How much are you paying for this?

And you wait til now to source opinions? What type of grad program, by that I mean, do you have another degree in architecture?

this is a MArch III...so it's my second semester studio. 

Also, this is a collage heavy teacher...

Jaffee..im paying next to nothing. 

did you wait for the semester to be over, till there was one week left until the final deadline?  Should've voiced your concern a few weeks into the semester. 

hard to predict the future acceskb. syllabus and instructor have different agendas...dealing with the situation as it unfolds. 

I literally laughed out loud when I saw MArch III....eventually there will be a IV and IV and so on hahaha

It is possible that you'll find in a year or two or five that the projects were not actually "random and incoherent" but were small building blocks in teaching you how to think in alternative, analytical, additive ways.  You should, concurrent with your studio, be doing your own learning by reading Archinect (of course) and other design websites, architecture magazines, architectural theory books, other design theory books, etc. and figuring out how the work you're doing conforms or contrasts with other pedagogies.  All of it will eventually add up to a personal design ethos, but the studio instructor can't "teach" you an ethos; you form it yourself via your own acceptance or rejection of various design ideas.

what the heck is MArch III?

every project, no matter how ill-conceived you feel it might be, is a learning opportunity.

instructors are often working through their own ideas and challenges and taking you along for the ride. that's what keeps school vital and exploratory. sometimes it works. sometimes it doesn't.

cherish it, because the opportunities to try something and fail become more rare in the profession. 

get what you can from it. within the constraints of the problem assigned, make it what you want it to be, make challenges for yourself.

the success of your education is your responsibility. 

Spackle, sounds like you are getting your money's worth. 

I can totally feel your pain.

I disagree completely that shitty semesters with crap instructors are a 'learning opportunity', unless you count 'how not to conduct a master's studio' as a lesson you were looking to learn. 

It doesn't matter what amount of money you paid to be in the class, you are in a role (student) and they are in another role (instructor) and when they put it on you to form the program and schedule of your semester with limited instruction, interaction, or dissertation on appropriate related subjects then I wonder what the point is.

It's not about 'hand-holding' on the part of the instructor; it's about being there in even a basic capacity as someone of experience and expertise who can point out weaknesses and design opportunities, while offering guidance and advice on strategies and techniques. If it was about teaching yourself this stuff, why bother with an M.Arch to begin with? 

Sounds like you got none of that. 

I would argue that the success of your education is not your sole responsibility; it is a partnership between yourself and an institution that provides an environment where experimentation and knowledge transfer is a possible, within a framework of criteria and set curriculum.

And people wonder why arch. grads know nothing? Because we're all teaching ourselves, apparently.

Your professor sounds like the a lot of clients you will have the future. Putting together a design based on second-hand information is not unlike your "ill conceived" studio project.

One of my favorite studio prompts was a disorganized, two-week charrette for an airport terminal in the first year of grad school. Part of those early clusterf*ck projects is to show the professors and the rest of the students who can get it done under difficult circumstances.  

It's still your first year, don't take things personal and soak up all that you can. 

What is a 'collage heavy teacher'?

Is that what they have you doing in Master's programs now, collaging all day.

Sounds about right to me.

You are on the path to success as far as I can see!

"the wasted opportunity we had to do something meaningful" If you can vocalize what you mean by meaningful, maybe we can help you squeeze that meaning out regardless of how you feel the class is being taught. 

by meaningful I simply mean working through problems over a more appropriate amount of time. the learning happens during and through desk crits. at this point, it's just busy work. 

no discussions were had about managing voids, massings, windows, stairs, materials, ...anything. We didn't establish a client. Just a site. 

having two weeks to come up with a design and meeting with the teacher once before  studio finals just seems wrong. 

One could argue that ambiguity is standard and part of the process and I would agree. However, this individual is extremely prescriptive with their ideas / suggestions. If you do not execute those exactly as specified, it turns into this personal attack on the student.

Not to mention this person constantly draws all over our work...and i mean drawings we spent days and days on. hand drawings. that's A school culture to some but I am not a child and that dramatic ego shit behavior is toxic and unacceptable. 

I was trying to refrain from turning this post into a whinny as boo hoo party but a student needs to vent!!! 

I am mostly looking for perspectives from people outside of my program. Interested in others experience.

Cheers

"this person constantly draws all over our work...and i mean drawings we spent days and days on."

This isn't all that unusual. If you know this professor is going to do this, document the work beforehand or submit a copy that is a good enough reproduction that it's not apparent.

^ ^ NO.

You know what? Thats bullshit advice. Just "submit a copy that is a good enough reproduction that it's not apparent" ? On a hand-drawn assignment? Besides the necessity of having the facilities and money available to do this (and the context suggests that this was large-scale); when there is only a week to put together a complete project, the OP doesn't need to be spending a few hours making a reproduction that is of high-enough quality just to rest assured that their work won't be (essentially) vandalized for the sake of a dramatic desk-crit. It is unnecessary and elitist.

I feel passionately about this because it happened a few times to people in my undergrad, myself included. It is completely disrespectful to assume that a quick-flick-of-the-wrist with bright red pen on a laborous hand-drawn graphite work will suddenly make it better. It won't, and everyone knows it. F*** that.

