[narrator] it captures people'simagination i think. [narrator] first and foremostarchitecture does affect people in ways that maybearchitects understand only after a building is built. people perceive architecture by simply being anobject or a vessel. within which people are housed. and that's clearly not whatour sense of architecture is.
what the hell is an architect what does an architect do,you know? what is the difference betweenan architect and a builder? we concretize the world. we take humanactivities and make manifest thephysical structures that accommodate all mannerof human activity. the design studio is a placewhere individual action
and individual creativity ismeasured very directly but the people around them. the students are doing theirjob with shifting the focus of howwe're talking and thinking. about architecture. [student] before you come toarchitecture school you sort of have this idea aboutobjects and things like that. and then once you get hereit becomes all about space. now all that occupation,people sort of see architecture
like children, sortof sculpturely. and there's a point at whichyou stop dealing with objects. you know, sort of things tostare at and start dealing with occupation. [student] i havea lot of friends who find it hardto understand my schedule here and howwe function here and being here on strange hoursof the day. and working environment.and what studio space is like.
[student] and a way ofworking, too. [student] yeah. [student] that's reallyimportant. [student] yeah. [student] but alsothe idea of being critiqued. i knowwhat critique is. [student] a foreign concept to abusiness student. [student] yeah. [tom] the design studio is aplace where students have to perform ontheir own. they have to create something from theirown imagination. they have to
create something in responseto a set of problems that are either given to them or theyhave to even invent the problem. [student] there'snot a place where you can get thiskind of culture. and we've been togetherfor 5 years. the whole group, right?so, we know everybody. everybody knows everything. it's like a second home.it's like a second community of people who are all strugglingwith the same questions.
[student] now when i worked athome, it was so much lacking in the projects. there's nobody to bouncethings off of. the inspiration is at a minimumwhen you're on your own. [shigeru] architecturaleducation in the u.s. isone of the best because of the studio system.all the students hanging around with their own studio. talkingand learning from others. that is the mostimportant space
for the educationof architecture. [student] it'slike having it. they were hittingon robert moses. because he's so insensitive andhe tore down neighborhoods. this, that, and the other.it's, you know what? get in the car, drive on thewestside highway. take the triborough intomanhattan. [student] ok. [student] andthen you will understand what he was trying to do.that visual perception in
the automobile.spectacular! [student] no, no.[student] it is spectacular [student} you're thinkingabout it now because of the atom. now, we sitin traffic and look at it. but back then, the cityhad to make that transformation. [tom] the great thingabout architecture schools is it's still takes place... in a kind of space where peoplediscuss the work, together. in both a personal way and aon-on-one way.
and in a verypublic way. ultimately there'sa kind of arena. there's a public arena where thework is discussed. where students can presentthemselves to personally to other people. and show that theyhave a stake in the work, and what they really thinkabout the work and that's extremely important,i think, to the development ofan architectural project because that'sultimately how...
architecture at certainpoints has really developed in the real world. and it's bothan important lesson but it's also a way in which you know, through that kindof intensely personal and human contact that...that the work gets better. [student] i do a lot of theculture of studio trappings at the most random times.so, like the most random hours. [laughing] [student] ihave to go through this. [student] think the humor addsanother level of energy.
[student] so, you got momentswhere we're all joking around. we're doing the work, andwe're joking and we're vibing [student] and whatever.some guys can be like "well, that's why you guys neverget any work done" [student] "because you'realways doing this shit." [student] [beep] you! [student] go do your project.live in your little world [student] byyourself because the human brings theinteraction.
[student] and thenthe interaction brings the energyand the energy [student] creates an outputbetween everybody. [student] that we can allfeed off of. [student] tomorrow morning.don't forget, please? [students laughing and joking] [student] now bounce. [student] everyone's hangingout. smoking cigarettes and [student]drinking a lot of
coffee and notreally necessarily [student] at your desk drawing,or whatever. [student] our teacher school isa really strange, specific [student] environment. [student] work into something.like hours and hours on [student] you know, 1 drawing,whatever and make it productive. [student] you know, you couldtell an architect that it's [student] due tomorrow andthey'll put in the 12 hours [student] it might actually lookthe same, as if they spent
[student] a whole week on it.you know? [student] i should have gonehome earlier than i did. [student] because i just like,every 5 minutes i'd take a [student] bit of glue and putit somewhere. [student] becoming un-stopped.and figuring out what [student] the hell it is thati just did. [student] and startclear thinking. [student] i have this terriblething that happens to me. [student] what i callthe design high.
