If you can picture this as architecture, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abV1OsD-qT0, this is almost what I want to do. :)

yo G!

its nothing like that (and no, I didn't check your youtube link). its possible to go through school and only hear the word 'style' in history class or as a criticism meaning superficial.

I'd throw that word out of your vocabulary.

Its only in the big bad real world that people want to talk about Colonial x y or z's.

yay

No.  It's not like that at all.

The work you are supposed to turn out is "recent" modernist.  That's what gets a good reception by professors.  How daring one wants to be within that spectrum is up to the student. 

The only time you introduce historical elements, or allude to them, is if you have a building that is an annex to a historical part or a new building near a cluster of historical buildings.  This is very challenging.  Not many people can come up with a modern solution like Pei's pyramid at the Louvre.  Instead, students tend to do a toned-down modernist building, with subtle hints at the older buildings' historical style.  Had one studio project like that, and I learned how hard it is to design to some bygone styles.

It really depends on the school.

University of Notre Dame focuses on "the principles of traditional and classical architecture and its application in the modern world." http://architecture.nd.edu/

Sci-Arc has its own reputation http://www.sciarc.edu/

Most schools fall between the two extremes of futurism (used as an adjective, not the movement) and classicism. 

I always wondered how 'yay' should be spelled.

thanks G!