The The Unemployed Graduates of Calvin's esteemed pre-architecture program

Proceed and be bold

2009-06-16T09:13:00.008-04:00

A nice blurb about Rural Studio from a recent issue of Garden & Gun magazine ("Soul of the New South").

Click image to view larger.

Trees are buildings, too

2008-09-10T19:52:00.010-04:00

Hello all (anyone?)

Quick update from Delaware: I've been working at a landscape architecture firm for a few months and I love it. It's a small office with one principal architect and three associate architects. I've mostly been doing drafting: site layout, topography, grading. It's been a fast-pace learning environment, I was glad to be able to pick up the drafting program along the way.

I've always had a nominal interest in gardening and horticulture, but for now I'm focusing on the drafting and some general design stuff (since there are only eight total people at the firm a lot of the work is not position-specific). The firm does a lot of work for public botanic gardens, as well as high-end residential work.

Does anyone have current contact info for Prof. Young?
I haven't heard anything from or about him since the last arch theory class. I'd like to drop him a line.

- Pete V

m@

2008-02-06T18:19:00.000-05:00

Hello internet people. Good to hear that Pete and Anne (and Will) are doing well.

I think I'm doing well as well. I've been working at what's currently called studio jva in Grand Rapids... it's basically a one-person firm (Jim Vander Molen is the boss figure...he did the Rapid Central Station when he was at Progressive AE). It's been a big blessing of a job as far as experience goes since I get to tag along to a lot of presentations, meetings, community workshops/charettes, etc and I'm always doing something different (ie not just autocad everyday). It's probably better than the jobs I'll have the first few years after gradschool... The only downside is that Jim is getting so much work in California now that he's there almost as much as he's in Michigan so I'm starting to get a few more days off than I would like (I did get to go with him to CA once though so I'm not really complaining). Anyway, we are currently working with four-ish churches and also North Park Elementary in GR. The work is mostly renovations/small additions and master planning...it has been cool seeing things progress through the various design stages....hopefully, I'll get to see something completed one of these days.

So that's good...then I'm hoping to go to archy school at UIC in Chicago in the Fall...the girl I'm getting married to in May is going to attend Loyola/Erikson for social work/child developement and so yeah, Chicago just worked out best for us--so hopefully it all works out. I'm excited for architecture school...I'm not as excited for mounds of addtional debt and the mounds of stress and busy-ness...but it'll work out I suppose. Any horror stories of the workload and any advice for maintaining balance?

2008-02-06T15:56:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone.

Cheers to Will for encouraging more posting. I am curious to what everyone has been doing and where the pre-arch has taken you.

I am now living in Denver and attending CU Denver for Architecture.

While the school does not have the highest standards, there are some very talented people here--mostly drawn for the outdoor life, but talented nevertheless. I like what we are doing and am currently in the process of diagraming our new site for the current studio project. Lots of mixed media drawings, graphics and presentation stuff right now.

I am working now on yet another portfolio for a summer job. Hopefully I get something with the way the economy is now. Denver is still growing, but it is scary to think I may finish school with big loans and not much of a job market.

The photo is of my dog Fen. He looks like a bully, but is really a big lover.

all for now. peace out.

Oh, and don't ask why I have three usernames on this blog. I spaced and only know the current one.

Hoy Hoy

2008-02-05T15:17:00.000-05:00

update pete v:

Been living in Delaware, was doing print production for about a year.

Recently switched careers *ha* now working from home (parents')

doing graphic design. Which is pretty cool with the Mac and all

but tough, because I have no training and am not very good.

Mostly page layout kind of stuff. I pretend to know

how to use the Adobe Creative Suite, that

was supplied by employer – score!

Really it's going well and I'm learning a lot.

Very thankful for the opportunity to

get into this kind of work.

Took a couple of AutoCAD classes; forgot everything.

Finally finished reading The Fountainhead.

No plans for grad school (right now).

p.s. – Congratulations Will, best wishes.

Resurrection

2008-02-03T02:45:00.000-05:00

This is a picture of my wedding. I doctored it slightly :)... but I thought I'd bring every one up to speed.

