Group 'A'

School is starting to feel a little more routine. Taking pictures at school on the other hand isn't as routine as I'd like it to feel. I'm pretty sure thats going to have to change if I want this blog to get more exciting. Today was reading evaluation, which was an uneventful day in the picture realm. So I snapped two pictures which will be included in the post. I landed a spot in Group A which consists of half of all students from our studio. We were assigned a journal to read on Phronesis, and Aristotle methodology of planning. It was an entriguing article that was pretty deep on many levels. When we began speaking about it our guest instructor for the year Andrea was using a slew of words that we don't typically hear and many of us were sitting around giving that look, you know the one where you didn't understand most of the words the person speaking just said, but instead of saying something you pretend that you just didn't hear them. Well I leaned over to my friend Nate and said, "That went over my head". Well lucky enough the instructor heard and commented, and then I elaborated on how there was a lot of vocabulary that was over my intelligence level, Greek roots, Latin words, etc. Other students agreed that it was a little on the deep side. I guess I didn't want to sound like I wasn't educated but I think we all feel that way sometimes, and perhaps it's a good thing. It leads me to try harder to understand, while at the same time giving me a greater level of humility within the field of architecture

Dont always take the easy way out...

Throughout the discussion a lot of great things were brought into question. One of the things that really stood out to me was the way in which power plays such a crucial role in society which drives the reason why things are the

way they are. Beyond political, social, and economic power there is within the field of architecture a need for a reclaiming of power. 20 years ago when people would ask an individual what their profession was, and architect would be the answer it would be an immediate level of respect. Today it seems that architecture is a 'oh yeah whatever' career. Have we done something wrong to cause that response? Perhaps building crap for the past decade hasn't helped our profession, but let me tell you, there are plenty of bright minds emerging that can really make the difference. I am impressed with fellow classmates who have the vision and the mindset to implement what is needed for the future. Its not about making a name for yourself, rather deciding who we are and what passion drives us to create, individually.

Research...

Really, thats what this thesis year is all about. Finding something that we are so passionate about that it will consume who we are, down to our very core. For the next 9 months we must dig deep, find why we are fighting so hard for an issue, and a motive to find a process that can explain what we have to offer as architects. Artists create because they feel something and want to express themselves, architects should be no different. Commissioned by passion rather than paycheck is a good way to sum it all up. Its kind of like I said to my classmates today, 100% of all kids draw, 97% stopped drawing at some point along the way, we are the 3% that kept drawing, and thats what sets us apart from the 97% of the population. People entrust us to create, and we need to live up to that responsibility.