My Essential Questions are:

• What are the different career paths a person with a degree in architecture can take?
• How are current architects in New York City factoring sustainability, cultural ecology, and social justice into their work?
• What can I, as a future architecture student, take away from this project that will inform me in my future studies?

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Action Item Area: Architecture Class Materials (ARCH X 467.17A: Design Communication I at UCLA Extension)

Reason for Item: In order to complete my online course assignments, it is essential that I have all of the materials listed on the class page.

Notes: I already have half of the items on the list, either because I took another architecture course which required them or because I have already taken the steps to buy them.

Resolution: Look over my list carefully and find all of the items I need. I must be sure that the items I already have or bought meet the exact requirements. Check and see if there are any other preparations I must make before my class begins.

 

Action Item Area: Independent Barn Redesign Project

Reason for Item: As the majority of my week will be spent outside of class, I will be spending most of my time working on an independent project involving redesigning my family’s barn–which has not been put in use in decades. I am not looking to seriously “fix” my family’s barn–the project is simply to spend independent time learning the ins-and-outs of SketchUp and working to completely translate a design from the physical to the digital. I may even spend time drafting floor plans, whether on paper or also on the computer.

Resolution: I already have SketchUp downloaded on my laptop. The main task will be to find a system of measuring the actual barn. I will have to ensure that I own a sturdy tape measurer that can reach far. Translating the barn into SketchUp will be a difficult task, but one I am willing to spend an extensive amount of time completing.

 

Action Item Area: Meeting With & (Potentially) Visiting Architects

Reason for Item: As an aspiring architecture student, I find it important that I connect with real, working architects. This will allow me to understand what paths I must take, and what the life of a working architect is truly like. This could teach me about the differences between how the architects I interviewed experienced college in comparison to how I will experience it. If possible, I may even make plans to visit small architecture firms around the city. I would like to see what real, non-academic architecture workspaces look like.

Resolution: I am already in contact with some architects both from New York City and other parts of the country. I plan to, at the beginning of April, begin scheduling Zoom interviews with them. Over Spring Break I will come up with questions about architecture school, the process of becoming a licensed architect, and the life and career of a working architect. After the interviews, I will record my findings in some way so that I can present on what I learn during the Senior Project Presentation.

 

Action Item Area: Required Book (Zaha Hadid. Complete Works 1979–Today. 2020 Edition by Philip Jodidio)

Reason for Item: It is required that each student chooses a novel. Plus, I have always wanted to learn about the details of Hadid’s life.

Resolution: I will be reading a biography about my greatest inspiration–Zaha Hadid–who inspired my interest in architecture. Her book, Zaha Hadid. Complete Works 1979–Today. 2020 Edition, is a combination of a portfolio of all of her works and a biography on her life. I would like to know her life story and learn how she, as a woman of color, dominated the architecture field and became the first woman to ever receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize. I already own the book.

 

Action Item Area: Independent Project Mentor (Jessica Prohías Gardiner)

Reason for Item: Students are encouraged to have independent project mentors which oversee their work and give them advice and feedback on how to move forward.

Resolution: Jess will be my independent project mentor. Whenever I have taken major steps in my barn redesign, we will meet on Zoom to discuss where I am and what my next steps are.

 

The most major changes I have made to my project plan have been the additions of my independent project and my required reading. I am glad to have made them, because I was originally concerned about how I would be spending my time outside of class. I have found this blog post to be extremely helpful for project planning. Even while writing this post, I realized how important yet difficult measuring my family’s barn will be.

