Final Review

The day has finally come. 

...and gone!

I'm exhausted, but a good kind of exhausted. Today was a lot of running around, getting everyone's mylars and models to the exhibition space. We pinned up in the new music school building, a very modern-looking building with no signs. Naomi and I have come across it a few times and didn't know what it was for. 

Our room, thankfully, had air conditioning, but the rest of the building did not! It was a struggle to go to the restroom. 

We started late, so the only reviewer that showed up on time had left by the time we'd finished pinning up. It was frustrating to sit and wait, but we got to relax. Two groups presented on the first day--Water and Earth--so the two groups that weren't presenting--Air and Fire--ran back to the Pension to get the bocadillos that Vicente and the kitchen crew had ready for us. I don't think I'll be able to eat another sandwich for a very, very long time. 

After lunch, we finally began reviews. Naomi went first!!! I was the designated timer. I kept changing the amount of time each person was allotted to try to make sure we could get to everyone by 6PM. Sometimes, I wasn't sure if the reviewers knew what the loud buzzer meant. It could have been someone's phone randomly going off, for all they knew. But Alex kept the reviews rolling at a good pace.

Before I knew it, it was my turn--I went first for Earth! I had to explain the program because it's different from the Water program. I told myself that this was my very last final review* and that I would do well. And do well I did! I combined Guardamar's history and my experience of the city and the Rio Segura to design a complex of buildings and walkways. I felt really accomplished at the end of my review! I felt empowered, like my ideas could really be turned into reality. 

The rest of the day was a blur! I'm really relieved that my review is over. There's one more day of reviews tomorrow, and then this summer studio is over. 

*Last review of my undergraduate career, at least! 

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19: Buckle down for studio!

Diagram

It's that time--final review time! If mid-review strikes fear in the average architecture student's heart, any mention of final review can cause tachycardia, cold sweats, and panic.

But don't worry! It should be different this time! I don't fear desk crits with Alex--I embrace them, because he's been receptive to my ideas and has given me helpful constructive feedback. I'm stuck clicking around in Rhino and Illustrator, but at least my computer still works (one more Mac has decided not to work anymore this week!). I don't know exactly where my project is headed, but Alex says that's a good thing. If I knew where I was going, then there's no room for adaptation, change, and spontaneity that could enrich my project.

I feel like we've been spoiled in the first half--oh, maybe even 2/3rds--of the program by all the leisurely travel to various cities in Spain. It's been really relaxed and now we are paying for it! Not that it's a bad thing--I enjoy the hard work because I know in the end something good will come out of it. It just feels terrible to be sitting in this hard studio chair for hours and hours on end, and, at the end of the day, not feel like I've made any significant progress.

I'm hoping for some last-minute burst of something to make my project really sparkle. For now, it's time to buckle down.

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18: Don't bring a Mac!

Image Courtesy: Apple.com

We've been working a lot more on the computer these days. We had to model in Rhino, which is a task that's pretty intense for a computer to run.

Alex has made known before his dislike for and distrust of Mac computers. He says they're for sissies because everything has to look nice. I have to admit that yes, I am drawn to the aesthetics of Apple products, but it's not like the computers are lacking in terms of speed, storage space, et cetera.

There are a few disadvantages, though, to using a Mac when in architecture school. Most of the 2D and 3D tools that the industry uses, such as AutoCAD, do not run on Macs (or, like Rhino, have unfinished Mac versions). There are ways around this issue, but it's always a pain and takes longer to switch between the Windows side and the Mac side. It's just plain easier to use a Windows computer.

In Spain, specifically, Macs die off pretty quickly. It's still a mystery, but a couple of people's Macbooks have stopped working. I've been doing some informal investigating and from my observations, it seems like Macs tend to heat up way faster than Windows laptops. (The exception is Naomi's HP laptop, which is basically on fire all the time!) And since Spain's average summer temperature is much greater than Berkeley's, these laptops overheat easily. Not dealing with an overheating laptop properly can lead to its demise.

So don't bring a Mac! Or, be prepared to face the consequences.

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15: Use your travels for inspiration

Carnival within the riverbed in Valencia

We got our program for our final project in Altea. Our studio was split up into four groups at the beginning to document to Mercadillo. Alex and Pacia used the same groups to assign us four different programs: Water, Fire, Air, and Earth. My group was assigned the Earth program, which consists of a Center for Coastal Dune, River, and Tide Studies; a traditional shoe factory; a community olive oil press and exchange; and an Ecological Hotel. That's a complex program to manage for a summer studio!

Alex gave us some good advice as we were traveling to Valencia. Why not look around us for inspiration? How can we use our travels for our benefit? What strategies have been used before that can be implemented in our own designs?

One of the interesting things about Valencia is its nearby river. The water from the river has mostly been diverted so that no more water flows in the riverbed. However, the designers planned it such that they allowed enough water to still flow underground so that plants would still grow. So a park now sits in the riverbed and the plants never need to be watered because the water table is high enough that the plants can get all the water they need.