[student] where i can'tfall asleep because i can't stop [student] thinking aboutmy project. [student] but it's like,i get home... [student] the whole timei'm exhausted. [student] this ease i like,brush my teeth, wash my face. [student] i'm gonna do bad.i need to get back to studio. [student] your health is kind ofput on hold [student] to make room foryour ideas. [matthew] architects aremasochists in some ways.
[matthew] you're in there 'tillall hours of the night., [matthew] you'recutting yourself at 3 o'clock inthe morning. [matthew] rush you to thehospital and get stitches [matthew] puttingthese models together that you're tearingapart and then [matthew] putting them togetheragain. and you're [matthew] going for thisiterative process of evaluation [matthew] that is incrediblypersonal
[matthew] but yet also verypublic. and you're constantly [matthew] putting yourselfon display. opening yourself [matthew] to attack andcriticism. it's intense. [matthew] why would you subjectyourself to that and [matthew] put yourself in thatposition if you didn't love it. [student] [beep]ahh!!! god [beep] [instructor] that'sthe conceptual mistake. thestructured system [instructor] does not simply fitwith each unit.
[instructor] usually the styleof structure encompasses [instructor] 3 or 4 units.[talking at the same time] [student] i understand but idon't see what that has to [student] necessarily be thecase. [instructor] it doesn't. [talking at the same time] [student] i understand that idon't have to but i think [student] it's importantfor the resolution. [instructor] it's wrong, that'swhy. [student] why is it wrong? [student] tell uswhy it's wrong.
[instructor]economically. [student] not the wrong way.[instructor] systems. [student] you can take hiswhole project in terms of [student] the economy of it. [instructor] but you do it?[student] basically there's [student] these walls, likethis. in terms of his diagram. [instructor] yeah, it's supposedto have the other third [instructor] withwall structure. [student] they'renot completely
[student] ruined, so that thearea's in between... [instructor] it does notmake anything. [student] it wasn't necessaryto have that conversation. [student] the point was made.and then that's it. [student] i understood thepoint. they understood my... [student] i thought heunderstood my point. [student] i thought thatshould be the end of it [student] and there were moreimportant things to talk [student] about and other peoplethat had to talk to him.
[student] you know? and stilltalking about it for 20 minutes [student] well, one thing thati always have an issue with [student] is like, students getso frustrated if they don't [student] have a good critique.i think they misinterpret [student] what a good critiqueis. i mean, by definition [student] it's a critique. it'sa criticism. [student] so, if you go into acritique and all the critics, [student] all theycan do is blow hot air up yourass and tell
[student] you how greatthe project looks. [student] to me, that's nota good critique. [student] they didn'tcriticize anything. [student] to me a good criticismis if you can inspire [student] enough thoughtbased on what they see [student] and what they hear.if it inspires enough thought [student] then they willcriticize. not criticize [student] in the sense ofattacking. criticize because [student] whatever youshowed them inspired
[student] enough thought thatthey had their own opinion [student] about the thing now.that's a criticism. [instructor] i'm not gonna arguewith you because i have a [instructor] feeling it wouldn'tbe productive. [instructor] we cango on all night. [student] we could.i know that's [student] not the point.[talking at the same time] [instructor] we dare to findsome resting spot, here. [student] where we're nottalking about the same thing.
[instructor] allowus to help you. [instructor] the other thing ithink is sometimes negative [kenneth] is the idea thatthe student should be trained [kenneth] to do a sales pitchin this jury presence. [kenneth] i think that firstthe student should be silent. [kenneth] and the jurors shouldstart asking questions about [kenneth] the drawings andtry to understand the [kenneth] project in a moresocratic way, you know? [kenneth] other than this salespitch followed by criticism.
[instructor] if you're a smartarchitecture student, you're [instructor] listening veryclosely because you're not only [instructor] interested in howthat work is coming out of you [instructor] but also how otherpeople are seeing it. [phil] the best architects,in my view, are the ones [phil] who bring a coherentview of the world [phil] to design. thoseare the folks that become [phil] the best architectsin the sense that they're the [phil] ones that progress theprofession, innovate,
[phil] create new ideas.the most important thing about [phil] being an architect islearning how to think clearly. [phil] you have to be ableto think clearly to [phil] practice architecture. [thom] you can, kind of seethe same people as singular. [thom] if your artistic, you'renot practical. you're practical [thom] and notartistic that's totally preposterous.architecture [thom] is embedded inboth worlds and if anything
[thom] architecture is theconnect-a-tissue between [thom] these two kind ofspheres. and it would be [thom] impossiblewithout one or the other. [phil] one, we'd be practicaland never produce a piece of [phil] work of any interest.yeah, you'd be producing [phil] work that has no meaning.and no connectivity. [joe] i think design require acertain kind of smartness. [joe] it holds thoseschizophrenic viewssimultaneously.
