ArchiStudentLifeToday: Life of an Architect

20 September 2011

"Architecture is not a form; Architecture houses a life."-Jody Brown, Coffee With an Architect

The contextual excerpt:

"No one is excited about the program of a building. No one cares about the materiality of the forms. No one thinks about the building systems. No one really loses sleep over the cost of a building. No one remembers the difficulty we traversed during the process of design. Everyone forgot the 2 week delay, No one is interested in the references we made, and no one remembers the speech you made about balance and harmony at the city council meeting. But, everyone remembers the folding chair they sat in to watch their son or daughter graduate kindergarten and middle school and high school and college. Everyone remembers their first job interview; their wedding day; or the 10 days in ICU after the birth of their 3rd son; or the first time they noticed their Grandmother’s fading memory; or looking into your future wife’s eyes at 2am and slowly brushing her hair out of her eyes and seeing a path that leads to the rest of your life. Architecture is not a form; Architecture houses a life."

See the full article here.

26 July 2011

Summer "Reading" List

While I wish I could say I've been utilizing all of this summer free time to be productive, expand my portfolio and read extensively, I've done nothing of the sort. As the first summer in six years that I am not enrolled in at least one course as well as balancing either one or two jobs, I am enjoying the peace and quiet of a happy existence by the pool reading fiction and clipping images and articles from architectural magazines.

I once received a compliment about how I seem to stay somewhat up-to-date with the new happenings in the design world, and I'd like to share with you today the sites and blogs I subscribe to in order to stay current, even when I'm just watching television or am on my lunch break.

First, I subscribe electronically to Archidose's Weekly Dose of Architecture. Here you provide your email address and get emails with outstanding new projects as well as a selected book for the week, usually something brand new and worth hearing about. This week's dose

Also, among various magazine subscriptions I stay current with Architectural Record and I do delight in an occasional Architectural Digest. There are also tons of blogs out there like Coffee with an Architect, which tends to be more sarcastic and humorous than the typical "oooooh this is pretty (or neat)" blog, as well as Life of an Architect, by Bob Borson which teeters on the line between serious and often quite funny. This week, Bob is enjoying his summer vacation and has had a few other groups stand in while he's out and I must share this breathtaking post by Andrewvl who included some of the wonders of Dallas, TX, and helped fuel the travel bug in me.

Finally, I subscribe to RSS feeds for Reddit architecture, Inhabitat- green design will save the world, TreeHugger, ArchDaily and when I have extra time I like to browse the job boards at Archinect.

While all of this is a stepping stone for learning and keeping current in architecture, I am a firm believer that you must experience architecture firsthand to truly understand it. But the pictures sure are nice to look at! :) Here are a few I spotted today: