It has been a while since I blogged. My feet have been hitting the pavement trying to find a job in NYC...and I am still doing so in this dismal job market.

So I have known about IDP since undergrad, and it was about time that I do this. It is just that when you are almost done with school, that last thing you want to do is take more tests and pay more money for you future career being broke already.

I applaud the clarity in what IDP is and why it is important. I am so happy that I will be able to take the licensing exam concurrently with IDP. Someone was listening...but I need to find a IDP mentor. On top of all that I want to become an Associate AIA title behind my name too. But this will cost me another $300 dollars after paying money for national, city, and other random fees.

The job market is not great right now. And it is a possibility that some of those lost jobs are gone forever. So I feel like I am soldier preparing for battle.

I will be armed with my: B.S. Arch degree, my soon to be M.Arch degree, a strong portfolio, IDP registered, and knowing as many computer programs as humanly possible (including CAD, 3D, and BIM-I am still working on that). And I will be applying for a PhD program in Urban Planning this fall.

So hopefully this will make me stand out until I can become
licensed.

I admire the work of Mr. Adjaye and in his addition to philosophy to his influence from Africa. I hope that as a profession we can come to embrace diversity within firms, history, and theory. Architecture remains to be one of the least integrated professions in terms of race and gender.

Out of the thousands of architecture students that graduate this year professional programs less than 150 of them will be Black. And less than a quarter of that will be Black women, like myself. I will graduate with my M.Arch in 2009. The visit of Adjaye's office is a refreshing reminder of the possibilities of a what a Black architect can achieve in this profession.

After elbowing through the madness that is Chinatown, I arrived at the firm visit to see a small stark white office/studio space. Along with 20 other students, we able to see an in-depth presentation of Adjaye's past work and future projects. His work is primarily based in residential projects, but has branched out into more institutional projects such as libraries, schools, and skyscrapers.

He has several ongoing commissions and I was surprised to hear that he will be designing a large apartment complex for NYC Housing Authority in Harlem.

The firm space was laid back and open. The NY office was smaller than I expected with only 8 employees working there. But it appears to be a nice atmosphere and less corporate than other firms that I have seen.

Firm culture is still somewhat of a mystery to me. I would like to be in a place that I enjoy, but as unstable as the economy is... job prospects will become more dire. Who knows? My graduation is less than 6 months away and I can only hope that things will get better.

This past Thursday was the opening for the most current Design/Build Alum bronXcape 2008...Congrats....at the gallery they had these cool postcards of each project as a keepsake, which I love as a Margaretville '07 Alum. Here is a history of The Design Workshop 1998-2007 for your viewing pleasure:




The Design Workshop, 1998-2007

One of the nation's premier design/build programs, the Design Workshop offers students direct experience working with clients to determine their needs and devise and implement solutions, With faculty guidance, students complete the design and construction, from schematics to punch list, of a medium-scale project for nonprofit organization. Since its first major project in 1998, the Design Workshop has brought to life the progressive educational agenda for which Parsons is famous: extending education beyond the confines of the academy; developing projects that address social, economic, and environmental concerns; and bridging the gap between theory and practice.



The Event Cooridor, 1998

The redesign of the Architecture, Interior Design, and Lighting Department's 12,000-square-foot Greenwich Village studio loft was the Design Workshop's first realized project; Parsons was the workshop's first client.





The Glass Corner, 1999

The Glass Corner is the principal lecture and event space for the Architecture, Interior Design, and Lighting Department. Workshop students designed, fabricated, and installed all elements of the faculty, including the 14-foot-tall-glass corner that extends events beyond the room and into the public realm.



The Swing Room, 2000

The Swing Room is a prototypical multifunctional academic space designed to support a range of pedagogical activities at Parsons. Numerous spatial configurations are made possible by hinged and pivoting architectural elements, echoing the range of anticipated functions.




The New York Studio Program, 2001

The New York Studio Program is a nonprofit service that provides work space in lower Manhattan for art students from around the country. Workshop participants designed and carried out a comprehensive conversion of the 4,000-square-foot loft to accommodate 20 student artists with movable workstations that can be stored compactly at the side of the room.





