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How to mentally paralyze an architecture student.

TRICKSWITHBRICKS

All students of architecture started architecture school because they wanted to make cool things; and initially they do, informed by nothing other than raw talent and personal vision. But, after the first disastrous crit, the student is faced with A) There must be rules to design, how else could it be judged good or bad? B) Somehow there must be a way of obtaining these rules and methods to inform design as this lecturer must obviously be a master of them. C) His personal vision and talent is not good enough and therefore the rules must be followed.
This puts in motion a fatal downward spiral. Trying to obtain and understand these rules just gets him nowhere faster as inquiries into the matter is usually greeted with more empty confusion. The answers that can be distilled are normally from other disciplines such as geometry, science and physics, but nothing that would inform the thematics of design. (or at least nothing that could be applied to change a – this is crap, to this is great project) Confidence is bruised and self doubt sets in as the problem just get bigger and bigger with every project resulting in les and less interest and vigor from our student.
Ultimately our student has two choices, A) Accept that he is useless and crap and drop out, B) Accept that he is useless and crap but pushes through school with the hope that practice would be better, but by that time his confidence will be so bruised that he will indeed be crap and useless, C) Realize that there are no such rules and keep on making cool things, which is what he set out to do in the first place, i.e. impresive BS.
The point is that unlike science and other disciplines, no hard and fast rules can be distilled as architecture is objective and supposedly creative. Unlike math 1+1=2, now and the next time, always, in architecture 1+1=2, once but 1+1=2, twice is old news! And that, my friends, is how you break a passionate, bright, rational student of architecture.

 
Jul 30, 08 7:47 am

Aw, you'll get over it. Just have fun, leave your comfort zone, and always try to be able to talk about _why_ you did what you did.

Great username, BTW!

Jul 30, 08 8:45 am  · 
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if you came out just like you went in, what would have been the point of school?

you'll push through it. just hang on.

Jul 30, 08 8:46 am  · 
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vado retro

don't let it go to yer pretty lil fountain head...

Jul 30, 08 9:03 am  · 
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heavymetalarchitecture

Haha, I fall into category B. Not really, but I feel this all comes back to the field of architecture being taken way to seriously. Relax and have fun.

Jul 30, 08 9:17 am  · 
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liberty bell

Pretty much all the relevant "rules" are in this book: 101 Things I Learned in Architecture School, which Steven Ward introduced me to.

If you learn basics like what is balance vs. symmetry, what is a parti, how do I diagram my plan vs. diagramming my concept, you'll have the rules down. They're not even rules so much as they are a toolbox of standard language. Once you know the language, you can play with it.

Don't do this: Realize that there are no such rules and keep on making cool things, which is what he set out to do in the first place, i.e. impresive BS.. It will make you unhappy: the fact that you wrote that sentence shows that you know it's not how you want to proceed.

Keep an open mind, realize that people can still like YOU even if they don't like your design, and be true to yourself. Good luck.

Jul 30, 08 9:19 am  · 
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207moak

Dont take it personally.
Approach crits as an option for dialogue not confrontation.

The best trick I learned was to acknowledge when the critic posed a question that I had not considered. This opened the door for discussion. (The BS approach is almost always transparent to the critic and usually leads to a downward spiral for the value of the rest of the crit.)

Jul 30, 08 9:32 am  · 
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trace™

You can succeed and fail in all of those.

I've done projects I loved breaking all rules, then failed miserably breaking the rules.
Done ones I love following rules, made horrible designs by following the rules.


For advice, keep an eye on the critic, learn what their work is like, listen to what they say to others (do you agree? Disagree?).

I agree with lb - don't just disregard comments. Following advice, discarding it, etc., is all part of the process. As you mature, you'll be able to critique yourself quicker, take/leave comments without too much headache.


Also know that you can influence the direction of crits. They build momentum, like a political conversation, and can go super positive or super negative. If you keep a level head, don't react too strongly, you can push things where you want them to go.

Jul 30, 08 10:37 am  · 
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PROPHET OF DOOM
Jul 30, 08 10:40 am  · 
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sharkswithlasers

TRICKS... don't be quite so all-or-nothing about it, I'd say. Try to think about it from the flip side -- if the first year profs had instead told you that your were AMAZING...would you be?
But I do enjoy a dose of healthy skepticism, and in my opinion as a true genius I'd say you are in part on to something there...
That you don't want to come out exactly as you went in...sure... HOWEVER -- the point you're apparently alluding toward seems to elevate the importance of the uniqueness of the individual -- and I completely agree with that.

I think if you lose track of what it was about buildings that put you in school in the first place, you won't enjoy school or a professional career.

Jul 30, 08 11:07 am  · 
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farwest1

Rule #1:
What's good is good. What's bad is bad.

Rule #2:
Obfuscate, with sexy imagery. The more enigmatic your commentary, and the sexier your images, the better your review.

