School, Forever- Blog Prompt 4
I feel like the best way for me to address this particular blog prompt is by outlining how I would live my life if money, school constraints and time (or age rather) were no issue. I must say, however, even if schooling were not required to gain a high level career I would still go to school. I enjoy learning and I think I would at least need a mentor or internship of some kind. I would, however, address school differently. I would love to simultaneously combine field work and taking on information. I would take myself out of the classroom and do studies.
I recently looked into doing a UROP project with Ann Ziebarth of the Housing Studies department. When I met with her she explained the projects she had been working on and was hoping to be able to work on further. Obviously, they addressed housing issues, most in and around the Twin Cities, though one was comparing senior citizen livability in St. Paul to that of Vancouver. The one that interested me most was a survey study she wanted to conduct on the Hispanic migrant working population in South Minneapolis. They need housing and designing adequate, cheap, sensible housing for their population has proved quite the project. Here is a link to an article that interviewed a typical migrant family in the canning industry in south Minneapolis: http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/node/6066. This and other projects she explained would be things that I would work on were I “released.� It would essentially be UROP expanded.
I have a growing interest in difference in cultures and styles. I went to the Cultural Celebration put on by an academic fraternity in the Great Hall this past Friday night. I’m not going to lie, we mostly went for the free food, but we found out that there were going to be cultural dances and music on stage. We stayed and it was VERY cool. I really enjoyed myself. So, on top of doing studies here, I would travel EVERYWHERE (remember I made money issues disappear). I would love to focus on African development and Spanish historical architecture. I would volunteer my time. I would participate in rebuild projects such as the one in Biloxi as well. Side note- this weekend I met a senior in the BS of Architecture program who went to Biloxi and I am incredibly jealous. Also he didn’t seem very stressed at the time, which is good. I always figured that later on in my architecture education I would loose the privilege of relaxation.
While I travel, I would take deep interest in the country’s style of architecture, but not only that, I would study their culture, their city design and layout, their history, their lifestyles and their countryside. I would stay with locals, do what they do, eat what they eat (to a point…), and listen to what they have to say. I would go backpacking in places like Chile, Russia, Brazil, Spain and many more. I would spend the moajority of my time in rural areas to gain knowledge of culture and the true lifestyles of the area. (also I love nature, see picture at bottom) Basically I would spend my time gathering information, comparing cultures and coming up with project ideas, which I would then execute. If a small town had a need for a building I would work under more experienced architects to construct them. I would learn from them, then I would eventually be able to build my own. I would do volunteer work for my whole life if I could. The best job satisfaction comes from volunteer work.
I would also like to find a way meet all the greats. I would study them, visit their best buildings and try to meet with them personally. As Leslie VanDuzer said last semester, I will get in “by any means necessary.� Yikes… but really, I would. Greats like Louis Kahn, �lvaro Siza Vieira, Peter Zumthor, Sol LeWitt (though he died last year, I would find a way to learn from him), Bruce Mau, etc, I would seek them all out. I would just sit and listen, if they allowed. (I was going to say that Ozayr looked like Siza to get the "blog of the week" but I thought he might get mad.)
In short, if I were allowed to leave the constraints of architecture school behind, I would spend all my time learning… not a big stretch I guess. Really the only constraint prohibiting me from doing this is money. Always... The only way I can think of to design a place to enable all that I want to do would be to encapsulate the world? Not really possible I guess.
(Also I would probably toss a quick sail around the world in there, just for good measure. I want to be this guy: http://growabrain.typepad.com/growabrain/2004/04/_sailing_around.html)