Summertime and the livin’ is easy… or not!

There have been a number of meetings this summer (I could count… but the number easily surpasses 50) to prepare for the upcoming school year. There have been the expected Student Council meetings, the subcommittees and the like. Then there are the Student Survey Taskforce (and subcommittees) meetings, the NAAB Visit preparations, and the preparations for orientation and convocation. Oh yes, then there were the AIAS meetings, the CSIs and CSI meetings, and the one ASID meeting I was able to attend. More than once this Summer, I have wondered if I was in the right place at the right time.

All that being said, I am very excited about the progress made in these meetings and looking forward to an exciting new year at NewSchool of Architecture + Design. The Summer Break was not really long enough for me to get all the things done that I had planned. And yet, it was long enough that I am, now, looking forward to going back to school.

I already tried to get books for my classes, piling about $250.00 worth on the counter at KB books near City College. Unfortunately, they were not prepared to sell them to me with their typical guarantee that you can return them up to the Drop-Add date. While I don’t anticipate that I am going to change my schedule, I am certain that there will be changes made that will affect some scheduling this year. Could it be mine that gets changed? Perhaps. So their return policy offer was thirty days OR until Drop-Add, which-ever comes first. I was more than thirty days ahead… So I guess I will buy from Amazon, for less, with a guarantee of return-ability.

Other signs that I am ready for school to start: I have already checked out a space in the studio that was used for fourth-year cohort last year. It is noisy; being un-air-conditioned and adjacent to the Trolley tracks. And the light is abundant, though glarey. There is only one orientation of the desks that will allow the use of a computer without direct glare on the screen. And the studio spaces that hold two desks were originally designed for one student; a typical working arrangement for an architectural workplace. Now the growth of NewSchool means that two students will be working in a space originally intended for one. I rearranged the furniture in one of the spaces and discovered that the glare on the screen was reduced, and the space for seating was increased. Leave it to the interior designer to figure out the furniture arrangement.

There will be approximately 100 additional students on the NewSchool campus this coming year, and space will be tight. The school has made arrangements for an additional studio space about three blocks away from the current complex of buildings. This means planning for additional time between classes, and probably some schedule snafus on the first few days of classes. And the new studios are air-conditioned! And quiet. I am hoping…

There will be a lot of change in this coming year. The new Dean, Chris Genik, will start with the new school year. While I have great respect for the current Dean, Gil Cooke, I am looking forward to the infusion of a complementary energy into NewSchool. Other changes: the Student Council, of which I am President, will be incorporating representatives from all the degree programs (NewSchool is adding a Bachelor’s degree in Construction Management and a Master’s Degree in Landscape Architecture to the existing array of programs). CSI-s, the student chapter of CSI San Diego, will be developing new programs to integrate the student community into the professional world, and NSAD AIAS will be developing new leadership programs, competitions, and community service projects as well.

I have begun to investigate the climate for one of my pet projects. I would like to see NewSchool create a BIM project in conjunction with students at other colleges and universities with complementary programs in the building, design and construction industry. This will hopefully be developed to include structural and mechanical data from engineering students, interior design data from student interior design program participants, and construction data from construction management program students; perhaps utilizing existing project data from a sponsor organization. Learning which software is available at which schools will be an important first step. And creating interest in this practical exercise will be important.