Rule #3:
Have confidence, but be humble.

Jul 30, 08 12:13 pm  · 
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Rule #4:
Consider everything. It's fine to say, "yes, I worked with that for a while, but decided that it was not relevant to the concept because..." Just show that you took all the issues into account.

Jul 30, 08 12:17 pm  · 
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citizen

So, to recap the original post:

Instructors: Whatever you do, for God's sake, DO NOT criticize or challenge those poor, sensitive students!


P.S. "Passionate and bright" you may be... but "rational"? Not in that paragraph, you're not.

Jul 30, 08 2:48 pm  · 
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vado retro

watch some godard films and some chris marker. reference these filmmakers in all your work. call your projects alphaville and le jette. say things like as you can see this is an homage to antonioni's laventurra. you don't see it? how unfortunate...etc.

Jul 30, 08 2:48 pm  · 
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binary

play the game or get played by the game

Jul 30, 08 3:17 pm  · 
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Carl Douglas (agfa8x)

tricks, try thinking a bit smaller - rather than asking what the rules of architecture are, ask what the rules for this particular project are in this particular case. What are the rules you have elected to follow here? Or instead of using the word 'rules' you could call them 'concepts'. They are the principles that guide your design. Over years of designing you may begin to establish certain principles ('rules' or 'concepts') that you believe apply across a wide range of projects, or even all architecture. But for now, consider what you think the rules are for the project at hand, and discuss those with your studio teachers. Your studio teachers are going through exactly the same process - they certainly don't have a secret set of rules they just aren't telling you about!

Jul 30, 08 3:54 pm  · 
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Carl Douglas (agfa8x)

and when paralysed, the worst thing you can do is nothing. Do something, anything, to get yourself unstuck: read a book, take a photographic expedition, make something cool in the workshop, find something you care about. If you do nothing, you won't get unstuck. Learning to get yourself unstuck is one of the most important skills you can learn as a designer.

Jul 30, 08 3:58 pm  · 
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Renewable

You were suffering from mental paralysis when you decided to go to Architecture school.
Despite all of the Surgeon General's Warnings.......

Jul 30, 08 4:03 pm  · 
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nb072

if you can't make it better make it red!

Jul 30, 08 5:03 pm  · 
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nb072

actually
if you just ignore the rules
come up with your own thing
that will be awesome
you will blow everyone away
someone has to change something
for the next movement to begin

the problem is,
you have to know the rules
you have to know what's out there
in order to break them

so study hard
what real architects have done
what your lauded peers are doing
but don't copy
transgress
do them one better

and you will become a star

Jul 30, 08 5:05 pm  · 
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bowling_ball

when i went to industrial design school, we said "make it round"

Jul 30, 08 5:05 pm  · 
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surface

What about student X:

Student X went into school with an interest in learning Architecture. The history, theory, criticism, practice, building, whatever. She knew that it wouldn't all possibly be crammed into the few short years of a degree program, but wanted to learn everything she possibly could. Student X knows that he is quite ignorant of most principles, and is therefore there primarily to learn - not to be publicly praised for his genius works (although when this happens, it is of course greatly appreciated). He considers reviews to be learning opportunities, not as theatres in which to either show off or be shot down. When her review is going poorly, she asks critics to explain when they're unclear, or clearly and politely stands up for herself and explains why a critic's perception of the work is unfair/inaccurate, or thanks the critic and acknowledges that they are right when they have actually pointed out a glaring flaw. She internalizes criticism that is helpful. He also learns to smile, nod, and promptly forget criticism that is either demoralizing or useless, as sometimes there is just nothing you can say. She allows herself to be sad and have hurt feelings when negative comments are made about her work. While she has lows and highs, she never feels trapped in a downward spiral of hopelessness. He realizes that some of his work will be completely asinine, and some will be strong, knows how to tell the difference between the two, tries her best to test her intellectual limits always, and hopes that all of it will demonstrate progress. She gets through the sleepless rough patches knowing that they will pass, and maintains curiosity, interest, self-respect and mental health a great majority of the time. The end.


(I swear that a solid percentage of school related stress could be resolved by simply re-prioritizing goals.)

Jul 30, 08 5:39 pm  · 
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snook_dude

There are rules in architecture.....who wrote those rules...? I live by no fricking rules......keep pushing the envelope, sooner or later someone will understand your genious. Just ask Per if you don't believe me.

Jul 30, 08 7:06 pm  · 
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evilplatypus

Ahh Per. Can you really catch the wind in a bottle?

Jul 30, 08 9:53 pm  · 
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Renewable

I once knew a guy who would break wind into a bottle - does that count?

Jul 30, 08 10:23 pm  · 
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Carl Douglas (agfa8x)

ignore my comments. just re-read SurfaceS's.

