Brief background/experiences
In 2005 I received my Bachelor of Architecture from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University. It has been just over four years since graduating from Temple. Suddenly I am 27 and I am wondering who I am as a designer and will be as a student now compared to who I was when graduating at 22. After undergrad I left the all to familiar Philadelphia for a corporate office atmosphere in the DC area and then left DC for the anti-corporate atmosphere of Brooklyn. NYC is great for a variety of reasons and I am happy to continue my stay here as a student.

For the first couple years out of school I veered into more craftsmen and artisan approaches to architecture. I did a short stint working construction, designed and built several pieces of furniture, and took several miscellaneous sculpture and drawing classes. I feel architecture schools have changed drastically in the past 4-5 years. At least at Temple it was only until my thesis year that digital concepts and techniques were being taught and only by a small few. My experience in these areas is minimal.

Professional practice has been great for me. I was overly conceptual in undergrad. Professional practice has ruthlessness and a need for practicality in design. You have to learn to make quick design decisions and commit to an idea whether you want to or not. I hope this has helped me overcome any short comings from my undergrad years.

Why you chose your school/program
-for the chance to participate in the inaugural year. There is no precedent. The program descriptions have been vague and unclear which will put more responsibility on the M.Arch candidates to define there own interests. I have my reservations, but whatever those are I feel reassured by Cooper’s reputation for producing good architects.

The school is not ‘glossy’ with fresh digital graphics like some other schools I was looking at, but I believe the starting of the masters program at Cooper is an attempt to investigate new topics and representation methods in alternative ways. I was also intrigued by the thesis semester, the small class size, the fabulous location, and the fact that it is a full scholarship program. (my respects to Peter Cooper)

Architecture interests
In undergrad I was really into voyeurism, surveillance, and theatrics. I would not describe these so much as interests but as tendencies in my projects. I would start in one direct and then would drift into these topics. I want to look into the revolution in form making that has been occurring lately in architecture while still dabbling in some of my earlier interests. Perhaps I am a little curious in parametric and algorithmic design and how it adapts and scales to the body and the city.

In undergrad I felt I was led to believe that construction administration was menial and frowned upon compared to the larger concepts of architecture. I came to really enjoy the intimacy between the client, contractor, and architect that occurs in the shared goal of making architecture. I am interested in how new manufacturing techniques are making the architect more involved in the building process.

Other interests
I enjoy traveling when I can. (though not much in the past year). I also enjoy bicycle maintenance sometimes more than bicycling.