[/vent]

BenC, if it takes you a few hours to do that, then you're doing it wrong. Does the original poster's school not have scanners? I was able to print copies with my desktop printer that passed as my original drawings, often times I just used the laser printers that the school had. And no, I'm not loaded with bags of money.

I've had drawings drawn on, grow a thicker skin.

i agree w/ stephanie b above

So I am going to assume M.Arch III means you have a non architecture undergraduate degree. Aside from the funny comments, you have to take a few steps in future studios. Before preferencing happens (assuming you get to pick and are not just assigned), track down the faculty if you can and ask about the studio. I agree with those that have mentioned learning outside studio whenever you can. Studio is not going to develop you into an architect. As for the shifty scheduling of assignments, I don't know what to say. I have only done studios that were either one or two terms, that had a progression to them.

One lesson learned from past studios that were freehand and digital (easier with digital), also repeated by a faculty member who taught studio, was to get a sheet of clear acetate and pin that over your presentation. It's really old school for a professor / reviewer to bust out that fat red sharpie and markup your presentation. Old school still happens.

In this digitally heavy realm that we exist in now, some reviewers feel your work is just a print button click away. Develop a voice and don't just be a spectator in your reviews. I am not saying you are quietly watching them rip up your presentation. I am just wondering how the studio faculty is directing / instructing reviewers before they review your work. Time to work on being more proactive because this is your education, your wallet and your path in learning. No one is going to hold your hand. We, for the most part, all know that but I see that from time to time still.

Finally, at desk crits or office hours, develop an ongoing rapport with your faculty so you can understand better what the goals are for the term / semester. I don't know if this one week final assignment is a crowning element to a series of 'random' exercises. It just makes things unnecessarily confusing. That's my $0.02.

I think drawing on someone else's drawings is old-fashioned. As for kicking out a design quick, we used to call those charettes (french for cart, from the days of the Beaux Arts school where they collected drawings with a cart). You should still be able to get desk crits during charettes. 

If you have a valid argument that your professor was not doing the job he was paid to do, get together with your classmates and open a case for an appeal of your grades from the university.

It kills me that as a discipline, we treat every design critic like their presence is hallowed.  There are some shitty professors out there and your tuition dollars are paying their salaries.  Stand up for yourself when you need to!

Its always easiest to blame the teacher.

Stop crying and dont take things personally.  Enjoy the ride of architecture school man.  and most importantly (besides learning) have fun.  Dont take life or architecture school to seriously.  Just work hard; make yourself pride not the teacher.
 

Spackle

I read your posts and what you're describing is completely normal in architecture school, both undergrad and masters. Three things that you need to realize as quickly as possible:

1. This is YOUR work. The work that you are producing is going into YOUR portfolio. Meaning, these projects are going to be conveying YOUR ideas as a designer, nothing more nothing less; it's not going to convey the fact that you had a crappy professor, or if you received an A or C grade on the project.

2. Secondly, do NOT rely or depend on the instructor to give you feedback that will help you move forward, do not forget, you are in GRADUATE school. These instructors are coming here to see and listen to YOUR ideas, regardless of how unorganized, controlling, or egotistical the instructor maybe, this is your work that you need to develop. Some may argue, "Well, the instructors are paid as educators to listen to your ideas and give you feedback." Yes and No. You are going to architecture school to either validate your ideas, or deny those ideas in order to discover something better, and most of the time, those " ! "  moments happen without any help of the instructor, and / or you usually get those ideas at the END of the semester at your final critique with people you've never met before. 

3. It is inevitable, you are going to have "shitty" instructors. I have had them all. I've had instructors who threatened my grades because I was not listening to THEIR advice, I have had instructors who only showed up once every 2  weeks to studio, I have had instructors who completely change the agenda of our studio. Literally, I wrote a thesis about small urban infiltrations, but then our design studio needed to have a .5 mile radius of "development." You learn to adapt.  

That being said, I have also had amazing instructors who introduced me to resources and precedents that have influenced the way I think. The best type of instructors are the ones who just sit and listen to what you have to say, and question what you just presented to them without any bias based on aesthetic or personal dogma. Many times in studio, if I had nothing to talk about, I would not have desk crits with my instructor, I did not want to waste his/her time nor did I want to waste mine. 

You're a graduate student, this is going to be one of the few times where you can exercise your OWN ideas without any "contaminants / restraints" from the real world. I personally loved it when the instructor gave us a lot of space, and architecture students should really be pushed to peruse their own ideas as soon as possible.The sooner they can develop a sense of independence with their design strategies, the more resolute their decisions will be, which will help them in the long run when choosing and working for a practice.

At the end of the day, this is going to be your work, your ideas, and your future; no one is going to care about the shitty instructor or the shitty grade, NOR should those issues hinder you in any way.

Good Luck. 

p.s.

Some of the projects in my portfolio that impressed crits and employers, were projects that almost got me failed because I was going against my instructors feedback. 

This is how it can be in actual practice too. Make the most of it  -