Ok... this blog needs a bit of resurrection. To fill every one in on what I'm doing, in life, and in my architecture ambitions. I'm living in Whittier CA, working for an architect in Brea CA. Last time I posted the name of the architect I worked for, he googled himself in front of me, and read my post about him. Anyway, I won't repeat that mistake. I work for an architect who does mainly government work. We have contracts with LA Unified School District, LA county, Internal Services... all the state run stuff, so we mainly get jobs with stuff like schools and parks, and government office buildings. Its almost always updating old buildings to meet ADA. So I've become somewhat knowledgeable in accessibility issues. Its terribly uncreative work, but I'm learning how the architecture profession is run from a business stand point. I'm also learning a bit about programming and scheduling, which I'm not instinctively good at. Its been good. I'm also applying to graduate schools, 5 of them, hoping I get into one of the better ones, but I'll take anything. I'm applying to U of Oregon, U of Washington, U of Colorado, U of New Mexico, and U of Illinois Chicago. Do any of you have any experience in those? I know Anne went to U of Colorado. I actually visited her in Colorado right at the tail end of my honeymoon (of all things), and Denver seemed to be a really interesting city to live in. Anyway... those are the items I've been up to. What about Zoe, Peter, Matt??? Any of you feel like posting?

Earthly Delights

2007-07-26T15:25:00.000-04:00

Hieronymus Bosch action figures - sweet.

2007-07-26T14:05:00.000-04:00

about that school thing

2007-04-29T18:11:00.000-04:00

I figured I'd better write something about the archeworks program I've been apart of. I got into this idea of alternative design after watching the video in architecture theory & crit class about Samuel Mockbee. His Rural Studio looked so cool, I wanted to do it, or something similar. So I started researching all the different alternative design+ social need schools, and that landed me in Chicago at Archeworks.

Anyway, now Archeworks is pretty much done. A little overview of my project: The particular project that I have been working on has changed hugely over the course of the year. Initially it was about how to contact diverse and hard to reach populations during emergency situations in the city. It was a vague project description, so my group essentially had to figure out what the problem was before we could do any sort of solving/designing. We ended up focusing in on a specific neighborhood and working with two community organizations on putting together an event that dealt with neighborhood violence, especially gang violence. The idea was that there are immediate "emergencies" that need to be taken care of before any talk of possible disaster infustructure can even be addressed. So, we both helped with anti-violence stuff for this one neighborhood, and also discussed with a few city officials implementation of community organizations/non-profits as disseminators and actively respected organizations that should have good communication with the city government.

You guys should check out our website! It's www.healingthehood.org

I designed the official posters... "poster" button on the "learn about the event" side of the website. They also double as stencils, which I am trying to upload an image, but it's not working right now...hmmm. okay, technical difficulties...more later...!

are you a Post Materialist?

2007-04-15T15:21:00.000-04:00

I just ran across a term that I liked...

THE POST MATERIALIST!

it's a person that spends their money on experiences rather than stuff. SO, instead of following the traditional model: 1) go to college 2) get a degree that gets you a job 3) get a job 4) begin building wealth 5) are you bored? too bad! you are going to stay at that company and make money that buys stuff for the next 30 yrs!!!! brwaaa ha hahahaa!

...instead the post materialist goes to college because they are intrigued, get a degree in the subject that intrigued them the most, then they end up working short stints at many places and quiting to travel/work on personal projects/do stuff. They don't get bored, they might tend to be slightly nomadic, hippie-ish, etc.

the Post Materialist is a new trend!

Ecuador!

2007-04-10T10:26:00.000-04:00

ok... so I'm just copying and posting this from my other blog (the one for my church and family). So if things aren't applicable... don't worry about it. I'm just doing this so you guys have an idea of what I'm doing in Ecuador.

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been in the office for a while and haven't done anything thats really that interesting... well... for others. I've had a good time doing stuff, but its been mostly stuff like webdesign, video editing, and other misc. tasks. I'll be posting some of the stuff I've been working on. Actually I have a video up on youtube.com of one of the general presentations I'm working on. Its a video slide show that generally states what the ministry of Clean Water Projects does.

About three weeks ago I went to a community called Lirio San Gonzalo with a work team from Alaska. We were there to construct a spring capture high above the community. They were already using the spring for irrigation and a little bit for drinking water. The spring had softened and cut out a small piece of the hillside. There were plants growing in it... and the water they were getting wasn't protected from contamination in any way. Our department designed a system used to capture the water from the spring with minimal contamination. Its a process of layering semi-permeable geo-textile's to filter out particles, pvc pipes to gather the water, three types of rocks and gravel to give it support, then a non-permeable plastic sheet to keep it safe, then encase it all in concrete to protect it.

