I’ve been so bogged down in grant- and conference-writing that I haven’t gotten to update you on the architecture studio’s progress.  I’m hoping to share some of the students’ findings soon. In the meantime, here are a few photos I snapped early last week.

It’s typically difficult to get our students interested in discussions of meaning and philosophy.  These are generally seen as esoteric.  But so far the group-based format seems to be eliciting a  higher level of engagement in fuzzy issues than I’ve witnessed here in recent years.

Interestingly, when I was in school, a professor might to give us just a word or two to explore.  S/he would expect us to invest a week or two of time to contemplate, make things, and refine our knowledge and skills.  Most of us were quite happy to oblige.  We’d make things without much prompting at all and find a lot of joy in it.  Today, students have to drive for hours to gather decent materials. And, in today’s digital milieu, making beautiful, physical things seems to be an alien concept.

In preparation for our site design project….

..we’ve been studying light…

…time…

…and water.