AutoCAD II/3D Design
Instructor Ana Lopez
Credits 1.50

3D Design Perspective Drawing
Instructor TBA
Credits 1.50

Foundation Design B-1 Studio
Instructor TBA
Credits 3.00

Architecture Sketch Problem #1 
Instructor Lee F. Peters
Credits 1.00

Total Registered Credits: 10.00

I mean, it all picks up from here… right?

Luckily, I passed all three and only half-bombed one: Materials & Methods.

I was watching an episode of “The Office” this morning, the one where Michael quits his job so he can start his own paper company, when it started eating at me again: If I want to work in design so much, why haven’t I made the move?

(Sometimes I mix the personalities of “The Office” with all the likes of a design firm and think of how much fun it would be to work in such a place.  Designing, of course.)

I feel like I haven’t thought about design long enough.  Sure, I look up at buildings all the time, and not a single day goes by that I don’t stare at the inside of a subway train and wonder how it is put together.  I am interested in design and I know I have a head for it, but why has it been such a daunting task to sprint for what I want?  Do I not want it badly enough?

Going back to “The Office,” there was something inspiring about how Michael quit his job and set out for this new venture with his eyes closed.  I know it’s all fiction, but if I could allow myself to have a few career-related fantasies, this would be one of them.  The truth is, I need to stop being scared of stepping forward on a path I know nothing about.  And I’d like to think I am by ways more qualified than Michael!

During the closing credits, I recalled some advice I got from my friend Debra when I’d told her about my feeling stuck in architecture.  ”Map your career backwards,” she said.

So, after I gulped down the last of my coffee, I listed my next biggest goal…

Work in design.  At this point, I don’t have any expectations as to what size of firm I’d like to work for, or if it even needs to be a firm.  I would be happy freelancing so long as I could learn what it means to work with a client and “sell design.”  Yes, in this case, money is an important factor because I need to start getting a feel for how designers charge (i.e., rates, fees, payment methods) and how clients perceive value.

So how do I get there?

Money.  I need financial cushion to be able to sustain myself under the new job conditions, assuming I would be getting paid considerably less for my lack of design experience.  For this reason not only do I need to save 3 months’ worth of living expenses, but while I’m doing that, I also need to gain “real world” design experience in any way that I can.  This is the part where money is NOT an issue.  I just want to get my foot in the door so I can get some practice and build up a network.  Last month, for example, a friend of mine asked me to create a logo for his new company.  I didn’t get compensated for the job, but it’s something I can now add to my portfolio and even get good recommendations for in the future.

So, working backwards, if I want to have a solid savings fund I need to have a solid savings plan.  I have to cut expenses wherever I can and remind myself that choosing to make coffee at home instead of getting it from Starbucks can have a profound impact on how quickly I am able to save enough money to move on to my next step.  It’s about constantly being aware of how these tiny, everyday decisions that have NOTHING to do with design have EVERYTHING to do with design, only because they are links in a series of cause-and-effect that lead me to that goal.

Now saving up that much money at my income rate is going to take some time.  I can perform maintenance on my accounts, build good credit, and balance my budgets on the side, but what else can I do for my career?  Update portfolio, resume, and references.

Portfolio is something I haven’t given much thought to.  I’ve probably been too confident about my print and publishing skills that it hasn’t figured into my set of worries just yet.  However, it’s fair to say that regardless of how well I think I’ll do in that department, it is going to be very time-consuming and I’d best get it out of the way now.  Same thing goes for my resume.

As for references, I can build myself a good support group by keeping in touch with previous instructors and turning in great work to all my current ones.  And did anyone say Facebook or LinkedIn?  Well, those two should be a no-brainer.

Now there’s just one TINY detail I need to take care of before I can show my face around school this fall.  I am guilty of not having cleared with the Practice Department on one special project — CG2.

It’s been weighing on me since I started at the BAC.  At the time, I was working on the project as a junior designer with two master students who shared the project manager role.

CG2 stands for “Community Gardens Team 2.”  It was a team formed by Gabriel Bergeron as part of the BAC’s special projects initiative to extend real-life design experience to budding architecture students while targeting community service involvement in Boston and surrounding areas.  In short, CG2 was a mock firm created for my unpaid internship, the closest thing to a design job that I was able to get as a first-year design student.

For this project, we were asked to research and develop a set of design guidelines for community gardens in Boston and present them as a published document to the city’s Department of Neighborhood Development, who acted as our client.  These guidelines would then be used by the DND as a written standard to regulate how existing community gardens are maintained in Boston, and even inform on the process of starting one.  Working with Lauren DuCharme, a landscape architect from Carol R. Johnson & Associates, we were able to get as far as producing a near-final draft.  But then things started going awry.

After a semester and a half of push and pull, our first project manager jumped ship to start his own firm.  One semester later, and just weeks before the project deadline, my second project manager disappeared without a trace.

I agreed to finish the project on my own, but other than the occasional email from Lauren or Gabriel, I had little motivation to keep working towards a project whose client I had no communication with.  The weeks turned into months, and though the project was always looming over my head, I let it slip into dark, overdue territory.

Now, four months later, I am faced with the awkward task of turning in a late project and run the risk of not receiving practice credit for all the hours of work I put in.  Who knows.  Maybe it’s this feeling of guilt I’ve been carrying around all this time that has cast a shadow on my learning experience at the BAC.  In feng shui, my indebtedness to CG2 would be the pile of trash lying at the foot of my door that’s blocking the flow of new things and old things from coming in and out of my life.