I learned a lot about the whole process and whats its like to be on a team. The whole community set aside every morning to work on this project. There were about 40-50 community members working each morning, 7 work team members, and 6 of us from the department. There are two guys from the department who are native Quichuan, and work for HCJB clean water projects as 'technicos,' or technicians. They are described as the best two guys in the country at spring captures. Martin accurately described it as 'an art that few people have mastered.' A lot of their success comes from being able to speak to the Quichuans in Quichua, directing 40-50 people to work together, and bring everyone together to an extremely efficient and effective building team. They cleaned out the spring, dug it back to a clear source, built up a foundations, and captured the spring. It was fun to watch it being executed. It was fun getting in there, getting muddy, tossing rocks, passing cement buckets, pouring cement, catching cement buckets, and just being covered in lots of cement. I had a good cross cultural experience.

I was approached by two guys who wanted to go to the United States. One was 23 and had a wife, the other was 29 and had a wife and two children. They spoke very plainly, saying they couldn't find good work here, and wanted to work in the United States. I asked the same question probably 3 different times, in different ways, why they wanted to go to the states. They didn't seem to know a whole lot about what they wanted. They also kept asking me if I could take them on the plane with me. I told them it wasn't that simple, that they need passports and work visa's and lots of stuff you needed to apply for. I didn't want to discourage them, even though I think that any problem they are trying to solve isn't going to get solved by moving to the states to work. I gave them my number, and contact information if they ever found their way to the states. Watching them hang out with all their friends, laughing, having a good time building this spring capture made me think what their life would look like if they DID actually make it to the states some how. The close community they had their is non-existent in 90% of the country, the strong social fabric they had would be torn apart if they were to ever return with loads of american money. They wouldn't fit back into that society very well. They would have to break up the family to leave, and I'm sure kids would grow up with out their farther for years and years. I talked to Ceasar Cortez, an Ecuadorian engineer/pastor who was that head of this work team about the situation today because they called me asking for information on passports. They thought I could get them passports, and Ceasar explained that it would be impossible for them to obtain a work visa for the states even if they did get a passport. That made me think... I can go to almost any country I feel like going to (hypothetically - I don't really have any money). If this guy spent his whole life trying to get to the united states... he MIGHT make it. How much privilege I have to be able to do the things I do. Even being a poor missionary should be considered a financial privilege. Looking back at these two guys, I believe they had the resources and opportunity around them to improve their situation. Because of the Ecuadorian social structure and years of oppression, it would be a hard uphill struggle, and I guess thats what we're there for, to alleviate some of the uphill battle and to encourage and empower them, but they are they're own agents of change, we are merely the facilitators.

The team got a nice feast at the end of the week. A whole Cui! In Otovalo those go for $15, so this was a major luxury. I eat about 3/4 of it... which is really quite a bit of food. I think what we were served could have filled me up at 3 different meals.

Ok, so what else have I been up to. I took a lovely trip to downtown this past weekend with Ali and Phil, and Ali's family. I should probably explain that Ali is a Calvin grad who I've gotten to know, whose actually really good friends with Erin Holwerda, and Phil is a co-worker of mine who just got his masters in mechanical engineering at Michigan tech. We saw a couple cathedrals. The one thats picture is really neat because they basically have put stairs and ladders to let you access every little nook and cranny of the whole building. The top had some really amazing views of Quito.

Quito has a lot of cool cultural events that I realized I have been missing out on. Its such a cultural center for Ecuador, and I haven't taken advantage of living here. I've gotten out a bit into the the surrounding area, and down to the coast, and tried to do something cultural every weekend, so I don't feel to bad.

This is me Dangling my feet off a ledge on the roof top of the Cathedral. You can see it just below the cross in the first image.

I've also become pretty good friends with two guys who I live with. One is an American student named Brandon, studying at University of San Fransisco Quito (San Fransisco is the patron saint of Quito and a University here, not a town in CA), and the other is the son of the host family. His name is Diego, and is studying political science. We have good arguments about politics. Brandon grew up as a poorer African American, so I value his opinion on a lot of things because of how different it is than mine. Diego grew up the son of an Agnostic Latin American professor, so his views are rather different than most Americans. Its all been wonderful.

skin deep

2007-04-09T23:19:00.000-04:00

check this out:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/arts/chi-070408skindeep-photogallery,1,4913294.photogallery

All over chicago, people are tearing out the insides of buildings, and saving the classical facade to encase their beautiful new interiors. I don't like it.

not so lucky grocery

2007-04-09T18:06:00.000-04:00

An update on our grocery:
Good Friday, April 6.
I leave my apartment with my roomate. We open the door to 5 cop cars. FIVE. They are pulled up, blocking the street, partically on the sidewalk. I walked up to a copcar, knocked on the window, the cop rolled it down, squinted at me and said, "this doesn't have anything to do with you." He couldn't answer any other questions. I said to my roomate, "let's see if our grocer is okay". We open the grocery door and are met with two cop's hands in our faces, "the store is closed down, get out!". Shocked, I let the door fall back, and then catch it again as both us surge forward demanding: "Where, is Raul? We live upstairs. What is going on here? Why won't anyone tell us anything? Who do you think you are! You have to tell me where the grocer is!!!