[joe] in one's thinking, even asa young person [joe] you know whether youcan do that. [joe] and as you matureit's quite rewarding to have [joe] those imposing views inyour mind at all times. [terry] there's not just onerole for an architect. there's [terry] different kinds ofcontributions an architect [terry] can make in the culture.the question of what's a [terry] good architect, i thinkthat there are many different [terry] perspectives that comeat the project,
[terry] as it's developing.and what's important for the [terry] architect is to be ableto listen to people outside of [terry] themselves.and take that, and [terry] then give something ofyourself to a project and [terry] make somethingincredibly unique and wonderful. [terry] it has tobe a person who's really willing tolearn in a way [terry] that architects need tolearn, which is they need to [terry] learnsomething every day
for the rest oftheir lives. [terry] you've got to be, in asense, kind of driven by [terry] that inner force. but ithink you always... [terry] you also have to havethe ability to work through [terry] something and to beable to look at particular [terry] and be able to listenand learn and examine with [terry] great patience, some ofthose questions. so again, [terry] it's kind of left brain,right brain kind of dichotomy that is constantly... thosedemands are constantly placed
[terry] on you as an architect. [maurice] the other disciplinesbring other things to the table. [maurice] but i think ourability to envision, or imagine [maurice] something that isnot there. [maurice] it's almost spooky topeople. this notion that you can [maurice] look at a site orlook at a parking lot and see [maurice] and see a building?it's an extraordinary skill. [maurice] and we are one ofthe few disciplines that can [maurice] do that. i wouldnot trade for anything
[maurice] the skill-set that ilearned in school. [maurice] becauseit's very, very, very unique toour discipline. [maurice] and that's what webring to the table. [mary] i don'tbelieve schools of architecture,either historically [mary] or today,have particularly prepared youngarchitects [mary] for the realities ofarchitectural practice.
[mary] referring to this notionof safe space, where one can [mary] fail. where one can pushthe envelope, in a sense. [mary] i think the academyalways needs to be that. [mary] in a certainsense, you'll get freer of theconstraints of the [mary] real world.we need to understand thatthose constraints [mary] also have to be broughtinto the academy, so that [mary] studentscan begin dealing
with it and dealingwith it in [mary] an inventive andcreative way. [mary] i think theacademy should be a, kind of,idealized space. [mary] but it also has to be akind of laboratory, a testing [mary] ground forthe real world. and i don't thinkwe're so good [mary] with the ladder. we arestill that ivory tower. [student] sometimes i think welose a little bit of the reality
[student] of what are job is.and what our professionis really about. [student] i think people reallyforget the reality of what it's [student] gonna be like to beworking as professionals. [student] architecture school isreally... you need to because [student] it's probably the onlytime that many architecture [student] students get to workon their own projects. [student] afterthat, architecture is basically aservice industry.
[student] i thinkthat the profession is a lot differentthan the [student] education, in that younever work alone. [student] it's hard to design anentire building by yourself. [student] there's other peoplethat you have to network with. [student] or design with.or consult. collaboration is notusually present [student] in school. which is agood thing and a bad thing. [student] because during schoolyou're trying to develop your
[student] own sortof way of working. [instructor] very fast. and youonly go, listen to what i say. [dan] education is notpreparing them to be [dan] some kind of architectsin the full sense of [dan] the word, architect. beingboth poets and practitioners. [dan] they don'twant to be fooled. they're talented,they're smart. [dan] the tragedy is that thestudents are not sufficiently [dan] prepared to be independentthinkers.
[dan] if they have the functionat the poetic level [dan] or they function at thepragmatic level. [dan] the two shall never meet.so we have to, kind of, [dan] help them put thosetwo together. [student] like aseries of overlays where you'dstart to see if [student] there's [inaudible] [instructor] so the walls areretaining walls. [inaudible conversation]
[instructor] if you give me aword right now, we can only [instructor] respond to it.let me ask you this. [instructor] whyare they working just to putthese things... [student] they're making things.yeah. [instructor] and they're makingthings because they want to [instructor] create something ofvalue, right? [student] yes. [instructor]why do the just want to [instructor] put it in storage.
[student] do i think i mightnot be an architect? sure. [student] thelikelihood that i work in an officeafter i graduate [student] is pretty high though.i don't think people have to [student] be stuck there forlike 3 years and then [student] get their license andthen they do their own stuff. [student] i'm gonna start doingmy own stuff [student] and work in an office. [student] i look forward to...
