News and Information

November is Studio Culture Month


Thanksgiving Break is on the horizon, a time otherwise known as that short breath of air before entering the deep waters of finals week. November is a month when architecture students are consumed by "near-final" reviews, plans for the next academic term, and dreams of the winter holiday can seem some what distant. In the throes of a design project, it can be easy for us to forget why we enjoy architecture. Passion for design wanes as the midnight oil burns. At the end of a long night, as rays of sun begin to eclipse the distant horizon, a single thought lingers in the mind of the weary-eyed and emotionally trodden student: "Why do I do this to myself?"

As we enter one of the toughest periods of the academic cycle, the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS) urges every architecture student, faculty member, administrator, and staff member to consider the topic of Studio Culture. We challenge anyone involved in the discipline of architecture to share a conversation with another about their knowledge of Studio Culture. How do we bring further awareness of healthy habits among studios and all other academic classes in order to make the culture of architecture a better environment to thrive? The AIAS continues to lead this discipline-wide effort to transform the spaces in which we learn and work, and we want you to engage in this positive evolution of the practice of architecture.

The conversation about Studio Culture began almost ten years ago. A tragic accident left a generation discussing the methods of learning which current architecture programs have all become accustomed to. Ultimately, it was recognized that a further discussion within individual institutions was needed to bring light to the more challenging aspects of architecture education. Upon the adoption of the 13th Condition for Accreditation (Condition 3.5) in July of 2004 by the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), schools were required to have a written policy regarding the culture in their studio environments. This condition focuses on a set of fundamental values which include optimism, respect, sharing, engagement, and innovation between and among the members of its faculty, student body, administration, and staff.

Since 2000, the AIAS has provided leadership and support for the Studio Culture initiative to students and architecture programs alike. Several documents have been published which cover an array of information regarding Studio Culture within the schools. These documents can be found on the AIAS Web site and we encourage anyone tied to the discipline of architecture to review them.

The AIAS believes that Studio Culture is a critical dialogue that must take place between students, faculty, administrators, and staff. Change within any school must be enacted by the architectural community as a whole. We encourage students to become involved in these discussions, and to take ownership of the change they wish to see in their education. If a school does not have an active Studio Culture Policy, students should become involved in helping to create one. Students should feel welcome to speak with their dean, department chair and faculty members about this national conversation, and should tell them they are interested in starting a more substantial dialogue within their school. Policies should be ever evolving as the school grows and changes, therefore even if a Policy already exists there are opportunities to edit and update the document in order to see continued success within the program. This is especially important if your school has a NAAB Accreditation Visit scheduled during the next few years.

Studio is a place where we can learn skills, encounter and share new ideas, collaborate with other learners, and develop inventive proposals that will transform our profession, our environment, and our lives. The AIAS strongly encourages students to practice healthy habits within the studios. The traditional patterns of studio work habits are out of date, and are a detriment to good health. We challenge students to not accept all-nighters and other damaging work habits as the status quo. Ultimately, these negative habits are demeaning to our self worth as individuals, and to the profession at large.

Become leaders within your schools by maintaining healthy work habits and modifying your attitude towards the studio environment. Challenge yourself to find balance. By utilizing your peers it is possible to create a network of support that instills positive habits within the studio. Begin conversations to create open communication about the challenges you are facing on a daily basis, be strategic with your faculty and peers to plan ahead for major deadlines, talk with your studio mates about time management to share ideas of how you can best implement your time, and most importantly be organized. At the end of the day, if you have worked as hard as you can then that's all anyone can really ask of you.

On a basic level, Studio Culture is a way to improve your personal educational experience. But on a much grander scale, Studio Culture is an important initiative that will reinforce the relevance of our education, our profession, and our position in society as architects--something which we will all be proud to achieve.

President Je'Nen M. Chastain, Assoc. AIA
president@aias.org

Vice President Brett Roeth
vicepresident@aias.org

The following is additional commentary from our student Quad directors

Northeast Quad
A big "Hello" from the Northeast Quad! Studio Culture month is here and this is the time to think about how your school's Studio Culture relates to the needs of your chapter members and students. I suggest taking the time to really look over the Studio Culture Documentation your school has on file for Accreditation and see if it needs a revision. Now is the time to make sure your school is working for you (goodness knows you pay enough for it!). I would also like to give a shout out to two of many schools in the Northeast Quad who have already taken the initiative to look over their Studio Culture Policies this semester. Great Job to Syracuse, Philadelphia University, and all the other schools revising their Studio Culture Documentation! Have a great Studio Culture Month!