"We told the employee to take the money and get out. The owner was not here."

We decided to camp out on our step until we were told more information. Our landlord appeared, maybe from nowhere, but there she was smiling and bouncing along. She acted excited to see us. We asked her where the grocer was now. I asked her why she never gave him a lease. I asked her why she never gave him a lease once he asked for it. She said he went about it in the wrong way, and then quickly switched the subject saying "oh! and I brought you guys mouse poisen and the plumber will be here this weekend".

A little background:
Grocer stopped paying rent in Jan.
In early March he recieved an eviction notice that he should have evicted 2 weeks prior, postmarked for 2 weeks and 2 days prior.
Every month for 5 yrs he has asked for a lease, written and verbal.
He is a Puerto Rican in a Mexican neighborhood.

Finally, the landlord triumphed and pushed the nice man out of buisness. At least now he can pursue the life he was dreaming of: hanging out and fixing cars. I might go join him as soon as my mouse poison runs out.

The End (Of the Beginning)

2007-03-26T13:22:00.002-04:00

Um...hello? Is there anybody out there?

It's been a while since we graduated, our endeavors have diverged - have our perspectives? I'm curious to know if/how people's thinking has changed since our last ARCH 396 class. Seems like a little..."real world" (scanned for alternate term, found none) experience would have a tendency to make our learning more grounded, and our ideas for implementation more viable and applicable.

Me:
I've been working a non-architecture job in the very socially dysfunctional city of Wilmington, Delaware for the past six months. As a bicycle courier I experienced radical juxtapositions between street level crime and criminally opulent top-floor law firms. During my time working within one such firm I witnessed corporate glut and irresponsibility first hand. Nothing massive, just prevalent tendencies which indicated what I already knew: the omnipotence of $$$.

Wilmington is a city defined by corporate headquarters plus the ensuing corporate law firms, and poverty stricken slums. There is little-to-no middle-ground. Wealthy business men and women drive into the city from the safety of surrounding suburbs. These 'success' types park their Mercedes and BMW's in off-street garages.

Outside of the limited business and legal district, however, are poor black neighborhoods fraught with drugs, violence and AIDS. Because the money is only in town from 9 to 5 there's a deficit of mixed-use buildings and points-of-interest. There does seem to be a fair amount of attention directed toward rejuvenating Wilmington (mostly on the part of impotent non-profits). Much of the public concern seems to be assuaged by well advertised development dollars which are being pumped into the peripheral riverfront area. This "investment" has manifested in the form of cookie-cutter townhouses and a premium condominium high-rise (across the river, well insulated from the actual city by both water and a busy divided road).

So a developer builds a $300M residential building which caters exclusively to the very wealthy, and it's touted as progress.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The implementation of architecture for social change seems impossible, especially when working within the parameters of an urban environment where previous constructs and paradigms are deeply seated. Modernists dreamed about levelling cities entirely and starting afresh. I'm not as concerned about existing physical impediments, rather the hurdle in people's hearts and minds. How is it possible to motivate fallen people (us, them, me) to rise above our own self-destructive, unsustainable compulsions?

The (?) doesn't seem to have changed much over time, revolutions have come and gone. I would be lying if I claimed to have never compared Progress to Delusion. But negativity begets more negativity, and I don't consider this perspective grounded on anything other than ego. I'd like to read about how others' post-Calvin experiences have related to or impacted their thinking about architecture and social justice.

Postscript: I live in a developer-built condo in Sprawlville, USA. I drive 20 miles each way on a congested highway to and from work. Guilty.

Lucky to be a Grocery

2006-11-27T23:35:00.000-05:00

So this is where I live... we have the second floor of this building. The lower floor is the infamous Lucky Grocery. This little story isn't necessarily "Architecture"... but it's related, it takes place in a building.

Come to find, my roomates and I are the first people to have a lease in this building. The grocery downstairs doesn't even have a lease! This might not seem like a big deal but it is. The grocery isn't worth as much as a business; even though the grocer wants to sell, he can't sell for as much. Apparently having a lease is a privlidge, ya know...the landlord is held to their end of the deal just as much as the renter is to paying. Why is it that all the sudden me and my roommates get a lease??? I can't help but think it is because we are perceived as having money, because we have the ability to move into the neighborhood... And we are Mostly WHITE. It's weird. But WHATEVER we are getting tight with our grocer. It's a good time. Yeah for neighbors. Boo on injustice.

