Lost Weekend

So my weekend plans did not turn out the way I had planned. Between helping out at the symposium, building my site model for the Rosslyn project, and other errands I needed to run, I had to abandon the competition this weekend. I decided to spend the rest of the time this Sunday on my portfolio. Summer internship season is in full swing. I am disappointed that I was unable to complete the competition, but I was unable to put my full effort this weekend. OK, back to the apartment for a late lunch... UMD also plays today, so I will be multitasking a bit.

Weekend Competition/ PHD Symposium

There are a few happenings going on in at the WAAC this weekend. The one that directly involves me is the Virginia AIA Student Design Competition. It is a competition that Virginia runs for the students of it's four architecture schools: Virginia Tech (Blacksburg), Virginia Tech (WAAC), Hampton, and UVA. It runs from yesterday at five to Monday at nine; just a weekend long. The project brief is below:


Design

In short, it is to design an installation that acts as a welcoming piece to the project site, Belle Isle on the James River. I will be taking time off from my studio project to focus on this project this weekend. Images to follow.........

The other event at the WAAC this weekend is the P.H.D. Symposium. It is a weeklong event of students from universities all around the country presenting dissertations. The keynote speakers will be Marco Frascari on Saturday night and Alberto Pérez-Gómez on Sunday. These are two very publicized theorists and scholars in the field of architecture. I recommend anyone in the area to come stop by, as the symposium is free. OK back to bed for me. I was up early to help set-up the symposium. Competition awaits....

Mirror of Design

Not related to studio, another class I am taking at the WAAC is called Mirror of Design. This history and theory class is focused on studying the interconnectivity of drawing and design. It is taught by one of the most respected professors at the center, Professor Paul Emmons. He is the only man I've known that can lecture for two hours straight and keep everyone riveted to the content.

I bring this up because we had a interesting discussion on how actually hand-drawing connects the architect to the project more than the computer. His point was that drawing takes place in a horizontal location, such as a board, and the board represents the ground on which the building is built. This makes the horizontal locale a "construction" view of things, making the architect in control of everything and opening up the full bag of design tricks. The computer is a vertical view of the project, making it a "representative" view of things and the architect focuses more on the image rather than the building. His fear was that the more the computer is used in the design phase, the further disconnect we have with the various function and construction of the building. Very interesting stuff.

Anyways, I have a pin-up tomorrow for studio with our first design ideas. Might be up a little tonight, and I will post images tomorrow at some-time.

Rosslyn

So my new project for this semester is a 22-story condominium in a site in Rosslyn. The catch is that there is a pre-existing church in the site that has to be maintained in the new design. The other catch is that the site is very difficult, with two level changes due to a sloped site and a pedestrian bridge that must also be maintained. Below are a few photos from my site visit.




The building in the direct center is the existing church. As you can see, the building is in a prime location right next to the metro.



From the front of the church, or the "point".



Inside the church looking at the pedestrian bridge. About 40 feet from street level.


View from the metro station.

We had a pin-up today with our two-professors. I already have a few ideas for the building, and we have a big pin-up Friday to discuss our first ideas. I am worried that I will not have enough time to do site analysis, at least anything worth putting in a portfolio, but we will see. Time to go to bed, basketball in the morning....

Last Semester

The way the WAAC works it's studio was hard for me to grasp last semester. I guess I should mention that I am in the second semester of the two-year M.ARCH program ( I did the 4 + 2 program). The WAAC studios are very different from other programs. First thing is that you are not assigned a project, you choose the project at the beginning of the semester. Another thing the WAAC believes in is cross-polination. After I selected my project, I was in a studio with landscape students, 4th-year undergrads from Tech, and exchange students from Chile, Argentina, and England. I believe this to be for the better, as most of my learning came from how other cultures/routes of study attacked studio projects. The last thing that was different is that even though you have an assigned professor, you can sign up for desk crits with any professor in the school. So even though you have a pin-up once every two weeks, if you don't sign up to see someone in between, you are isolated. This was the hardest thing for me to grasp, and it took me a while for me to get used to the pacing that is WAAC studio.

Last semester, I chose an Aquatic Center to be my studio project. I was less then thrilled with my results, but I thought I would post some images below:












And more final stuff:







Anyway, it was hard for me to pace myself through the semester. I got what the WAAC was about in about a month and a half, so my pacing got better. Now that that is behind me, I am hoping my experience with the WAAC and this blog will help me create a much better project this semester. More details about that coming soon.

Introduction

A Brief Introduction- My name is Joseph Iwaskiw, I am an architecture student at the Washington Alexandria Architecture Center (WAAC) in Alexandria Virginia. This campus is maintained by Virginia Tech and in essence is the same program. The main difference between Blacksburg and Alexandria is, as you can imagine, the proximity to our nation's capitol. I am attending the school for my Master's in Architecture. I have already received a B.S. in Architecture from the University of Maryland.

Have I bored you to tears yet?

The reason for me starting this blog was to provide a voice for myself, my school, and my work in my architectural education. Even know the WAAC is pretty well known, I don't believe too many people know what goes on here and this blog is an attempt to enlighten these outsiders. I am also hoping that this blog will provide me with an organizing structure to showcase and discuss my work verbally, something that architects seem to have a tough time doing. Whoever ends up reading this (if any), I hope you enjoy the ride as much as I hope I do.