[student] it's hard to saywhat's gonna happen. [student] i'm excited to seewhat my signature ends up being. [student] i wanna teach and iwanna write, and i wanna work [student] for a friend that willlet me do all these things. [student] i wanna get someexperience in a larger firm. [student] to see how they workand see how they operate. [student] dothat and then hopefully the longterm goal is to [student] you know, start my ownpractice.
[mary] the remarkable thingto me is how optimistic [mary] students ofarchitecture are. [mary] how they sustainthat optimism. [mary] again, it's almost abit like an actor or actress [mary] truths that they stillcherish that belief that they're [mary] gonna break out ofthe chorus line in some way. [mary] even though the realityas it is on broadway [mary] is very, very different.in part it could be [mary] how they very quicklyimbibe this notion of the
[mary] store architect, and thisbelief that against all odds [mary] that they might be ableto make it. [david] fortunatelya lot of people when they thinkof architecture [david] think ofwhat storeitects. they thinkof where the [david] handful of brand namearchitects that they might have [david] heard of. which to meis rather limiting. [student] you only know frankgehry, you know?
[student] i mean there's otherarchitects out there that [student] that are doing betterwork or work more important [student] than getting... [instructor] the problem is thatthe way we teach architecture [instructor] right now is wesort of train everybody to do [instructor] thatexact same thing. the whole sortof pedagogical [instructor] model right now isaround creating [instructor] the next generationof star architects.
[instructor] that'sactually a flawed model. [ted] for many years, everyonewanted to be [ted] like frank gehry.they wanted to create [ted] great sculptures in thelandscape. [ted] whether those sculpturesworked or not [ted] is largely irrelevant.the ability to use [ted] aerospace engineering tocome up with forms that [ted] hadn't been built before.was considered [ted] to be a primary task ofsomeone coming out of school.
[ted] that's over.that's over. [evan] i would argue that thiscurrent generation of [evan] beginning students ofarchitecture [evan] have the capacity toreshape the world [evan] like we'venever seen before. and they needto have access [evan] to as much technologyand as much discourse [evan] meaningful discoursesurrounding these techniques [evan] and these tools.so that they're fully prepared
[evan] to go out into the worldin the future [evan] to do something positiveand productive. [instructor] students are comingout. they're working with [instructor] individualsaround the world who need [instructor] shelter and whoneed ways of living that are [instructor] affordable andsupportable and sustainable. [instructor] thestudents themselves have been pushingto force [instructor]faculty to think
differently. aboutthe way faculty [instructor] see the environmentuse the environment [instructor] and create objectsthat serve, not just the [instructor] estheticinterests of the architect. [instructor] it's fundamental anoptimistic profession. [maurice] youdon't go into architecture ifyour a pessimist. [maurice] if you don't actuallybelieve that [maurice] the worldcan get better.
[maurice] so, i think you got abunch of optimists [maurice] thatgo into this designer profession,they actually [maurice] believethat their buildings are gonna makea difference [maurice] in somebody's life.[student] i think that the best [student] environment issomething that people [student] have appreciation for. [student] if youdon't care about
this, like what doyou care about? [student] it's aboutunderstanding human behaviour. [student] being a designer ofhuman want. [student] all theextra is what you experience inyour daily life. [student] on the street,the space of the street, [student] how you navigatethe street, how you relate [student] to the buildingsaround you. [instructor] people tend tothink architecture is done
[instructor] for andby other people. [instructor] but, it's alsodone by you if you decide to [instructor] put a new windowin your house or [instructor]change the traffic flow in your houseor your office. [student] at architecture schoolyou got the freedom to... [student] youdon't like something? dosomething about it. [student] that's what they toldyou for 5 years.
[student] do something about it.doesn't matter what. [student] just do somethingabout it. [instructor] this school is,kind of about a way of thinking [instructor] andwhat you're gonna do in architectureschool is [instructor] not what you thinkit's gonna be, you know? [instructor] they aren't gonnago in there and [instructor] youknow, be designing [instructor] a colonial home andthings like that.
[student] we don't just needshelter, we need atmosphere [student] we liveto be inspired. [student] i think one of themost important things you can [student] take from this schoolis not to lose your ambition. [student] it's not just, youknow, 4 walls and a roof. [student] there's more into it.there's a life to it that... [student] i thinkwe get here and we should reallytake with us [student] every way to go.
[student] if you're gonna cometo architecture school [student] i hope you understandthe creative process. [student] i hope you understandthe transformation that your [student] mind and body anpsyche is gonna go through. [student] because there isnothing absolute about this. [student laughing][both laughing] [student] what do you thinkabout that, mr. zacoy? [student] yeah, making amovie, huh? [student] trying. [student] sure you are.