I believe in studio culture. Unfortunately many universities don't, even if their schools of architecture do. The university looks at the studio spaces and sees big floor areas, with special service requirements, occupied irregularly. They would much prefer less specialised classrooms. This is common in many universities from what I understand. Like you say, numbers in a balance sheet.

All you can do is make vigorous use of the studio spaces available. Otherwise the next step is being told that because the studios aren't being used, they are being converted into classrooms.

Can you bring in lockers for your stuff? Can you get a small group of people together who want to work in a loose collaboration based in the studio space? Things like this build slowly.

Unfortunately it is not as easy as that...I use a wide range of different media in my work and as such I have a big stock of scalpels/paint/brushes/different papers at my house. If I were to bring these into university it would be more effort than it is worth to:
a) Take the items out of the locker
b) set up a new workspace each time, as the studios are also used for tutorials/crits for other year groups when we are "not there".

The problem is not all due to the space though...that could be arranged/sorted if effort was put into space-planning and organisation. The issue is that of the "student culture". The students rarely want to engage with each other on anything other than a superficial "hows your work going?" level, if they do engage more then it is always the same few people. Some of the students clap each other after crits. This is very nice but it does not prepare you for the real world where invariably your ideas will be questioned/criticised from all angles.

I think your ideas are really good though and I will try to implement some small loosely based group discussion/brainstorming in the studio when the "real" term starts next week (exams are on at the moment)
I am in my third year now and will finish my BA (Hons) in June so by then it will be too late for any change to affect my study...but it is still an important issue. More "professional" and less informal studio practice at university would better prepare students for their first year in practice (next year) which i assume will come as a shock to some
people.

Thanks again for your response

Flux

Maybe it is simply the vast size of your year group that is the problem. I can imagine with 200 people wishing to store models, move them around etc then others will get damaged. And 200 people are never going to ever know even a majority of their fellow students, even casually. To be honest, I find that most students work at 'home' rather than in the studios, no doubt a consequence of the dominance of computer rendering on laptops.

Do you have a student society? Do they organise events, or raise complaints? Again, I imagine it will be a difficult and thankless job to organise a society for such a large intake.

To be honest, one of the best experiences I had was last year at college, when there were only around 40 of us, everyone knew everyone else and were very generous with their help and support.

flux, it sounds like there is a bit of a problem at your school that might need to be addressed by the administration - secrecy is simply being immature, and intentional damage done to other students' projects is completely inexcusable. larger issues like these need to be brought to the attention of the faculty.

in terms of the general studio culture, students working at home versus at studio tends to vary quite a bit by class. some classes bond and enjoy the late nights working together; others would prefer to be able to focus without distractions. there's not a lot you personally can do about this other than encourage your fellow students to openly discuss their work. we would occasionally have student lead crits in the evening with a beer and snacks. people tended to loosen up and engage other students' projects often for the first time at those, but you have to have a core group that is solidly behind it to generate interest.

It is my opinion that at least part of the problem lies in the size of your class and age group. Larger class means many people go unnoticed and can get away with things that you wouldn't be able to get away with in a much smaller class. Undegraduate means younger thus less mature students. Communication and cooperation comes with time, sometimes never.

in my year we've had ups and downs in terms of studio culture, mostly it's been extremely good. the main reason why it ever declined was a lack of motivated staff and a really poor year head who was completely lacking in any kind of interest or curiosity and had just been hanging around for too long.

how did we fix it? we complained, the level of unhappiness with the staff in question eventually built up and changes were made. the only way you get heard is to take the university rules and use them to state your case, we kept a log of what staff turned up and for how long

i think allocated space in studio is essential to it actually being a place of study, i would never go to studio (etc!) if i thought that i couldn't leave bits and pieces there, usually we've had 3 desks between 4 or similar.
if you don't have this, then look for it,. the simple fact is that they cannot claim to teach studio without providing adequate space for it, and i don't mean crit space or storage space, i mean space for you to sit with classmates and go through each others work.

basically what i'm saying is that in a class of 200 you are definitly not alone in your sentiments. stand up, talk to your classmates, get studio going from your side and then as a group take on anything that is affecting studio from the universities side.

done.

Thank you for all of your responses...

Lekizz, afrdzak and rira all made the point about the shear size of the year being counter-productive and this is definitely one of the most important factors in the whole issue of developing a worthwhile and consistent studio culture...there simply isn't any consistency or cohesion through the year. The most that the tutors have done to try and rectify the problem (some are quite adamant about the importance of studio) is to tell us all to come in and work in the studio space. But in reality this is not possible due to the constant use of the spaces by other years for tutorials and crits. Unfortunately this is my last year in Manchester before I begin a years placement so any changes (if they occur) will be after I have left!! But this doesn't change the fact that the problem still exists and needs addressing. This is an issue related to architectural education as a whole. Do your schools promote and provide space for this method of working?
I was impressed by rira's effort and success at making a difference to the culture of his/her school...well done!!
Jafidlers idea about less informal studio sessions with beer and snacks sounds like fun...but I can't help but imagine that these would invariably get out of hand...for that to work you need a very committed group who could look past the beer to the actual matter in hand...i.e the work.

Thanks for all your help...look forward to future posts...

Flux

why do other years use your studio for crits?
surely they can cope with just using their own space for this?

i've had pin up crits in hallways and storage areas, they really don't need that much space if you have only 2/3 people pinned up at one time, and have one being discussed while another is pinning up

flux.....i think you might have blown four years of your life......where the hell you been wanker to not have seen this as a problem three years ago and got you ass out of there to a place where you weren't
a factory architect student. Seems like there are enough places around in England and Europe to find a better fit. Hope you don't end up designing toilet stalls your whole life. Hopefully you will find
solice in going to graduate school where you have a better environment. Thanks for letting the world...England included that
your school sucks.....and most likely most of the student sucks....and all they are really prepared for is to be architectural terrorist.....destroying projects in house while they are being designed.......da be the ninja bad boys and girls...slipping into the
office way after everyone has gone home because everyone stays late to be sure the job is done on time....and they mess with the computers and plotters just so the project doesn't go out the door as planned....now I know who to blame....as does every other architecture office.....be the students from Manchester.....I guess they
take after their football team.

"Snook_Dude"...

Unfortunately you seem to have got the wrong end of the stick on this one. Manchester graduates are consistently the most employable in the UK and the University was voted best in the country last year. I was talking about a minority of troublemakers in relation to "architectural terrorism"...not the whole school. Also...I do not think that "Archinect" constitutes the "whole world"...just people who care about the sort of issues that I mentioned above. On the whole your response is counter-productive and a bit insulting. I have had the BEST 3 years of my life at University and would defend Manchester to the end. The level of teaching is high (world class even) and the staff are superb. We have support on all technological fronts and produce some excellent work...regardless of a "studio culture" or not.

Maybe its small minded architecture students/professionals like you that hold projects up by having your head to far up your own **** to see whats actually happening around you. I do not take kindly to being called a "wanker"...especially from someone I don't know who uses their anonymity to mock what was a serious and sincere discussion about a real issue.

Also...if you think that i sat on my "ass" about this then you are very much mistaken. I persisted with the promotion of studio culture throughout my first year...but due to the fact that I am committed to my work, I could no longer commit so much time to this cause.

In conclusion...Do one. Its not big or clever for you to act all big and mighty on this site. Say something constructive or just **** off.

Flux (A proud student of Manchester School of Architecture)

P.s...I am assuming that your American? If so, then bear in mind that most of the worlds greatest architects came from the UK and moreover Europe.

Gehry vs. Koolhaas or Foster? Exactly. Something for you to think about.