Archinect - Washington University in St. Louis (MK/AP)

Degree Project SP10 reviews

2010-05-21T18:53:06-04:00

Earlier today commencement ceremonies were held for graduating students at the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts (including undergraduate art and architecture, M.Arch, MFA, and MUD). Today seems like a good occasion to show images from M.Arch Degree Project reviews, taken on May 3 and May 4. The images below are of some of the reviews I was able to visit (while taking breaks from my own work)...

Andrew Zimmerman

Alan Basič

Alan Basič

Liu Xi

Jin-Wook Lee

Brad Cooke

Brad Cooke

Margaret Cooke

Margaret Cooke

Ekta Desai

Ekta Desai

Nick Kunkle

set of higher resolution images @flickr

This semester's group of Degree Project students put together an impressive and broadly ranging set of projects. Congratulations to everyone, and best of luck with the next step...

Final Review

2010-05-13T14:42:30-04:00

Our final review was yesterday, so the semester has officially come to a close. Now all that's left to do is clean out studio, turn in tine sheets for TA jobs, and continue to catch up on sleep. We plan on posting this summer about our first year at WUSTL--including our own studio work, the work of other students/studios, our studio trip to Northern Europe, and whatever else comes to mind. Until then, here are a few pics from our final jury:

Weil Arets presents our studio's framework to the jury, which included (from furthest to closest) Manuel Bailo, Stan Allen, Paul Lukez, Igor Marjanovic, and Eric Mumford.

The review format was a bit different than what we've typically done. Groups of 5 students presented 20 or so slides in 3 minutes each (like pecha kucha but half the time). After a group of 5 completed their slide shows (on the large TV), the reviewers would go back to the beginning of that group and discuss each project individually, moving to view each student's pin up...

Studio Work Spring 2010_XL: T.I.M

2010-05-06T12:08:32-04:00

This is the first entry in what we plan on making a series of entries on studio work at WUSTL. To kick things off, here is a glimpse at one of 2 fabrication studios that were available to students at the option level this semester. Studio data, text and images to follow...but first, here is a link to studio web site, which showcases the team, their concept, process, and product: xl-tim.net
Make sure to check out the various galleries on the site, which show the numerous physical mock-ups and digital studies conducted.

Studio: TRANS:formable_BODIES
Instructor: Sung Ho Kim
Semester: Spring 2010

TRANS:formable_BODIES
The contemporary world renders our lives of total mobility and flexibility allowing us to become global nomads. This life of speed and data exchange blurs the boundary between personal leisure and productive activities. This studio will question and to explore an architecture of intimate scale and materiality through digital outputs.

We will develop an intermix...

Framework for a Heterotopia

2010-05-03T13:59:54-04:00

This semester I have been investigating a concept, heterotopia, that I hope will inform my Spring 2011 Degree Project proposal (Degree Project is akin to a graduate thesis project, but has traditionally manifested itself in a somewhat detailed and comprehensive architectural proposal). Below is a short text, some quotes, and a few drawings/collages that attempt to uncover the architectural potentials of the term. Please share your thoughts and responses...

Framework for a Heterotopia
by Aaron Plewke

Heterotopia, literally [an]other place, is a term that was first used in medicine to describe a cell or group of cells living non-malignantly within a host cell or tissue. Michel Foucault adapted the term in the sixties to explain an emerging phenomenon—spaces and places were coming into being which interrupted the apparent continuity and normality of ordinary, everyday space, but did so in a way that was not detrimental to their host. By identifying these places where processes of c...

Studio Trip Spring 2010_Entry I

2010-04-26T01:37:08-04:00

During spring break this semester we had the opportunity to travel to the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium with our studio. Our professors, Robert McCarter + Wiel Arets, proposed an extensive list of buildings for us to visit over the course of our 9 day trip, which included time in Amsterdam, Delft, Den Haag, Rotterdam, Hilversum, Utrecht, Boxtel, Heerlen, Vaals (no, not Vals), Maastricht, Wachendorf, Köln and Brussels.

Amongst the buildings we visited, one highlight was the Van Nelle Factory in Rotterdam--a former tobacco, coffee and tea factory renovated into an office complex for media and design firms. The factory was designed by Johannes Brinkman and Leendert van der Vlugt and built between 1927 and 1929. As it was originally used, raw products were taken to the top floor and as they were processed the product would move down towards the lowest level often crossing the elevated glazed transport bridges. The factory floors are double height and fully glazed. The site is...

In the wake of Open House weekend...

2010-04-11T21:57:35-04:00

Hey everyone! We, the co-authors of this blog, thought it would be a good idea to finally get around to our first post, on the heels of what was a well attended and festive Open House weekend...one that we were able to enjoy without the nervous anticipation that the prospective students must have been feeling (which we were surely feeling a year ago when we were in their position).

So first, "we" are Meredith and Aaron (