School Stuff

Well I guess since I finished another semester I should write about that also. Not only did I frighteningly finish my second year of grad school, Tiffany is going to grad school (as I mentioned), Jenny finished grad school and has a DOCTORATE of Physical Therapy (and passed her licensing exam) AND got a great job making a whopping $XX,XXX a year!! (She said she'd be mad if I told people how much she was making).

AND. Nathan got into Notre Dame!!!

So this semester actually went pretty smoothly, partially due to the fact that I had strategically (or lazily, but gimme a break our workload is crazy!) taken a theory class that I knew would be basically zero work. With an oooooooold professor who drones on and on...smart guy, but not very interesting, not a compelling or riveting style of lecturing...nor one that "facilitates note-taking" (as the end-of-the-semester survey asks) or results in much actual learning. But it eased up my semester.

I did enjoy my design studio because we made cool models, I learned a lot, worked hard but not too hard, and felt it went at a good pace. And the professor who lead the studio was great- he is basically a badass architect who built a house for the most important architectural family in Chicago (who give out the Nobel-equivalent Prize of architecture each year). Here are some pictures of my models, followed by group photos of everyone's models. My parents even came to watch my little 5 minute presentation followed by 15 minute grilling by the jury (a panel of professors both from the university and from other universities or firms, invited by our professors or by our dean).

First, a study model from the beginning of the semester, done as a team with my friend Shauna, then a picture of many peoples' models grouped together (3 weeks into the semester):

Now mid-terms, we did the same thing- except individually. So instead of 24 models, there were 48. I think. Again, my model plus other peoples' models:

Finally, our final models. We were basically designing housing, 12-22 units, for a 125'x125' square generic plot that would be for somewhere in Chicago. I focused on efficiency living, cheaper condos (that looked like trailers yes) for first-time buyers who don't have $250,000 for a condo yet. Everyone's models were sweet and I took lots of pictures but bloody hell it'd take forever to post all the cool ones here.

Here's a friend of mine Alex's model- one of the cooler ones.