Yesterday kinda marked the final review sessions for our group site analysis for us Design Studio 4 students at Taylor's. While most people were deep asleep from studying or a night out clubbing, the lights in our campus studios remained on at all hours of the night and day for the past three weeks.
You could walk into the architectural territories in Taylor's at 3a.m. on a Friday night, and i guarantee u would see students building models and rendering 3dmax/Sketchup as if it was 3p.m. As an architecture student myself, the lack of sleep has been a difficult nuisance to overcome... (Especially if u are the reigning Prom Queen (muahaha!) and sleeping disorders would mean lots of pimples, or worse, a bad bad migraine!) So, if you don't already know that this is an accepted part of the course by most students, you would probably ask - is it actually necessary?
Many of my friends from outside of the Architectural World have posed the question to me. "Why must you stay up all night? Does building a model really take that long? Are you procrastinating?"
Honestly.. When people say that, I feel like killing them. What more so if you categorize all my hard work as last minute work. And i warn you now, it would be much much worse if you asked me that question after a few weeks of almost-sleepless nights. Or if you are one of those guys who's giving one of my girl friends a hard time for not being able to spend time with you.
While it is easy to lash out at those not in Architecture, there are some actual reasons as to why the work takes so long. To me, it is that there is no end. And as much as you work on one project, it can never be right. Especially if you were a perfectionist like me. If a project is not finite, how can you tell when is the right time to end the design process?
It all comes to a sad fact that most students (oh well, maybe only me) depend on the deadline of the assignments to tell them when their design is done. It may seem absurd to say that the design of a building is dictated by the amount of time you have, but this may not be so far from the truth. Like, in my case, i have no choice but to finalize my design at a certain stage so that i have time to produce the proper materials for the final crit sessions.
So, you may ask again, why not finalize our designs sooner, so that we could have alot of time for the presentation board plus loads of sleep?? The problem is still that its never done, there is always something we can change on it. There is never once that i could look at my work and give up a sigh of relief or say "perfect!", nor is there a word limit as if writing an essay. And besides, designing is not about just fuilfilling the minimum requirements. Even if a student has completed all his work, there is no guarantee they will receive a good grade for his efforts.
And that's not the only one thing that i don't understand... As Nads and I would always discuss, is it really true that one would never be able to think or feel in our shoes unless one take Architecture? Its a sad fact that we have to give up our time with our family and friends, but its even worse to feel like they do not understand, or worse, blame you for not being able to spend time with them.
Oh well, I must say i am extremely thankful to have supportive family members who understand, and a loving boyfriend who is on the same boat (Architecture). And of course, if you are my friend and you forgive me for being MIA so often, thank you so very much. And if you are mad at me for not spending time like we used to, then this post would represent my apology to you.
Goodnight peeps, better sleep whenever i have the chance.