And that’s just where I stand now.  At the foot of that door.  In the past year or so that I’ve been away from posting, I’ve been able to catch up with many other personal goals — I’ve nearly eliminated all bad debt, I have a healthy savings account, I’m a far better reader, I’ve taken control over my eating and exercise habits, and in a couple of days I’ll be driving.  It seems the only area I haven’t improved on is gaining momentum with my career.  Now I realize that this can only happen once I finish with CG2.

Here’s a layout of my new workload:

Now I’m no stranger to Google Calendar, but this month after underestimating homework duration times and failing terribly at new travel logistics because I no longer live ten minutes away from school, I’ve added a study calendar to my account.

As it turns out, I’m most productive between 6am-12pm, which is great for my employer but not for my grades.  If in the afternoon I want to study, I need to boil a pot of dark roast, put on horse blinders and chain myself to the desk.  Sadly, I’ve come to the conclusion that no amount of caffeine will ever be able to keep me up past 1am.  If my body wants to sleep, it will sleep.

Enter my new study calendar.  Normally, when I feel I can’t get stuff done (or when I just want to give into good, old-fashioned procrastination) I close the books and go make a sandwich.  I forget that I’ve displaced time.  Now that I’ve blocked out my study hours, I can plan ahead and try to set myself up for the best-case scenario.

It doesn’t mean I won’t ever procrastinate — it means I’ll procrastinate wisely.

As soon as I’m done with registration and I’m all settled into my new apartment, I PROMISE I will fill you in on all the latest developments.

Meanwhile, feel free to follow me on Twitter or check out my Shared Items on Reader.  Not all entries are design-related, but at least you’ll have an inkling of where I’m going as I find new ways to infuse my latest interests into future projects.

Yes, nothing is perfect, but if I had anything to learn from Rich Griswold’s Design Principles class last semester, it is that ‘perfect’ should never intimidate a designer’s approach towards a truly great idea.

So, with all my nicks and scratches, here I come.

1.  Draw diagrams that express key concepts in terms of:

• client/concept: atonality, artistic trajectory, identity –> Chick: piano, fusion, Scientology, pure, crossover, connection
• site & program (circulation): stage 1, open, seating 6, threshold, access
• construction: two-ply laminates glued together and bent into shape; strips inserted into ground

ATONALITY: avoids being in key, all 12 notes equally important, reordering of the notes to form a different set or series

2.  Find a picture of your client to use in presentation

3.  Find a site map to use in presentation

• see picture of Harvard presentation board
• use light colors to mark site features: bay windows and adjacent buildings (dark brown), street (gray), alley (dark gray)

4.  Study presentation board layout in 11 x 17 size paper

• find out which drawings need to be a certain dimension (site can be at 1/8 scale)
• determine paper orientation for concept statement (portrait, landscape, or square)
• determine where client picture will go

5.  Write concept statement (think transition from classical to contemporary, formal to informal, controlled to organic, material to spiritual)

• type out for reference
• copy to Strathmore in architectural lettering

DRAW

1.  Create accurate “study” drawings (in plan, elevation, section) to inform how you will build

• site plan/floor plan: include bay windows, alley, path to site (call Matt for suggestions)
• elevations: north, west
• sections: TBD
• construction details: section showing how structure cuts into ground, exploded axon showing how paper is laminated together

2.  Make rough drafts of all presentation drawings to scale

3.  Cut each drawing to fit layout margins

CREATE

1.  Make templates

• use study model parts to determine measurements for all three pieces
• trace parts with measurements to a cheat sheet (to use as a guide throughout design/drawing/model-making process)
• cut out templates and label with drafting tape

2.  Cut parts (two sets of each)

3.  Laminate with Sobo and bend into shape

4.  Insert strips into base

5.  Realign seating to stage

6.  Add 9-ft. drop to model base

• double-check drop measurements
• cut out pieces from foamcore
• glue together with glue gun

7.  Add person to scale

RE-DRAW

1.  Copy drawings to Strathmore paper

2.  Add program notes to site plan and/or floor plan

3.  Add finishing touches

• lineweights
• material representation (glass)

DEVELOP

1.  Work 14 principles and elements into your presentation

2.  Prepare a short (spoken) introduction about your client/concept:  piano, fusion, Scientology, pure, crossover, connection

3.  Create a simple outline to guide you through a logical order

SHARE

Do a run-through of your presentation for someone new to your project

TRANSPORT

1.  Make a hard shell for transporting model to class

2.  Make checklist of all deliverables

3.  Have ready by May 17 –> TOMORROW

AutoCAD I:  The specifics for our final are still unclear, but it is likely the exam will consist of at least one drawing, a demo and an assist.  I owe some assignments too, so I may be slaving over AutoCAD tonight and tomorrow between work and class.

Design Principles:  It’s my biggest final for the semester and it happens THIS TUESDAY.  DP notebooks will be collected and our final grade will depend on our ability to diagram our understanding of the class and the design process.  My DP notebook is almost done, but I still need to give some thought to how I will layout my diagram for the exam.

Studio A1:  We’ve been working on our final project for quite some time now, so as daunting as a full-fledged presentation to a group of working professionals may seem, I’m confident I’ll be able to use the feedback from my last critique in a meaningful and constructive way.  A mock presentation happens this Tuesday.  Then Saturday, Brittney and Tyler will continue to help us refine our concept in class.  The real presentation─our studio final─takes place next Tuesday.

In view of all of this, what more is there to say other than good luck… and make it work!