Headphones and music, so I could simultaneously be in studio and not. Just be careful not to slice through the cord with your Exacto. In third year I rigged up a hanging system for my Walkman (1988!) to avoid those accidents.
Yeah, scrounging materials at semesters end is always money saving. Finding alternatives to expensive white matte board is nice too, such as crescent board.
My school didn't have any furniture or surfaces that were conducive to taking a nap; a faculty member stated that the choice of concrete floors and lack of multi-seat furniture was intentional. So, I managed to procure a vintage stretcher (the same as those used in the show M*A*S*H) which some classmates and I set up under a spare desk. We walled it off with cardboard to black-out the space and would take our power-naps there. It was a major step up from sleeping on cardboard like a homeless person.
Hack? blueprint? what is this, the script of a bad early 90s movie?
Donna, I used the springs in my drafting lamps to suspend my Discman (I can carbon-date myself too!) cables. Batteries were too much to buy and/or remember so I also had the adapter cables suspended as well since our power strips were above our desks too.
Gruen, I still use to this day markers and pencils that I scavenged from the first year studios. Since most of those kids never paid for their own supplies and therefore had no idea how much they cost, I scored full boxes of leads and pantone markers plus almost infinite rolls of (canary yellow) trace once all the kids moved out. Many years later, those free supplies even followed me into my office.
My best score was finding a 300$ light table, a box of markers, and about 200$ worth of bass wood in same day.
My best friend was a huge box of chocolate covered espresso beans. No time to drink coffee so this way I could just eat coffee. A handful of them gives a Pretty strong dose of caffeine.
Arch Life Hack
What NON architectureral tools or equipment have you used to make arch school a bit easier?
For example, I'm using a hiking backpack instead of carrying 3 with books and tools. Or a PVC pipe as a blue print holder.
I used a sherpa.
Shaving w/ xacto.
What? You mean you actually leave the studio?
Finding free materials in the trash at the end of every semester and over the summer.
My school didn't have any furniture or surfaces that were conducive to taking a nap; a faculty member stated that the choice of concrete floors and lack of multi-seat furniture was intentional. So, I managed to procure a vintage stretcher (the same as those used in the show M*A*S*H) which some classmates and I set up under a spare desk. We walled it off with cardboard to black-out the space and would take our power-naps there. It was a major step up from sleeping on cardboard like a homeless person.
Hack? blueprint? what is this, the script of a bad early 90s movie?
Donna, I used the springs in my drafting lamps to suspend my Discman (I can carbon-date myself too!) cables. Batteries were too much to buy and/or remember so I also had the adapter cables suspended as well since our power strips were above our desks too.
Gruen, I still use to this day markers and pencils that I scavenged from the first year studios. Since most of those kids never paid for their own supplies and therefore had no idea how much they cost, I scored full boxes of leads and pantone markers plus almost infinite rolls of (canary yellow) trace once all the kids moved out. Many years later, those free supplies even followed me into my office.
My best score was finding a 300$ light table, a box of markers, and about 200$ worth of bass wood in same day.
My best friend was a huge box of chocolate covered espresso beans. No time to drink coffee so this way I could just eat coffee. A handful of them gives a Pretty strong dose of caffeine.
Toaster oven! The appliance, not the Archinect persona. You can make so many things in there.
Noise canceling headphones.
A good computer to speed up renders.
And a hard drive, to make backups! Backup to the cloud or leave your hard drive in a different place than where you typically keep your computer.
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