 

My learning goals throughout my Senior Project will be:

• To understand the process of drafting and more generally, how to translate 3-dimensional objects onto a 2-dimensional plane. My ARCH X 467.17A: Design Communication I course at UCLA Extension will teach me all that I need to know to do my own drafting. I hope that this small introduction will not only foster knowledge for my independent project, but also for my skills as a future architecture student.
• To learn how to measure, recreate, and redesign a physical space using a CAD Program. This will not only involve recreating my family’s barn on SketchUp, but also ideating how I would like to redesign it beforehand. Do I want to focus on decorating it? Re-dividing it? Giving it a new use? The choice will be mine. I plan on interviewing family members ahead of time–learning about how they currently use/see the barn and how exactly they would like it to change.
• To understand the experience of working architects. By interviewing professionals and potentially visiting architecture firms, I will understand what my degree may offer me and more specifically, which categories within the field of architecture I am most interested in pursuing. As someone who has found a new passion for sustainable design, I will be asking how these current architects are factoring sustainability into their work. I will spend Spring Break coming up with a list of questions for the architects I interview over Zoom or meet up with in real life.

 

Books/papers that I will be reading to guide my Senior Project:

• “The Art of Building the Impossible,” by Burkhard Bilger – The New Yorker
• 101 Things I Learned in Product Design School, by Sung Jang and Martin Thaler with Matthew Frederick
• 100 Ideas that Changed Architecture, by Richard Weston
• Zaha Hadid: Thirty Years of Architecture, by Zaha Hadid
• Zaha Hadid Architects: Redefining Architecture & Design, by Zaha Hadid Architects
• Architectural Graphics (6th Edition), by Francis D.K. Ching (for my Design Communication I course)

 

My Senior Project schedule is currently as follows:

Week 1:

• Continue taking ARCH X 467.17A: Design Communication I at UCLA Extension (begins April 1st). Complete course assignments.
• Begin ideating/sketching/interviewing family members in order to decide how I will redesign my family’s barn.
• Begin scheduling Zoom interviews & (if possible) firm visits with architects. Finalize questions for architects.
• Begin reading required book.

Week 2:

• Continue taking ARCH X 467.17A: Design Communication I at UCLA Extension. Complete course assignments.
• Begin measuring & translating barn into SketchUp, finalize ideas on barn redesign.
• Continue scheduling Zoom interviews/begin having Zoom interviews, (if possible) continue scheduling firm visits/begin visiting firms.
• Continue reading required book (if still unfinished).

Week 3:

• Continue taking ARCH X 467.17A: Design Communication I at UCLA Extension. Complete course assignments.
• Begin measuring & translating barn into SketchUp (depending on how long it takes), begin/continue barn redesign.
• Continue having Zoom interviews, continue visiting firms (if possible).
• Continue reading required book (if still unfinished).

Week 4:

• Continue taking ARCH X 467.17A: Design Communication I at UCLA Extension. Complete course assignments.
• Continue barn redesign. Begin receiving feedback from family & outside sources. Make edits.
• Continue having Zoom interviews, continue visiting firms (if possible).
• Continue reading required book (if still unfinished).

Week 5:

• Continue taking ARCH X 467.17A: Design Communication I at UCLA Extension. Complete course assignments.
• Finish up barn redesign. Make final changes.
• Continue having Zoom interviews, continue visiting firms (if possible).
• Continue reading required book (if still unfinished).

Week 6:

• Continue taking ARCH X 467.17A: Design Communication I at UCLA Extension. Complete course assignments. (NOTE: Finishes after Senior Project is over)
• Add finishing touches to barn redesign.
• Continue having Zoom interviews, continue visiting firms (if possible).
• Continue reading required book (if still unfinished).
• Compile course projects, independent project, information from interviews/visits, information from required reading etc. in order to prepare for Senior Project Presentation.

I plan to document my course and independent projects every step of the way. I will take images, screenshots, and scans of what I produce and will write down where I am and what I would like to accomplish next. I do not expect to finish my course projects in time for the Senior Project Presentation, therefore my documentation will be extremely useful when I present on what I have accomplished at that point. At the end of each week, I will reflect on the progress I have made and perhaps even analyze how my project has changed since its start.

Additionally, I will be writing reflections after each interview I conduct and/or firm visit. Before each Zoom interview, I will ask the architect if they are comfortable being recorded. If they permit it, I will go back to my recording and take notes on the key points they made throughout. I will write down a few of my favorite quotes. If the architect does not agree to be recorded, I will jot down as many notes as I can during the interview, and perhaps work around another method of recording.