Our highly-anticipated final review has passed and I have grown humbler as a result. My project-partner (a practicing architect of 14 years) says I am more thin-skinned than he is because he thought it went quite well. In retrospect I think he's right but at the time I was feeling pretty glum.
The fact is, we decided to not play it safe this term. I feel that many school projects around here have mostly-but-not-qute-succeed through some element of mediocrity and I thought it ws time to take some major chances. In retrospect, I'm glad we did. For starters, we built a 500' long 7-story building on the west side of our site (see the image below for more information). This massive slab of a building was broken down into individual units and architectural elements like tall landscaping, a non-uniform facade, and multiple roof heights, in an attempt to make it feel less monumental. I felt our project was strong but most of our reviewers seemed conflicted. Not conflicted in a "this is good in parts and not-so-good in others" but in a "How do we tell these guys this is awful without hurting their feelings?"
In any case, it was refreshing to have visiting lecturer Will Bruder along for the ride. His participation in the final reviews (and his hospitality when we were visiting his home in Phoenix) made the whole experience one of the highlights of my academic career. What a treat!
