Atlanta

Atlanta was a real eye opener for me b/c it let me see how firms really worked and where i could fit in to a big firm. I loved that we were able to go to several and get a feel for different firms and how they design and look. It was a overall great experience. I don't know if i was too keen on Atlanta but i think it could grow on me and i could get use to it. I also am glad that we were able to talk about budgeting so i can get an idea of the money side of working for a firm.

roots exercise

I found that it was an interesting way to get to a new idea from an object. It was a creative response to the two artifacts that we brought in. I ended up creating a space in a hallway that would allow people to gather in between classes and sit with in the window. Creating a nook for them and a friend or just them and there books. I thought it would be something nice to create a moment in which students could interact during there busy class filled days. 

Bachelard Chapters (2+3)

Ch 2 (house and universe): Was a very interesting chapter about how the house fits in with surroundings and how we fit into the house. I found the quote on pg 43 really helpful in talking about the sounds of a space..."sounds lend color to space, and confer a sort of sound upon it". This is a really good insight on the idea that sounds can help create a space and turn it into something more. The chapter talks about how poets can talk about space and make spaces and homes come alive. I never thought about how poetic space can really be. This book even though it is very difficult to read really takes the time to create something special for the reader and Bachelard goes into depth in this chapter describing houses and how they are remembered, how they react to weather, and how we respond to our surroundings. I found the most interesting part of the chapter was the last part about the study on children and looking at how they draw there homes based on what has happened to them. "Asking a child to draw there house is like asking him to reveal the deepest dream shelter he has found for his happiness". I find it amazing how much you can tell by asking a child to draw there house. He says that if they are happy the home is cozy but, if the child has had distress then the house is dark and scary. Children have a very real view on there surroundings and i think it helps to revert back to that once and again. 

Ch 3 (drawers, chests, and wardrobes):

What is nice about this chapter is that we explore the idea that a drawer is something much more then what some people choose to see it as. I enjoy the quote on pg 75 "concepts are drawers in which knowledge may be classified" i find this very true in the grand scheme of things. We tuck away concepts much like drawers into the bigger picture or the chest. I find this metaphor very successful. I also like how he took the time to talk about when people take care of a piece of furniture and it's like it comes alive under there touch and takes on a special quality of such. I think this is true and when ever my mom asked me to dust off the dinning room table and polish it, i felt so proud afterwards and admired how great the table looked. I have always loved that table and i think that is why because, i took care of it and put time into it so it made it something more to me.

Amanda Soesbee above and beyond teacher, mentor, friend

Amanda Soesbee was by far my favorite teacher. She was a high school yearbook and english teacher and by my sophomore year we were pretty well aquatinted and i helped her out with earns and stuff around school. By my senior year Soes (as we all call her) was my mentor and helped me with all things college, high school, and life related. She was amazing at being there for you whenever you needed her and would do just about anything for the people that she loved! She always got my out of trouble if i was late for class which was most days, she helped  proof my papers when i was in college, she always encouraged all of her students (including me) to go above and beyond. She was always a shoulder to cry on and she always meant what she said. She was so much more then a teacher to many students and i know that I'm just one that was impacted by her loving care through the difficult years of high school. 

One of the best moments that i had with Soes was when we all graduated she took a bunch of us that wanted to go to Europe for a "educational tour". We went with three other high schools and she made it so worth wile and to this day i still talk about how amazing the trip was. I still look back at how lucky i was to be able to travel to Italy, France and Monaco at the age of 18. The trip also gave me the courage to go study abroad for 6 months in Australia. Which was an experience of a life time that most people will never be able to say that they did.

 She made everything a adventure and we were all lucky to be along for the ride. I just want to say thanks Amanda no matter what we did or said or acted like you always loved us all like we were your kids and i wouldn't be where i am today if it weren't for you!

Favorite Subject (High School)

I went to school in Huntersville at North Meck high school. I transfered there when i was a freshmen from lancaster PA. What was great about North was that it was a votech high school. It allowed me to take many different course to help figure out what i wanted to do when i graduated. But my favorite had to be my interior design class as well as my senior year i took architecture and started to learn CAD and these both helped me to get to the place that i am in today doing something that i love. The interior design class had three levels to it i ended up taking two of them because our teacher ended up leaving. She was a good teacher but it was more about the people that i had class with and they made it that much better. I loved coming to that class every day we always did something fun, everything from design boards, sowing, to making little models. It was just a all around great class that i always had fun in. A lot of the people that took that class are here in the IARC program which i think is great. I think another thing that made the class funny was that there was one boy in it that couldn't get into anything else and had to take the class to graduate and our teacher made him do all the activities no matter how ridicules they were. Much like IARC with not that many men in the major he added the comic relief that the class needed. 

My architecture class had a really amazing teacher Mr. Hern who had a really big heart for the community and i think that had a lot to do with why i am so community oriented and love to help out and give back whenever i can. He was very involved in the make a wish foundation and every year we would grant a wish by playing a powder puff game, seniors vs juniors. I helped head this up my senior year and it was one of the most rewarding accomplishments of my high school career. We not only met the child we were helping support but the family and see the impact that we had on there lives. He was a overall really great man who helped out in anyway he could. I also remember us collecting toys for tots and going to the hospital and passing them out one weekend to the kids that wouldn't get to go home for christmas. It was that kind of thing that made him not just a good teacher but a good leader and it affected everyone around him. 

Quote from Bachelard

I talked about a quote in class about engraving images vs real images on page 32 but I found another quote that i seem to like better... "The streets are like pipes into which men are sucked up." page 27. The reason I enjoy this quote is because its true. I found it especially true in Australia. The streets where men lived and worked and spent there time drew them in day after day. It was about a community that lived and breathed on the streets. The people started to make the streets come alive and it was reflected as such when you walked down the roads.

Integration Charette

What really was great about this charette was i felt like we got together as a group/ studio and discussed how the installation would look and as a result it made it so much easier to get our ideas out and make it clear what we needed to deliver for that friday. I feel like it helped build off of the downstairs installation which was a goal and then tie our work back up to 204. I really enjoy doing large scale projects that involve installing in many locations. It just makes for a more interesting studio and project. I think everyone enjoyed this project a bit more too. I also felt like we were all able to have our hands in everything. For example i helped with the install but i also helped with process and blogging while others did the write up for the project and some taped off sections and others cleaned up i felt like the whole install was really successful.