2006-09-30T17:02:00.000-04:00

This blog called "lovetann" has a lot of interesting things.

So... my job is really feakin cool. I get to build two models that could be potentially really high quality (I have a much larger budget than if I was funding it on my own), and my boss takes time out of his day to teach me autoCAD. An hour to two hours a day he spends showing me things in either autoCAD or model building. I can't believe I'm getting paid to do this. I even get to play chess during work with my russian co-worker!! I never thought such an amazing opportunity would present itself. My boss told me that he enjoys having people who are more motivated to do basic autoCAD stuff. If he was to hire an engineer or some one who was an expert in autoCAD they would be more of a drag around the office because they don't necessarily enjoy basic autoCAD projects.

I'm learning alot about building codes and stuff because thats basically my job is to specify on drawings why these things he has designed adhere to code. Its interesting but the most interesting things are learning autoCAD and learning to read drawings and construction documents. I'm learning that construction documents aren't necessarily standardized, at least to architects. Any how...

My boss's office is attached to a fabrics distribution company's warehouse, so its this strange juxtaposition of elegantly designed offices/greenspace in a factory/light industry section of town.

AutoCAD 2006

2006-09-22T15:53:00.001-04:00

Over the summer I went to three interviews at architecture firms in Delaware. All were in regard to posted openings, a seemingly promising prospect. The trend that developed, however, had to do with two recurring themes in the interview discussions. The first was the term "professional degree." The second was a word which I dreaded dealing with from the very start: AUTOCAD.

It became increasingly evident that there wasn't a lot of entry-level work for recent interdisciplinary graduates with no drafting skills. Perhaps I was ineffective in communicating my willingness to do the most menial tasks. Anyway, the following points were driven home in each interview:

1.) Entry-level employee = AutoCAD monkey,
2.) We don't hire untrained monkies.

I'm having trouble coping with equating the value vs. cost of various forms of education. Now I am enrolled in a $400 AutoCAD course at the Delaware College of Art and Design. Where is the love for the educated vibe? The architects around here seem like engineers.

I'm thinking of a Talking Heads song, ".....there's a city in my mind.."

Why is thinking at odds with working, learning dissociated from occupation? Starting to feel like a ghost town.

Bio-terrorism, Interior Design, and the Mexican Ghetto.

2006-09-19T23:20:00.000-04:00

So my *ephem* program called Archeworks has begun. Let's just call it my Design Program. Much better name, simpler, and not as... well... trendy and cute.

So basically, it involves two parts. First, is a project. There are 15 participants involved, divided into 3 teams. My team's project involves working with Chicago Public Health on Bio-Terrorism issues. The second part is an ethics/morality course and a future studies course.

This Design Program is so intaresting on so many levels. The people involved, for one. Everyone there has some sort of ethical thing going on in their heads, and has some sort of bent in their intarest toward design. That is all we have in common. People are all ages...I am one of two fresh-graduates. And all sorts of types of jobs or other things ranging from architects/interior designers/art gallery people/artists/computer people/lanscapers/health care workers/community developement people/ city workers/ oh, yeah, and ME! So, that alone makes it pretty intaresting right there.

So, today "class" was the morality class. It was just fasinating to be in an academic discussion with people from such diverse backgrounds about morality, absolutes/relitivity, ethics, you know. We acually went around the circle, and all said our own stance/beliefs on ethics. I was first in the circle, not by choice. It was very strange and exciting to hear what people said. It felt like some weird sort of reality tv show.

And the projects are awesome the other two groups are working on: sustainability w/ the Museum of Science and Industry and the the other on: everyday stuff for stroke victims w/ some big stroke research place here in town. It's basically a giant year-long charette, and if it's good enough, it has the possibility to be implimented. My project has some money behind it, so i hope that helps too.

Anyway, this is getting really rambly, so I will stop soon... but I also wanted to ad that I got a job, so if anyone is worried about there spelling abilities and how that will affect their future job prospects... whatever. I am the office manager at an interior design firm, yeah, i don't get excited about interior design, but i look at it as a way to learn how to run a small business. I am just cleaning up a business degree or something.

And now I am at home, in the mexican ghetto.

