Former professor at UCLA

good for Cornell.

was on a swing...

maestro. you dolt.
i have her for studio right now and she's fantastic, organized and highly critical. she shows up for every studio and expresses interest in student work, school culture and making design studios interesting.
what do you mean "these times?" was there ever a time in academic architecture where theory wasn't applicable?

Adma:
Yes, when your portfolio needs to show that you are a competent designer and not a renderer or CNC operator. The last recession coincided with the rise of the machines, as they say....and a generation of students came out of school with little or spatial or design skills but very competent in rendering and simulations.
Since when is showing up for studio and expressing interest in your job a superlative? That's her job..

sorry. you're right. she's just a cnc operator...
my bad.
good luck!

Judging from both their previous backgrounds and experiences, Ms. Richter and Dean Kent Kleinman seem to make a good duo in carrying the school forward.

i agree, im glad they have filled both positions finally and with unexpected choices (ie unselfish ones). this is a new era for cornell, one without superstars on their own agendas. hopefully they can seriously focus school and work well with both visiting and tenured faculty without stirring up too many fights. lets see what happens!

hey sashimi whats up with the new bldg...they ever going to break ground or are they still arguing about it?

She's the first woman chair for the school, and only European since Colin Rowe.
Her and Kent will make a new Cornell. (which is much needed after listening to recent thesis reviews, where the critiques were so flat and boring for the student work...most of which was really amazing.)

i wouldn't want to go to a school that has anything other than a theorist as chair...

what else is school supposed to teach me? where to put ductwork? i can learn that on the job. at least let me do something interesting while i still can.

mrtjr, nasrine seraji was a female chair at cornell...and not long ago.

They will tell you that Milstein Hall is about to break ground. It is not true. They have a lot of financial and political trouble with it, still, and there is no sign of it happening soon. And their accreditation depends on it. No idea what will happen with that.

the march 1 accred def depends on it.

i think the others are safe for a bit.

what a mess!

This is entertaining - if you want to succeed at this thing called architecture no chair, professor or studio instructor is going to make a dam bit of difference. If your chair or studio teacher is pragmatic or theoretic it matters not - what matters is what you teach yourself. Go get a job with a builder or real estate firm or architect - thats where the "learning" happens. I dont know Dagmer or have ever heard of her but really young architects hear me out - the real world has NOTHING to do with what you think is important at 19, 21 or even 25 years old. The cake is a lie. Learn the landscape as it is first then do your thing.

"i can learn that on the job"


The most selfish statement ever made. You dont get it kid.

may i ask what is cnc operator?

if what matters is what you teach yourself, evilp, then i'd argue that you - as a student - can make any influence on your education/learning trajectory important, including certainly the primary people who will establish a direction/vision for your school.

i've seen schools change dramatically based on the leadership - especially when it's new leadership with enthusiasm and energy - and it's not just a change of a school's 'theoretical' underpinnings but the school's involvement of allied disciplines in the school, involvement with the profession at large, handling of coops/internship programs, how crits are run and how valuable they can be, what resources are made available to students, etc.

i'm not 19, 21, or 25 anymore, but i still believe:

-everything can be important,

-the early 20s are not too early to believe that you can affect your future by what you set as goals and priorities (i.e., believing you know enough to do so), and that

-old folks who tell you what you don't know are often just jaded.


who are we to discount the future that someone else thinks they can make out of the hand they're dealt? especially since, in my case, some of my former students have already exceeded beyond what i've been able to do.

the potential for these students that will come our of this generation at cornell will be different than ours was and their priorities won't be exact parallels of ours. it's their job to leverage everything they can into something more and different than our past experience might even allow us to acknowledge as possible.

I agree somewhat Steven but I am not old yet, still young in this profession, and I just think we've moved way to far from the basics at the schools; no amount of good intentions, outlook, passion will help if you dont understand and embrace the fundamentals. Might sound stupid but consider Michael Jordan arguably the greatest all round basket ball talent there was - he said
"You can practice shooting eight hours a day, but if your technique is wrong, then all you become is very good at shooting the wrong way. Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise."

“First master the fundamentals.”


Im saying its true you got to set priorities yes but without mastering and understanding the boring drab work of everday, why we do it, what it means and what lessons are embedded within its all for nothing

Dagmar is one crazy, and entertaining professor. God she is crazy! and I mean it in a good way. We had her as a professor and she DID push us out of our comfort zone.
She is a 'theorist' in the sense that almost none of her work is built. But she is very graphically and visually driven, and is certainly NOT a critical theorist. She is the kind of person who can see your stuff and project where it is leading to. A few of us had a bad experience with her, as she can be quite judgmental at times, but most of us liked her method.

Evilp, as Ryan said, isn't school the ONLY time in architecture before one is well-established to experiment and plain 'have fun'? Sure, there is a huge culture shock when one enters real life, but it can be worth it. By the way, I am not discounting rigor and hard work, but I also agree that it is okay if school does not teach air conditioning ducting in full detail.