Jul 30, 08 10:30 pm  · 
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evilplatypus

Poczatek had the coolest bridge project made from pop cans ever the world had seen

Jul 30, 08 10:47 pm  · 
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herrarchitekt

Interesting insight TRICKSWITHBRICKS.

I personally found architecture school to be an insular institution which students, who choose to persevere, must get through under the watch of an authoritarian faculty.

Now don't get me wrong, many a things can be taught and learned in architecture school, but in the grand scheme of things - i.e. reality - it is quite a quite a sacrifice requiring the vision of Einstein, the creativity of Michelangelo, and the patience of Job.

Jul 31, 08 12:07 am  · 
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vado retro

if you think you are a creative genius who needs no precedent to realize your world shaking design brilliance, you probably aren't...

Jul 31, 08 6:18 am  · 
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db

"design depends largely on constraints" -- charles eames

Jul 31, 08 6:57 am  · 
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zoolander

Get laid.

Jul 31, 08 8:01 am  · 
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vado retro

getting laid has many rules...

Jul 31, 08 8:51 am  · 
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Alackrity

trim your ego back and you won't have this problem.

Jul 31, 08 11:39 am  · 
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nariman

Isn't every creative professional field like this? All the design disciplines. I'm about to start my M.Arch program really soon. I have a BFA so I've never experienced an architecture school crit but I know from art school that people either take criticism well or they cry about it. I'm really glad the crits are as brutal as they seem to be. This is not some arts and crafts workshop with Martha Stewart. It's a friggin building. A built environment. People's lives and safety is at risk. So if someone is going to have issues with criticism then I definitely wouldn't want them to be designing anything I have to look at or walk in. Props to the comment above. Say goodbye to your ego.

Jul 31, 08 1:51 pm  · 
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rodgerT

"It's a friggin building. A built environment. People's lives and safety is at risk"...

this is arch school were talking about here buddy... you're dreaming if you think the crits will ever focus or even broach these issues!

Aug 1, 08 12:39 am  · 
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Smokety Mc Smoke Smoke

I thought this thread was going to be about death rays and mind melds:




Aug 1, 08 12:44 am  · 
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nariman

rodgerT, I'm sorry you're confused...

I was never saying that architecture school is going to be about public safety issues. If someone is weak enough to cry and whine or become "mentally paralyzed" with some criticism, then I wouldn't want them to be designing buildings. Because in the end it's the design of the built environment, and that is something serious since people's safety is at risk.

Aug 1, 08 2:13 pm  · 
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nariman

now back to death rays

Aug 1, 08 2:15 pm  · 
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Per--Corell

I realy newer was that interested in architecture -- I needed a manual for AutoCAD and the only public place I could find that, was at the architect school.

Aug 1, 08 2:24 pm  · 
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idiotwind

How to mentally paralyze an architecture student:

[per--corell's comments]

Aug 1, 08 3:57 pm  · 
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snook_dude

years ago I recall this guy I worked with who was the lead architectural designer in our office saying.....you will hear 10 people tell you they are designers...and in reality only one of them is a real designer, the rest are blowing wind. I can say looking back after 30 some years...he was right.

Aug 1, 08 6:43 pm  · 
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nb072

i am afraid of getting laid. too many diseases out there.

Aug 1, 08 6:49 pm  · 
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snook_dude

In that case if your classmate is going to knock the shit out of your gpa...and well he is a male, palm him a trojan just before he presents....and give him a wink....that should paralyze him.

Aug 1, 08 6:55 pm  · 
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Ms Beary

oh no, your first project was a guitar in plan view, wasn't it?

Aug 1, 08 11:00 pm  · 
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evilplatypus

we had a theory professor who when pressed to show us his work finaly he brought in a fish store shaped like a fish in plan.

Aug 1, 08 11:34 pm  · 
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fays.panda

Is student X a boy or a girl? I'm confused

Aug 2, 08 7:13 am  · 
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noci

oh lord, that fish comment cracks me up!!!

Aug 2, 08 7:54 am  · 
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chatter of clouds

after hindsight, id say its also helpful to discern when the professor or critic is being helpful/relevant and when she is taking her ego for a walk or when she is pursuing a trail of thought that might become at some point irrelevant to the actual student project/concept.

for a more exacting self-assessment, this should also be measured against the objective-ish list of educational criteria/outcomes typically published as part of the course outline.

unfortunately, the student typically finds herself on the darker side for two reasons:
1- she lacks technical knowledge (relevant to the coursework, whatever that is)..this is understandable and part of the process
2- the academic bureaucracy doesn't place the student in a position of knowing what how her professor actually goes about the job; the students education does not carry within it an education on that education. its a pretty passive/reactive role that the student plays and this prohibits a more mature self-assessment and realization of one's choice of education...even if the institution calls itself student centered. there are exceptions to the rule; the AA in the eighties , the Ruskin group, etc.