Book reviews

2006-09-07T16:07:00.000-04:00

I was looking at the Urban Planning Research blog this morning and saw some book reviews (on a very old post, and an even older book review - 2002). I thought some of you might have read some of these books; I know alot of you have read Suburban Nation. The book Picture Windows looks very interesting and i was wondering if any one else had read it.

B... Be.... Bee....Beee.... Freeeeeeeeeee!

2006-09-05T22:35:00.000-04:00

Okay, the title is better, BUT... I still feel we could do better... Much better. ( Hi Matt and Will!! How are you guys doing?? How's California? Job? Surfing??? Ecuadorian endeavors? I am going to take up wind serving!!! )

My job-fetching saga continues:
Today I had an interview at a temp agency that deals only with design firms. I had my Work-Place-Stylish ON ( at lease I thought so ), you know, the little suit and stuff. I took the train downtown, and rode the elevator up to the 14th floor. *good so far*

After 1 hour of paper work, .5 hour face interview (they had jobs I wanted), *good so far*... Then: tests. I aced them all: Word, Excel, Power Point, I type 50 WPM ( I was excited about that.), arithmetic... I was a dreamboat to any and every employer in every way. *good so far* .........Then... A SPELLING TEST???? WHAT? AM I IN 2nd GRADE??? .... And hey, at least in 2nd grade I got the words a week in advance.

I Failed. I guess you can probably tell from this post. I retook it. Failed again. SPELLING.
I was so pissed, the interviewer told me they don't every take people that can't SPELL. (discrimination, I say) That's what I use spell CHECK for, I told her. I was so pissed, I didn't want to burst into tears, so I headed for the door, not saying anything. She walked me out. She told me I could retake it in two days. I just boiled.

So that's my story morning glory.... Apparently, everything you need to learn you learned in kindergarten. I am overly reliant on the computer, but I'm okay with it. Spelling, for the 2nd-grade-me, was more of an exercise in personal growth rather than an exercise in how-to-spell. I think my 'person' definitely benefited from the exercise. Therefore, the spelt-word and I can get along with the aid of spellCHECK. In fact, spellCHECK acts as a sort of mediator, a Christ-figure, if you will, in my life. Perfection of written communication is the ultimate goal, and spellCHECK is the bridge humble servants of written communication MUST take.

hilarious. Really, very hilarious. \\\

spellCHECK is your friend. And my friend. Just reach out and give it a little lovin.

Caught In A Pickle. tickle. tickle.

2006-09-05T12:13:00.000-04:00

the problem with this blog is the name. it needs something snappier. what is "Calvin Architecture".... uh, boring.

maybe if it had another sort of theme... we are all graduates with varying Degrees, but of the same level of employability. (even though mine, i'd like to remind everyone,... is a Pre-Professional Degree. yes.) Dispite my seemingly professional-bound degree, we are all in the same boat. so we have that in common.

Any thoughts folks??? i'm getting OLD sitting here!!!

it smells of corn tortillas...

2006-09-04T22:59:00.000-04:00

i appreciate will's enthusiasm. well done, will.

so i am currently in Chicago. soon, i will be starting a program with a name SO cheesey that i ALWAYS try to avoid saying it out loud... ARCHEWORKS. uuuuuugh. i get chills in my spine. HOWEVER, it's gonna be sweet. It's all about studying the ethics of design, and doing practical projects.... like acually researching and building something..... wooooooo!

and i am working on getting a job.... yeah, i've been looking forEVER, it seems, maybe i'm too short. or a girl. or... oh yeah, i got a BFA... I find that getting a job is rather like trying to fit yourself into a nicely packaged box that has to better than eveyone else's box. I am so exicted to get a job, if for no other reason than to pass the poverty line...

speaking of being a girl... it's kind of an issue in my nieghborhood. if, lets say, you are a female, and you decide to walk down the street, you are constantly reminded by evey male that you are a fleshy thing. it's annoying. and repulsive. i mutter all kinds of atrocities in their general direction. expecially if they have small children with them and they are wagging their tounges in the air at you??? i think not.

other than most men. i love my neighborhood, and highly recomend moving here. it's the cheapest in chicago, and has super good eats. i live above a grocery store where i am becoming friends with the owner... and it's 2 miles from the lake.

so... life after calvin is a good thing... you know what I heard??? I heard calvin is becomeing an evalgelical school of sorts. ... as in they're adding a church planting minor, a youth ministies minor.... uuuuuh, are those academic studies??? these kids should get majors in religion and sociolgy. and acually get some substance. go to bible school if that's what you want.

okay kids.. post i say...post!!!

