‘it started almost as an escape from other people’s expectations’

B: Do you think that the work in the group is somehow separate from the work that you do in studio or in other classes?

A: To be honest, I started the project that has evolved into what I'm working on in this group as an escape from studio. I started it because I was very frustrated. I think it was in Core II when I started thinking about this project, and I was truly unhappy with studio and with everything. And so originally this started as something incredibly separate and it started almost as an escape from other people's expectations, and it came from a desire to work on something I cared about and something that meant something to me, that made me feel any kind of emotion. 

I think it started with frustration and anger and a small sense of despair and sadness. And I wanted to make a difference, or do something that mattered to me, but now I think as the project has evolved, my attitude towards studio and my other work has changed. Working on something that matters to me and working on something outside of studio expectations - because I'm not really sure how this project is architecture though it relates to space - there's no way for me to directly go into an “architecture” project from this personal project. But it's definitely given me that escape that I wanted. 

This group has definitely helped me grow and not put so much weight on my thoughts about architectural pedagogy and the ways in which we critique each other and the way we approach reviews, because we all collectively realized that we were feeling these frustrations with the way that we engage with our work. And I think I've been so trained in studio because I came from an architectural background, and even from the beginning, even as an undergrad, I did not want to practice architecture in the way that everyone was telling me to practice it, to just go through the motions in studio. And that hasn't changed. I still go through the motions in studio, but this group has definitely helped de-emphasize those moments of struggle and frustration over reviews or engaging with superiors. It's a good way to learn that there's other ways and maybe better ways to engage with work.