First Days of School

The first days of school have been a whirlwind… so many new things, new people, and plenty of excitement.

Hand grinder, scale, french press, and Anchored Coffee

Hand grinder, scale, french press, and Anchored Coffee

Thus far, there still haven’t been any official classes – those start next week. This week, Wednesday through Friday, has been comprised of  orientation, presentations, and conversations with older students. However, selecting our studio space, gathering materials and getting prepared both physically and mentally has been fun.

My days begin with the best coffee I can prepare or get my hands on, followed by meetings and workshops, and already I have many things to work on before I head to bed. Right now my days run from about 8:30am until about 1-2am. Last night I had the luxury of heading out to a nearby pub with a fellow architecture student from Newfoundland, Mark. I was so wired and hyper just on the excitement from the day at school I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway. Two pints and a short walk home, it was a nice release for the day… I’m guessing it was somewhere around 2am when I arrived home with a 9am rise.

I can already tell there is a shift in the way I’m thinking – creativity is returning and there is much to think about. After school today I attended two gallery openings in Halifax: one was mostly photography, and the other mainly jewelry made by NSCAD students who had spent 3-4 months in artist residencies.

As a side note, I’m living between homes right now. Thankfully I’m able to stay with two fantastic friends as I get my things together. I can’t explain how grateful I am for all the things I’ve been given and all the people surrounding me, much love rides with me and I feel extremely lucky.

Just yesterday I was unlocking my bicycle getting ready to leave the school for the day. I looked up, the sun was shining and I turned to face the school. I couldn’t help but think that for almost 4 years now I had wished over and over I could be inside Dalhousie as an Architecture student… and now I was.

All for now. I’ll try and write about my experiences as they unfold.
I’ll leave you with a quick snap from my iPhone outside the first gallery we visited this evening:

After the rain

After the rain

“Free Sketching Session”

This past week, I stumbled upon a poster for a free all day sketching workshop (thanks Mark!).

Sketching in the Park!

Sketching in the Park!

Great I thought! A nice primer to get me thinking about school that’s quickly approaching. It was also a nice chance to hang out with a fellow Dalhousie student and Newfoundlander Mark White, as well as trying to learn to shed those ‘sketching in public’ nerves.

But it went even deeper than that. Either it was great coincidence (or the stars aligned) but this sketching session was both architecturally themed, and headed up by Dalhousie professor of architecture Roger Mullin.

The outdoor sketching session focused on orthographic sketches (or representing a three-dimensional object in two dimensions) and ran from 10:00am – 5:00pm. It was a joint effort project funded by the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Architects with the Canada Council for the Arts, and was all draw together by the good folks at Woodford Sheppard Architecture (Chris Woodford and Taryn Sheppard).

“This workshop invites participants to draw views directly as a means to represent architecture and space in detail, form and context. The session will begin and end with an introduction, drawing review and discussion.

The architectural sketch remains one of the most energetic and agile means of representing architectural space and form. The goal of this workshop is to study and appreciate the complex conditions landscape and building that make up beautiful architectural structures in the city of St. John’s, Newfoundland.

All necessary materials will be provided. ”

(via rogermullin.wordpress.com/project-description-background/)

The morning started with an hour lecture. From there we were all given large wooden boards and 10 sheets of some nice paper. Here we are walking along on the way to the park.

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Lunch at Fixed Coffee & Baking just next door:

Fixed Coffee

Fixed Coffee

The first and second half of the day ended with everyone spreading their work out and chatting.

The Groups Work.

The Groups Work.

I really enjoyed the afternoon, as well as Roger Mullin’s thoughts and ideas [build and design process]. Perhaps I’ll write more on that another time.

Thank you to everyone who organized.
What a great way to kick things off!

/ Matt

Accepted into Architecture School

This blog has been on and off for the long and wandering journey that has lead up to my acceptance into Dalhousie’s Architecture Program. In fact, as I look back at some of the posts- well, they seem a little silly now. Yet, it’s proof that I got here.

Going forward, I plan to publish notes and photographs of my journey through architecture school. To begin, this evening I did a HUGE overhaul on the look of this blog, and rewrote a brand new About section that goes a little something like this…

On August 3rd, 2013, I was accepted into the Architecture program at Dalhousie University. It was one of the most exciting days of my life- if not the most exciting day.

The goal of this blog is to document the madness that ensues leading up to architecture school, and more importantly, the madness of architecture school itself.

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A VERY short synopsis of why I wanted to become an Architecture Student

My training prior to admission lies in five years of schooling at Memorial University of Newfoundland as a Double Major in Anthropology and Folklore (Bachelor of Arts). Let it be known, however, that I was one term short of officially completing that B.A. I have long been interested in photography, and in combination with the training I received at University I am equipped with the tools needed to do great fieldwork. I was able to study under some excellent professors, and push the boundaries along the way with architecturally-themed projects.

Outside of school, I have long held interest in legos (cheesy right? But it’s true). Before venturing into Folklore and Anthropology, abandoned buildings piqued my interest and I was always fascinated by how these structures both previously and currently function in the community. I have also held interest in quality coffee and espresso for over ten years, and have most recently taken on wine in a big way: I’m a certified International Sommelier Guild Level Two.

The relationship of space and place, terroir, and the study of vernacular (local) building styles all lie near and dear to my heart.

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Follow me on twitter if you’d like to keep up on my life (inside and outside architecture school).

Cheers,
/ Matt