2006-08-24T13:07:00.000-04:00

When I said, "boy, this blog worked out great," I ment just the opposite. So, life is life... I'm getting a job in Southern CA for the time being. Haven't found one yet, but I'm still hoping, praying etc. I'm just trying to get something to hold me over for a couple months. I'm planning on going to Ecuador in January.

I want to hear what every one is up to. Lets hear updates...
(although I think zoe is the only person who checks this. HI ZOE!)

I also am having fun taking panoramic pictures... so maybe I'll take some of something interesting at some point... here's a few i've played with. One is in Prague, one is on lizard head pass in CO near telluride.

2006-08-01T14:03:00.000-04:00

boy... this blog worked out great.

Here are some pictures from my recent trip that people may or may not be interested in. I was lucky enough to visit the Centre Pompidou, San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, Venturi's addition on the national gallery, and the horrid facades facing the rear (not an alley but actual streets with shops), St. Peters and Bernini's canopy, Piazza de Compidoglio, modern architecture in prague (gehry's dancing house), among other things...

How was other people's summers?

Education, Check. Job, Umm....

2006-06-02T10:01:00.000-04:00

Boooo liberal arts education. Feeling good about my personal breadth of knowledge while sitting around jobless hardly seems worth the 80k. Maybe if I had just gone to ITT tech and actually learned how to do something real...eh, what's the point.

Potential Employer: Nice sketchbook. So where's your portfolio?
Me: Umm...

Potential Employer: But at least you've been trained in AutoCad, right?
Me: Umm...

Potential Employer: How about this, talk to me about post-modern complexity and how it relates to deconstructivism and I'll hire you right now.
Me: Well, the shift from the fatally flawed modernist paradigm produced a climate of ambiguity...

[Just kidding, of course that would never happen.]

Post Script (June 26, 2006)
My interview with W. Holloway (Bernardon Haber Holloway) a couple of weeks ago caused me to initiate this post. I never got a distinct "no" from his office, and now after a few telephone conversations with him, I am going to another office on Wednesday to meet K. Haber. I'm tenatively optimistic, even after so much time has passed, that I'm going to get some sort of work at this office. Part of the reason for this is an apparent Calvin connection on the part of Haber's wife. So if I get a job because of an arbitrary "Calvin-In" do I have to retract my "boo liberal arts education" statement, or does it still stand?

(?) Donde Esta (?)

2006-06-02T06:14:00.000-04:00

Guess the state which corresponds to this image and win a $5,000 gift card to Applebee's Neighborhood Restaurant.

Thanks and good luck!

Faking It

2006-05-23T13:46:00.000-04:00

Who votes for changing the title to Calvin Architecture? I just woke up from a nap and am annoyed by the "Arch"... [looks like it's already been changed]

Anyway, I plan on sympathizing with Pete and writing about how "I don't know what to do with my life...lol" which is relative and should be put in context. How many people really know what they are doing and how many are 'faking' it? It's a lot easier to fake it. I could go into advertising and be 'sucessful'...I'm almost sure of it. I look at more as trying to tackle my "Mid-life Crisis" now instead of when I'm fifty. Perhaps this isn't the right way to look at it though.Erm...whatever...I didn't pick a major until junior year (made a mistake btw), I haven't done a whole lot of career/grad shool/"arch" school research, and I do not have clearly defined strengths and weaknesses, and I can write run-on sentences so maybe I'm not at the stage to make some of the big life decisions yet. Or maybe I should pick something and run with it and stop being so cautious.

Maybe I can write something like that and ask for advice when I figure out how to post on here.
--
Written by Matt, posted by Pete

What's Next?

2006-05-17T12:18:00.001-04:00

Sorry I missed the lunch, everyone. Sounds like Matt and I are in the same boat, unlike all you other go-getters : ). After graduation I am moving back home to Delaware -- a compulsory maneuver orchestrated primarily by my parents (to whom I still owe mad $$). This summer I will be trying to find a job of any kind, but naturally I will be looking first to local arch/design firms for a "foot-in-the-door" opportunity. I actually do have an interview arranged on May 25th at a Wilmington architecture firm, which I will be using as a shield to deflect my parents' career inquisitions on the twelve hour drive home.

I've already been thinking about my next move after this summer -- one possibility is applying to UofM Arch grad school. Another is staying in Delaware to complete a full engineering degree at UofD (I am graduating with an IDIS ARCH/ENGR, not an actual ENGR degree).

I am still seeking a sense of purpose, however, as I transition into the working world.
--
Pete V

A project by Bernardon Haber Holloway (the firm who is interviewing me). Their website is linked.