Academic Lobbies, 2002

In a 12-story urban design school like Parsons, elevator lobbies are a combination of public plaza and front porch. Workshop students designed and fabricated two such hybrid spaces for design departments of The New School.




Field House, 2003

Take the Field is a public-private partnership dedicated to rebuilding athletic facilities for New York inner-city schools. Using weathering steel, porcelain panels, perforated metal screens, and wall of pivoting doors, students designed and constructed a field house for the Grand Street Campus High School in Brooklyn.




Prince George Hotel Gallery, 2004

Common Ground, a nonprofit organization that provides housing for previously homeless people, required a new public entry and exhibition space for its facility in the former Prince George Hotel. The workshop responded by adding new construction as well as stripping away layers of material to expose the raw building fabric.




Gallery, 2005

The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Artist-in-Residency program required a portable infrastructure to support events ranging from small gatherings to large groups of 100 persons. Workshop students designed and fabricated a kit of mobile architectural components to serve as "event structures."



InfoWash, 2006

In consultation with the residents of DeLisle, Mississippi, a community almost totally destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, workshop students designed and built InfoWash. The 3,000-square-foot facility comprises a laundromat-counseling center and is the workshop's project outside of New York State.




Margaretville Park Pavilion, 2007

Built in the ecologically sensitive floodplain of the Delaware River, the 6,000-square-foot steel-frame community pavilion is the workshop's largest and most ambitious project to date. The construction, from excavation to ribbon cutting, was completed by 11 students in three months.


...me in red shirt (far left) and colleagues with the huge model...


...and one of the few pics of me smiling upstate...lol


...pavilion "link" between the deck and tower...


...pavilion enclosed prep area...


...and the loggia...


...and at the ribbon cutting...

So last night I went to Columbia's lecture about spatial boundaries and Jim Crow Segregation. From 1936-1967 the Green Book was a guide for traveling Black performers and where they could stay throughout the North and South. Eleven cities were represented in a trunk, showing the history of each town from Newark to New Orleans.

I enjoyed the event and learned more about my heritage and background. Although my family migrated to the Midwest in pursuit of manufacturing jobs, I still have family in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and Arkansas.

Newark which is the focus of my thesis was featured by Mabel Wilson. The Hotel Coleman opened in 1944 featuring a lively hotel as a refuge for Black musicians that were prohibited to stay in White owned hotels. Unfortunately, it no longer exists, but it's collective memory lives on through the trunk exhibition.

The exhibition is at UPenn until Nov 23rd. If I have the time this week, I would like to go see it because I think it is well worth the trip.

I personally think that architects will just have to reinvent themselves. Right now it seems that M.Arch's are a dime a dozen.

I went straight from undergrad into grad (I have my B.S. in Arch). Many of my teachers and classmates thought that I would not get in, but when I did, I knew that I would give me more leverage in my career.

Graduating next spring with my M.arch will not be easy. I think that many of us are at a crossroads of what we should do with our career.

I have always wanted to be licensed and I will continue with IDP and the exams until I do so...But I now I am in the position to teach so a Phd is an option.

Whatever path we choose if you really love architecture, we will come back to it. We will gripe about our profession, but I've had jobs in engineering and it was not the same. So while many of us struggle, this could be a time when growth and innovations in architecture happen.

Ok so I have been at Parsons for almost 3 years and I suddenly realized that my love for the Empire State Building has grown over the years, possibly over the Chrysler Building.

Before I even moved to NYC my love for the Chrysler building was strong. Who could deny the sexy Art Deco architecture that completely embodies that era of that time?

This change has been a gradual one. There have been a many of times after leaving studio at 2am in which I can just look 20 blocks
down 5th Ave with the Empire greeting my bloodshot eyes with splash of color. It is patriotic-with red, white, and blue, says Merry X-mas-with red, green, and white, and even Happy Valentines Day with red, white, and pink.

