By Cassandra Hendry, TLS Staff Writer
There’s a joke at most schools that have an exceptional architecture program, such as Carleton: if you see a student walking around looking tired and up at all hours of the night, they’re most likely an architecture student.
While that stereotype doesn’t always apply, for many architecture students and professors it’s considered essential to put in quality time in studio, the course that breaks down theoretical concepts and lets students explore their own creativity.
Manuel Baez, the associate director of Carleton’s Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism and co-ordinator for Studio I and Studio II courses, sees studio and the learning that comes from it as direct preparation for their profession.
“It’s a very engaging process. You’re slowly encouraging them to think for themselves and be imaginative as opposed to just replicating what they’re used to in their own lives,” he says.
Students start off their architecture careers at Carleton by “loosening up” as Baez says, beginning with choosing an artist who deals with architectural themes and analyzing their work. The studio process involves one-on-one interaction with the professor in small classes of only 13-15 students, where they present their progress, discuss ways forward, and work collaboratively with their fellow students for feedback.
Architecture professor Mariana Esponda says the very nature of studio is just that, collaboration.
“For example, when you’re working at night, you have an environment with your classmates that if you don’t know something, you can solve it together. It’s all about teamwork,” she says.
In Studio II, students progress to analyzing a well-designed house to understand the ideas the original architect worked with. They begin to make connections to Studio I, Baez says, if their artist and architect both focused on light or line as their guiding theme, for example.
While the benefits of studio are clear, such as putting theoretical concepts into practice or learning to work in job-like environments, Baez says there can be challenges. Students need to be incredibly organized and manage their time well to be able to put in a large portion of their free time at the studio.
“These are the kinds of things they’re going to encounter in the profession. The critical thing is organizing their time, especially when you’re telling them to be creative,” Baez says.
For Esponda, she agrees that that sort of work ethic in the studio comes with the territory and is necessary.
“As an architect, the studio is essential. Without that, we wouldn’t be architects.”