Aug 3, 08 4:10 am  · 
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TRICKSWITHBRICKS

Wow; first of all, thank you all for all your generous comments! I will try and comment on most in a later thread.

As you might have guessed, I was pretty PO and frustrated at the time when I wrote the initial thread, but the situation has forced me to get a much deeper understanding on the methods of architectural research and the development of architectural theory. Apologies if some of you were offended, it wasn’t really my intention! This has been my very first thread and I didn’t expect much reaction. Clearly I was wrong and I am dealing with some very intelligent people, refreshingly different from the average!

But I would like to modestly state the following to try and put me in context:

- I care very much about architecture and can not stand the idea that it might be intellectually bankrupt.
- 1’st Year architecture student, undergraduate.
- Impressive BS is not so impressive.
- My inquiry is sincere and genuine. I am not trying to whine, spread poison or sway the positive opinion.
- I care passionately about the truth and make it my mission to distill it in its purest form.
- I hoped that the inquiry might increase the tools at my disposal and enrich not only my personal fundamental understanding of architecture, but, hopefully that of others who might feel the same way.

For those of you interested in my findings and conclusions in the matter, please read on as it might be a bit of a lengthy essay.

Analogy
Imagine a situation where people are playing the board game of monopoly for the first time without reading and understanding the rules. Some players might, for whatever reason, tacitly understand the game, play it and excel at it. Others might be not so lucky, but the game seems like fun and hope to come to better insights later. Some, of course, do but for the rest the game will ultimately become frustrating, boring and most of them will quit. You can imagine the debate on the opinions of monopoly between the first and the latter group. It would be very similar to this threat and it might cause people to go for the jugular. However, this explosive situation could be diffused by simply reading the rules of monopoly and making sure that everybody has a good comprehension of it.

Judging from some of the answers and the seeming interest in the threat, the latter group might be far larger than we might think and that many more people at least struggle with these issues.

And if that doesn’t convince you, ponder on why Cambridge wanted to close down the Architecture School in 2004. http://www.archsoc.com/kcas/britishacademics.html

I have come to the conclusion that that the rules of architecture are the rules and methods of architectural research and forms the datum and backbone of architecture school. (Apologies to those who might have known this tacitly, as you might have guessed, I didn’t and the faculty at my school of architecture probably assumed that we would and certainly didn’t formally introduced the students to it.) It is also much harder to stumble upon it if you don’t know what you are looking for, and even then, punching something like normative research into this search engine, gives 0 results.

It is my opinion that architecture issues could be informed by a spectrum of research methods with the scientific methods on the one end and normative research methods at the other. However, because true architectural issues are mostly objective, normative research might be best equipped for the job. The scientific method might be better equipped to inform issues with absolute truths and consequently might enter the grey areas between architecture and other disciplines. I have been introduced to the normative method by Pentti Routio of Finland on his website http://www2.uiah.fi/projects/metodi/e00.htm , should you like to find out more. This method might explain the link between the history of architecture, architecture theory, interpreting the work of others, my/your current design, etc.

If this method is sound, first prize in architecture is groundbreaking Extensive Normative Theory. Example: Corb must have understood this very well, and explains why he proposed better and new ways of making architecture through the benefit of a thorough understanding of architectural history, reference and its problems. With no disrespect to Wright, his lack of a formal university education probably initially denied him this historical understanding and forced him to develop his personal style. (This just highlights his genius as he came up with his style mostly through personal insight and the master/apprentice relationship, albeit a very difficult road he must have traveled as he probably had much less to work with.) Corb’s clear explanation and rules of the modern movement resulted in the fact that it took off the way it did as opposed to Wright, who was copied much less as the rules where much less clear and relied much more the genius and intuition of the architect. The fact that the modern style was adopted and copied so often just drives home the need architects have for architectural guidelines and rational.

This thread of improving on the previous runs through western architecture, from Vitruvius, Viollet-le-Duc, Horta, Corb, Venturi up to modern day Gehry, Hadid, Foster, etc. In my final conclusion I would venture that an architect’s career should have a long term goal where a hypothesis for an extensive normative theory is developed to enrich the mainstream core of architecture, and on a project by project basis, intensive normative theory must be applied to support the larger hypothesis.

So, if you already knew this, you have just wasted your time, but if you didn’t, we both learned something new. I trust that I will be corrected if this little theory is incorrect, but that is the way we learn. Thank you for your interest and good luck!

Aug 3, 08 9:20 am  · 
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chatter of clouds

the death of the author

Aug 3, 08 9:38 am  · 
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Carl Douglas (agfa8x)

i still don't get it, tricks. what's normative theory? your link above showed some graphs but I couldn't understand what they were graphing.

Aug 3, 08 3:06 pm  · 
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