits with a larger audience, the instructor is delivering his/her critique but also performing for the onlookers. And many a time there will be funny/juicy/harsh things to say about the student and the work that don't necessarily have anything to do with understanding or improving the project but just aimed at presenting the instructor as a certain kind of character and scoring some cheap points.

Keep that in mind and don't be insulted - during uncalled for public beatings, the student is rarely the clown.

Have you guys ever noticed that sometimes professors, who don't get along each other, try to make fun or humiliate the others' students?
Plus, you might not be able to see, if you are a student, but boy, some kids just try to BS their pathetic works in final reviews and such. There was this kid who kept telling jurors, "it's not showing in my drawing, but it's all in my head..." I wanted to crack his skull open and see what's in it... must be full of sh!t.

as far as work goes: if its shit it smells. however, this is not the manner in which an educator would present this to the student. if you think the criticism is personal rather than addressing the work, go up the foodchain to the head of the department and mention the word "harrassment". in this day and age that usually gets a response.

Yeah, I've often wondered how some of the crits i saw in my day would stand up in today's milieu of clearer lines about harassment.

Best thing is to forget as much as you can -- criticism should be about the project, not the student. People who cross over into criticizing the student have crossed a line if only that a two-minute presentation by a student is hardly enough data with to guess at the viability of their future career.

So have any of you guys received any harsh opinions, on a personal scale.

Do you believe that any of your crits "crossed the line"?

yes! i have personally insulted many critics!!!

"So have any of you guys received any harsh opinions, on a personal scale."

Lots of times, personally, and I saw it all the time in other critics, with insults in the spirit of "Here's a quarter. Go call your mother and tell her you're not going to be an architect."

Sucks, but all you can do is walk it off.

As harsh as some comments can be, in retrospect many were valid.

Projects will always be a personal exploration, so if the prof knows you or has been on previous crits, they can (possibly) talk to a larger picture.

I've received plenty of harsh crits and plenty of good ones. I honestly can't recall a bad crit that wasn't at least partially warranted, even though at the time it hurt.

In hindsight, all of these harsh critics were preparing us for the even harsher world of clients, contractors, city bureaucrats, public rejection of projects, etc.

yeah preparing you to take the stand point "I copped this shit in school for 5 years I'm not gonna stand here and cop it now from some non-architect type person". hahah

i had the experience this first term of grad school of taking some words from a critic way too much to heart.. and it threw my entire project off two weeks before our final reviews. only in the last couple of days have i been able to reconcile with my studio critic what happened, just because he thought i knew to ignore what this other guy was telling me.

for anyone who hasn't gone through a lot of reviews before (like me) it's really an important skill to be able to know what to ignore, even if it sounds provocative/relevant/etc

and my shoes were a subject in our review... they (accidentally) matched my model. it was uncomfortable.

architecture school is like boot camp, only you don't have to go to iraq and kill people. for the whiners i got one word for ya; WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

getting a bad crit, sometimes you feel like they want to kill you, sometimes you feel like you want to kill them...everything balances out, and architecture meets in the middle.

Also, remember - if they're blasting you, at least you got their attention! I think the worst possible scenario is when they think you're so far out to lunch that they don't have anything to say at all: they don't think you can save your project.

If, however, they tell you your project is crap and you need to wake up to get back on course, they probably believe that you can do just that.

Philosophically if you can remember that the critique is about a couple pieces of paper pinned to a wall and not get too emotionally attached any commentary can be discussed with relative ease. Its about the work and not about you, once they start talking about you they've stepped over the line and the gloves can come off. Best crits I have ever seen were of the worse work that all the students laughed at but the critic managed to keep the discussion at a high level and we all got a ton out of it.... unfortunately the discussion was way over the head of the person presenting.

I never thought a comment along the lines of someone not having the mind for architecture a personal comment. If someone were to call you ugly or poorly dressed or make a comment upon your choice of automobile or operating system then I would agree to argue that a personal attack was made.

What some would consider a 'personal attack' is usually nothing more than an attempt to shake a cocky student to jumpstart them to think, especially when the care wasn't taken to document the thought that went behind the ideology of the project in the first place. I also believe that at times comments along the line of 'you may not be cut out for this line of work' a succinct comment upon where someone's ability seems to stand, especially if they lack an expression of passion for their project and/or work (which, when I take time out of my schedule to sit on a review, I find insulting). I have had no problem cutting reviews short, or giving the student a precedence list to help them diagram their ideas.

One of my main concerns is more based upon how many students (and eventually interns) were raised requiring constant positive reinforcement and lack the ability to take honest critique. I feel sorrow for those people, not only because the will one day graduate from what they consider academia into the cold hard world where honest critique is prevalent, but also because if they have to work with people whom developed a passion and care for rigorous thought they will feel as if they wasted their educational experience.

I also find the argument to howl 'harassment' for verbal slights hilarious. In what overprotective and unimaginative world is that view justified? Do you want to transfer that sort of learning experience to the work force? Maybe if you don't get a juicy commission you can go whine to a Design Review Board or Planning Board about how you were mistreated. That would be a respectable reputation to cultivate.