Very inspiring--that the river, which was once a life force in Valencia, is still a life force but more behind the scenes, and the riverbed has become a site for public use. Much to think about in the coming weeks for my final project.

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14: Midreview

Midreview. This one word alone is enough to send chills down all architecture students' spines...

The all-nighters. The blood, sweat, and tears. Fretting for hours over the lineweights, the layout--praying that the plotter is still functioning when you need to print, and that your model can stand up on its own.

Oh, and what the hell am I going to say when it's finally my turn to stand, trembling and sweating, in front of the critical jury's unwavering, unimpressed gaze? 

This midreview was different. And because it was so different, it was a little more difficult than usual. But it wasn't difficult in the sense that it was stressful. I had to think about my project in ways that I have never had to before. 

Let's just say that studio has been chill thus far, compared to studio back at UC Berkeley. It's the Spanish effect. Alex is laid back, and siesta every day gives us time to take a break from thinking about studio work. And I think it's done our projects good. 

We began our exploration of site by diagramming the Mercadillo's set up, daytime activities, and cleanup, as well as mapping our experience climbing to the castles in Guardamar and Alicante. We learned how to make diagrams that are both symbolic, informative, and formally beautiful. When we started a more specific site study for our final project, we began by building a 3D representation of the Rio Segura using random items from the dollar store down the street. This model informed our 2D representations--the diagram. 

A second model was constructed based on the first diagram, and then another diagram was drawn from that. Layers of information and interpretation began to grow, morph, and evolve into works of art--and our attitude toward the site. 

Alex had us each come up with two words to describe our project. Verbs are perfect because they describe something dynamic happening at the site that can be translated into architecture. It was difficult because, as Alex said, it's easier to write a book than to write a postcard--that is, it takes a lot of thought and care to distill your project into two succinct words. But it helps the project to find its essence. 

I learned to always take a look at your project and distill it down to its essential parts. It's not the same as simplifying--that implies removing elements to change it. It's about finding the key words that describe your project to help you move forward in another direction. 

(I'm glad to say that everyone got constructive feedback and no one cried. Very unusual for a midreview!)

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12: Bring Snacks to Studio

Cacahuetes bañados en chocolate

Studio is from 10AM-2PM. Lunch/siesta is from 2PM-5PM. Studio happens again from 5PM-8PM. Lately, though, we've been ending around 8:30-9PM. The sun is still out at 9PM so it doesn't feel like the day is over, and since we've been in studio for so long, we just want to keep going...

Meal timing to ensure I don't starve has been a challenge but I think I've got it down now. I wake up early--6AM to be exact--and run to the beach at 6:30AM (I'll write a post about exercise later!). At 6AM I eat a couple crackers so I have some energy for running. I eat breakfast around 7:30AM. By 11AM, I need a snack, because lunch is still a few hours away! At 2PM I eat lunch at the Pencion. By 6PM though, I need another snack. At 8 or 9PM, I eat dinner, which is usually a salad with leftovers from lunch.

Notice that both my snack times fall during studio hours (and are around meal times that I am used to!). So what do I bring? The building in which we hold studio is two blocks away from the Mercadona, the supermarket, so if I forget to bring snacks I can hop on over, but I usually bring my own. I fill a little Tupperware container with a combination of fruit from the market (lately it's been apricots, peaches, or plums), nuts (I'm addicted to peanuts), hard-boiled egg (pre-peeled), crackers (the same ones I eat before running), spreadable cheese (similar to Laughing Cow), and/or candy (today I had a honey hard candy that was yummy!). The yummiest snack ever are peanuts bathed in chocolate, as pictured above. I also drink a lot of water and hope to stay not-too-hungry until I can eat again back at the Pension.

There's also a cafe across the street that lets us bring our coffee cups to the studio. Another cafe around the corner has tostadas with cheese for .80 euro. Lots of options, but I like to bring my own snacks.

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The Studio

We are finally in the studio! It's not like studio at Berkeley, though it is getting as dirty, which is normal for any space with a high concentration of architecture students. 

The studio space used to be a grocery store, so there are a lot of outlets for our laptops. There's little air circulation so we rely on lots of fans. Our work surfaces are large slabs of plywood on legs and some of our chairs are broken.

It works though. We are two blocks away from the Mercadona, so we will never starve! There's a cafe right across the street to feed our coffee addictions. The beach is also a mere four blocks to the east. 

What are we working on? We've diagrammed the weekly mercadillo, which is a traditional event in Guardamar. Most (older) people get their fresh produce from the market Wednesday mornings. The market sets up starting at 4AM and then is gone by 3PM. Our diagrams aren't infographics or anything that looks familiar--they're more "artsy" and based on our own experience of the mercadillo (keeping in mind personal feelings and historical references). We've also diagrammed our experiences climbing two different castles, one in Guardamar and one in Alicante. 

Our diagrams are on the mylar, which feels smooth to the touch and is a wonder to draw on with pencil. I was a little nerve-wracking the first time to just draw with our intuition, and we are just learning how to create diagrams in this new style, but we are all getting the hang of it. 

Diagrams on the first mylar

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