2006-05-17T04:09:00.000-04:00

So, whats every one up to this coming year. This is what our lunch discussion was about...

Missy has some exciting news. She got accepted to Berkley. Hopefully she can fill us in on some of the news.

Chris is working with a Mission Design Orginization in Colorado Springs. He should post a link to a website or something to see what he'll be doing, and if some of us are interested in doing that type of work we can have some one on the in... I know I'm very interested in it.

I'll be heading down to Ecuador in January to work at HCJB world radio. They have a health care unit that is involved in a clean water initiative, and they thought they could use me as a design resource. I think it will be more of a learning experience.

Matt doesn't know what he's doing with his life... lol.

Green architecture

2006-05-16T01:47:00.001-04:00

I just read that Chicago is known for trying to be the "greenest" city in the US. I had no idea. This is chicago's dedication to the enviroment.

Has any one done any reports on LEED. All I know is that they have a system to evaluate buildings, and you can get gold, platnuim, silver, lead, nickle... or whatever designations they have.

Do you guys think it could have any negative reprocutions? One highschool teacher of mine one said "our enviroment is not our God."

All I know is that sustainability is going to be a big problem some time in our future. We could probobly do something about that now... or leave it up to the last second to get everything straightened out. I think LEED is a form of anticipating that, and will only be more important as time goes on. I think it would be wise to get LEED certified, not only because its important to our enviroment but because there will be a demand for LEED certified architects in the future.

Who thinks this is a little over the top (McDonough's pre-planned town)?? *raises his hand* Its like corbusier slapping on a green roof. Thats my initial reaction. I don't actually know what he proposes in the rest of the building or the city. After reading "the production of houses" anything mass produced on a large scale feels like its going to be inherently inhumane and a terrible place to live.

Ok. I looked at pete's blog... and its interesting. He writes much more eliquently than I do, so I think he should make some posts. I don'tk now if any one reads these.

GL on exams every one...

Its a community garden

2006-05-14T13:50:00.000-04:00

Its my first day creating posts and I'm finding so many interesting things for people to read about, so here's another post.

I think Ben Schofsma would think this is interesting.

I found this on Urban Cartography...

"For thirteen years, in the depressed inner city of south central LA, 250 families have been feeding themselves on with organic fruits and vegetables grown on a farm that was once completely paved and considered completely useless for growing anything on.

The farm has almost zero fossil fuel imput and zero transport cost. It's a model the whole world should be copying, but instead the city has decided to give them an eviction notice. The sheriff's office delivered the notice on March 1st. This farm does great things, and its in everybody's best interest that it survive.

The city wants to replace it with a Wal-Mart."

The rest of the story is at here

And this is some one covering the story.

We'll start out with suburbia!

2006-05-14T12:33:00.000-04:00

“The cities will be part of the country; I shall live 30 miles from my office in one direction, under a pine tree; my secretary will live 30 miles away from it too, in the other direction, under another pine tree. We shall both have our own car. We shall use up tires, wear out road surfaces and gears, consume oil and gasoline. All of which will necessitate a great deal of work ... enough for all.”

—Le Corbusier, The Radiant City (1967)

Here's a good introduction to what sprawl is...

I'm moving to L.A. area in August, and this article talks about what problems they are facing right now in terms of sprawl and its affect.

This is an interesting thread to read... residents of California talking about there own enviroment.

Pictures of the places they are talking about

Check out the new and improved title bar

2006-05-13T17:39:00.000-04:00

This is a good idea -- I'm in. These blogspot blogs are pretty cool, too -- should be able to get some good stuff going on. No titles for posts, though?

--
Pete Van Dyk

“Architects are pretty much high-class whores. We can turn down projects the way they can turn down some clients, but we've both got to say yes to someone if we want to stay in business.”

- Philip Johnson

2006-05-13T13:35:00.000-04:00

Just some blogs I have bookmarked... matt has a ton... he should be posting them...

http://archidose.blogspot.com/
http://planningresearch.blogspot.com/
http://greeneconomics.blogspot.com/
http://jameshowardkunstler.typepad.com/
http://archi-hell.blogspot.com/2006/04/sam-in-search-of.html

When you guys join... I'll set it so every one can make posts, post pictures, links, el todo!

2006-05-13T12:42:00.000-04:00

This is a blog for all Calvin Pre-Arch Graduating Seniors... so we can all stay in contact, post our recent activities, post interesting arcticles/blogs/books, and possibly retain some of the wonderful community we have had the past 4 years.

I will give you guys the password and log-in name so that we can all post on here when ever we feel like it.