Ah - another topic that's worth delving into. Today over a coffee with Rich I'm starting to get comfortable with seeing myself a future in architectural historicism. It's always a good idea, when I can have a thought for a year or more, usually that means it's something solid that I could occupy myself with for a long time - and I know I have a rare love of the old and ancient after Rome. Just ask anyone on the trip what my favorite part was... okay, besides the cappuchinos everyday haha... I'm pretty sure they'll say I ran around like a wide-eyed, wild woman at Ostia Antica. Not to mention I took my family there as one of their day trips and spent another whole day walking around trying to see as much as I could, and just basking in its amazingness.
Now at first, I thought it was just me remembering Ostia from Frau, and hearing about her love and admiration for the place in both Latin i and ii, but looking back I don't think 'inception' was what really sparked my love for this place. I mean I also loved walking all the old underground passageways, the churches, everything... and studio was something I could have more or less, done without. Ah, and Blanchard's class.. even though he pissed me off to begin with - yelling at me and Jenni when Jenni was explaining to me something he muttered under his breath while a huge bus of tourists caruoused on by... andd although he gave me a hard time in the beginning of class in general (of course I knew the dates of all the places we saw in class, he just didn't believe me..) - but anyways, now I look back (and forward) and kind of wish I could apprentice under him and learn all the secret things the Pope probably told him during the tours he gives to his entourage.... (yea!).
One disappointing aspect in my recent finds, has been that 1- Oxford only offers English architecture history and while that's all nice and special... it's not really my cup of tea - to be studying strictly English history, also 2- I'm not exactly sure what in the field I'd be most attracted to and sure there's time to explore and find that out, but if I'm going to be interested in the hands-on conservationist type stuff, most internships I've found for this ask that you have a materials engineering or materials science degree (... mmm... no). I mean in reality that kind of thing... might interest me? It is kind of tied to what we have learned in the Dmitrious-Reese sequence, but strictly focusing on material properties... sorry, but I'll save that for the surveyors and geologists... then again, I guess Earth Science was the easiest and one of my most favorite Regents/ hs classes I took - despite falling asleep almost everyday...
Ahh, okay, so yet another thing I was thinking of - yes, so bear with me or not I've had alot of time to try and do some constructive thinking in my completely jobless lifestyle - soo I also looked into archaeology. And subsequently into the anthropology minor at RPI. Unfortunately though, the rpi minor focuses alot on politics... ick. I can handle society, patterns, evolution, symbols, maybe even gender & self would be be okay, but politics just makes me want to puke. And I guess if politics is such a big part of anthropology, as I'm sure it is, maybe it's just not for me. I just always thought that anthropology was a good gateway into archaeology, along with biology, history... and similar areas, soo where can architecture student fit in?
Needless to say, the coffee chat definitely set me more at ease today. I realise I'm not after all the same things as my collegues - all the fame, glitz, and competition to become the next-big-thing in the world of arch, or even to slave under some reckless dictator architect. I mean how many times do we hear in school how nothing new is to be solved in architecture? Everything's been done, there are very few issues right now that need to be addressed... sure you could say I'm overlooking global problems, or the growing population... but really how many people who would criticise me for that will go onto to solve those things themselves? It's pretty much a mission impossible unless you're some crazy, good-hearted, super rich politician who could buy out everything to solve those sorts of things, otherwise it's not very realistic... and if I'm still getting looked down upon, I have always planned since high school to spend at least the two years in in the Peace Corps, so don't go saying I don't have a heart for the worlds problems (not to mention you can look at my thousands of hours clocked for Key Club in hs... sorry, I just feel like I can vent this here, because honestly... how many people really read this thing anyway? haha). So anyway, I think I'll toy away learning and restoring all of the old masterpieces, from when architects were the makers of dreams and the souls of design, learn from all the old pro's, versus the modern-day graphic designers and decorated-shed makers, and then I'll always have my 4-year bachlors in hand, which means I can jump into a fancy firm when I want to and with a unique background. ... yea!
- c
No comments:
Post a Comment