Spring is in the Air?

The weather during the months of March, April, and May were said to be unpredictable. I feel that is a statement one should take literally. Two beautiful days of blue skies, flowers abound, and long missed 80 degree weather! In contrast the week before the studio final is starting out with the right weather for work: cloudy, cold, and possibly rainy. Time to pour…

The Designer’s Library

In school there is plenty to read, not always what you would prefer to read. Over the years I have acquired a number of books, some gifts, some recommended or required texts for class, and so me which I selected on my own. Either way a designer’s library can be a great place to learn more about a designer’s style, interests, and hopes. I…

Construction All Around

One of the great things about living in the city is that any construction going on becomes a living example from which a student can learn. Overtime the various stages and progression of projects become clear. It is very satisfying to see projects that have been in progress for a full semester and a half completed. It is even more satisfying to then be…

Clean up in the “House of Mouse”!

This isn’t your standard Disney tale, one of far off places, daring swordfights, a prince in disguise! No this is the tale of a gentle mouse, or rather colony of mice, who pay no tuition, need no key card to get in and use the facilities, and shamelessly scurry about but not to help you. No these mice don’t build models while you sleep…

Lunar New Year Celebration

Congratulations to all those Year of the Dog people! While the Lunar New Year, sometimes Chinese New year (although other regions of Asia have a the holiday as well),  started a week ago PennDesign kicked off it’s celebrations last night. Friday’s Happy Hour greeted students with an impressive selection of chinese savory and dessert dishes, rumored to be from Sangkee Noodle House, and a…

The Nap

This Wednesday and Thursday are mid reviews for studio. Naturally this becomes a high intensity work time that will include late nights even an all nighter or two. The nap is an impromptu response to the long work hours and can occur in studio or even in class (oops!). Those who nap may be photographed. The instagram account penndesignzzz, run by an unknown photographer…

The Perfect Distraction

Online resources, a perfect distraction. I am not talking about facebook or pinterest, although those are fair competition, but rather Lynda.com. As a student at Penn you have free access to Lynda.com with your penn login. Naturally there are hundreds of programs that would be amazing to learn and no time in which to learn them. Or at least that is how I used…

Like, it’s interesting. Different. New.

How many times have you caught yourself saying something similar to explain the projects you are drawn to? This semester we have been challeneged to avoid using these three words, interesting, different, and new, to express our ideas or opinions. Much like in highschool debate classes where the word like was taboo, the new word challenge is posing a comical thread into the serious…

Schenk-Woodman Competion Complete

“F. Schenk-Henry Gillette Woodman Scholarship in architecture awarded for travel abroad on the basis of a competition.” https://www.design.upenn.edu/graduate-admissions/penndesign-awards-and-prizes This year’s Schenk-Woodman Competition consisted of developing a book-drop for a portion of the underserved neighborhood of West Parkside. The competition is a week long with deliverables consisting of  two boards and a quarter scale model. The variety of proposals was quite interesting. Some were expected, benches,…

Spring Semester Begins!

The first day of class is always an exciting one! As people trickle back in to the studio stories are shared of restful breaks. Amongst all the stories being swapped the mystery of studio is brought up. This semester opens with a competition! Four classmates, preselected into teams by the professors, are tasked with a week long design challenge which impacts a region of…