Last week was our August 2010 Intensive!
Everyone (students and faculty) had an amazing time with our students. We welcomed our students from all over the country! There were many lectures by guests and faculty, time spent in studio with cohorts and peers, field trips, and lots of student presentations. From the 14th through the 22nd of August students came from all over the country to participate in Fall semester intensive. Typically, the intensive starts two weeks after the official start of the semester. Two weeks of online work introduce the course work and lay the groundwork for the intensive.
By semester, here is the run-down:
Semester 3: These 20 students had an amazing week of idea exploration and thesis formation. Their advisors (Kerri Frick, Susan Morgan, Julia Nugent and Michael Shanbacher) encouraged lots of studio work to spur sketch problems which explored the students ideas for thesis into initial testings of the architectural issues. Mike Wolfson led the development of their ideas through daily exercises in writing and thinking to conceptually challenge their thesis idea development. We are very encouraged by the work that was done and we look forward to watching the development of the ideas over the next 12 months!
Semester 5: These 5 students, who have Denise Dea and Mike Wolfson as Advisors, are getting very close to the end of their thesis time! They gave their final on-site Thesis Presentations to a panel of thesis advisors and guest critics last Sunday. They will complete their designs at the end of October with the final thesis books scheduled to be completed at the end of this year. We wish them lots of luck!
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Orientation |
Intensives begin with an orientation which is a good time for the various cohorts to meet each other. All students introduce each other and we get a sense of the real diversity of where Distance M.Arch students come from. It is always fun for students to meet new friends and fellow students who come from their hometowns they didn't realize were in the program.
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Semester One studio |
Semester One - Enno Fritsh gave a talk on ways to represent concepts.
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Semester 5 presentation |
On Sunday night the Thesis students made their presentations. This is the last time they will be presenting in person. Here Jason Jordan is describing his work in a combination PowerPoint and drawing presentation. We have found having tangible drawings alongside of digital images makes for a richer discussion.
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Thesis Instructor Michael Schanbacher discusses a project with a student |
The Semester Three Thesis Prep students concluded their week on Saturday with a review. The format was informal with outside critics working one-on-one with the students to discuss their potential ideas and thesis directions.