Maybe only buildings "talk" to architects...or maybe not. Why else would people travel all around the world to see something that is made of concrete and steel?

Whether your favorite NYC skyscraper is the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, or Rockefeller Center all of these display the beauty that is according to Koolhaas, "The culture of congestion."

Yesterday I took about 3 trains in order to visit Princeton University's Graduate Open House to find out more about their PhD program. It was an overcast but nice day in New Jersey.

The first thing that I noticed about Princeton was its beautiful architecture. After being in the city for so long I almost forgot what a traditional college campus looked like. It is also sits on almost 600 acres of land. There were many people on bikes and I could see how this would be the quickest way to get around.

Stan Allen is the dean of the program and one of my favorite architects. I even had him sign my Points and Lines book which is a straight up geek move but it was great to meet someone's work that you admire.

I had brief meetings with some of the PhD faculty, lunch with some of the students. Shortly after a brief overview of the architecture program led by Allen and the faculty.

I am glad that I was able to go to the open house and see what the program was about. On average, a PhD can take anywhere from 5-10 years or more. Residence is for 2 years which is not an issue. I assumed that commuting from NYC to Princeton would be easy, but it can be a lot specially since you would have to do it several times a week during residency. Most students have places in NYC and in the Princeton area.

Their program is focused in 19th & 20th century architectural history. Initially, this is what I thought I wanted to do. But now I realize that is not what I want to do. My interests lie in urbanism, policy, and planning.

So I've decided to only go to Columbia's open house since I think that their urban planning PhD program is the best fit for me. Although I would not mind visiting Yale or Harvard, I want to stay in the NYC area to further advance my career.

Ok, so next week will be very frantic. Along with the election on Tuesday, I want to attend four Open Houses as well. But since I am already in NYC it won't be that bad. These are the following open houses I will attend:

Monday November 3-Princeton
Wednesday November 5-Columbia
Thursday November 6-Yale
Friday November 7-Harvard

I have done research, looked at all their websites, and many of my teachers have went to these schools. I have been to Columbia already, I admire the work of Stan Allen at Princeton and there is something about Yale that I really like. Harvard is doing some exciting things including a design studio for Newark, NJ (my new and improved thesis site) so all are great. But I will keep everyone posted on my thoughts about each school.

It is refreshing that I am almost done with my M.Arch degree and I am looking forward to continuing my research and work from my M.Arch thesis into what will hopefully become apart of my PhD dissertation.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that Parsons Architecture Department made a nice "Learning by Doing" video about Parsons Design Workshop.

I was apart of the Margaretville Pavilion 2007, the largest to date. A great aspect of the video shows the Design/Build alum spreading similar programs to other schools, which what I plan to do at BGSU.

And yes there were bets that we would not finish. But that made us even more determined to finish...which we did.

Last night I braved the path train and went to Rutgers U for my Milano policy class and thesis research. Newark is in transition right now and the current economic downturn makes revitalization even harder.

About a month ago, I switched my thesis from Harlem to Newark, because my Harlem thesis, even with its good intentions it felt a little bit forced. Thesis prep was really frustrating as a tried to make sense of a market/health clinic. I love Harlem like a second home because I use to live in around 123rd and Broadway, so at the time it made sense to pick a site in my backyard...

But after sitting in my policy class and Newark seemed so more natural to me. The more I learned about Newark the more it reminded me of my hometown, Cleveland. Newark has been though a lot like many cities in post-industrial transition. It has rebounded from corruption, the 1967 riots, and flight to NJ's surrounding suburbs.

So my working thesis title is "Rustbelt Junction". "Rustbelt" meaning a post-industrial city, a place whose population exploded with industrial revolution. And "Junction" meaning an interruption, specifically a riot, (for example, the Newark 1967 riots) with segregated, decentralized, and ultimately depleted the city's urban core. My goal is implement master plans that focus on retail, green affordable housing typologies, and use Newark's strong educational and medical facilitates as a catalyst for growth.

There is so much research to do, I think that I will be living in Newark by the time graduation comes around...