David M.A. Guerriero
Northeast Quad Director
northeast@aias.org

Midwest Quad
What is this Studio Culture thing you may ask? It's everything involved with your architectural life. Studio Culture embodies all that you do in your educational world regarding architecture. From studio habits, to relationships with faculty, expectations of you and your professors, professional atmosphere, respectful attitudes, encouragement and passion for architecture, and good communication are all aspects of what this AIAS led initiative (and now NAAB Accreditation Standard) involves. Everyone wants to work in a productive and professional atmosphere and Studio Culture is an agreement between students, faculty, and your architecture program to ensure it happens. There are students around the country working on their own with their faculty members to improve and clarify expectations and each student should be familiar with your own school's Studio Culture policy. How you interact with your classmates who will evolve into your colleagues and maybe event your bosses, is a critical part in dete rmining how architecture is practiced in your work setting. Establishing good habits early on is beneficial for all, because they will influence your work habits later on in life.

Jared Sang
Midwest Quad Director
midwest@aias.org

South Quad
"Brandishing scars from Xacto blades like wounds attributed to heroic battles. Architecture schools have become the battlegrounds of survival. We are conditioned to believe this is the manner in which the education of an architect is conducted." Brad Lunz, 2000-2001 AIAS South Quadrant Director

In keeping with the vast initiatives that created AIAS Studio Culture, the formulation of a formal policy is not the end all; it is only the beginning of the progressive process to change practices of the past. Much of the Studio Culture initiatives go past policy formulation to capture conversations on experiences that characterize a balanced architecture educational experience. The Studio Culture efforts of two South Quad programs, Clemson University and Oklahoma State University, are highlighted this November during Studio Culture Month as an avenue for other programs to explore unique ideas for integrating the conversation within their programs.

Clemson University // Stephen Parker
AIAS Clemson University has been working in concert with faculty, students, and alumni to implement a progressive approach to the development of an updated Studio Culture document within their institution. With the advent of a StudioSecret theme, a spin off of PostSecret by Frank Warren, AIAS Clemson has successfully created an intriguing methodology of gaining feedback to guide continuous conversation about Studio Culture. The chapter designed a system to utilize personalized note cards that can graphically express the impact studio has had upon the individual within the larger Clemson University environment.

Oklahoma State University // Jeremy Rogers
An open forum methodology is used by AIAS Oklahoma State University to equally capture student and faculty voices on the contextual essence of the learning environment. This model looks past the need to write a policy for Accreditation purposes only, and continues to exhibit the importance of the conversations that derive an active Studio Culture Policy within the school. While the chapter has been successful in the creation of this open forum method they are hopeful that these conversations will inspire a living document to gauge the progress of the Studio Culture beyond the NAAB Accreditation Visit.

These are two ideas of many that chapters who are seeking ways to bring the Studio Culture dialogue to life within their schools can look at as examples. By utilizing and asking AIAS chapter Presidents what their chapters are doing to engage members of their architectural communities about Studio Culture, it is prevalent to see that there are a lot of diverse ideas to be shared.

To reflect on a quote from Sarah Peden, 2002-2003 AIAS West Quadrant Director, "architecture tends to consume everything else to become an entire life." If the educational studio environment drives a culture that eventually consumes, the efforts of a Studio Culture Policy in elementary form should seek to impact a sane architecture balance. The balance of program perspectives of Studio Culture should lead to new alternatives that creates a rhetoric that capture methods to evaluate the context of healthy architecture educational experiences. The formal Studio Culture Policy should strive past a snapshot of the current culture in a collaborative effort towards a progressive Policy that generates a pursuit of a visionary Studio Culture effort. The students do have the ultimate power to change the culture of architecture education by leading the conversation, an imperative AIAS initiative.

Sarah Abel
South Quad Director
south@aias.org

West Quad
A student pulls up his car right beside the architecture building on a Saturday afternoon. Heading inside the studio space looming above, he is going to pick up a dresser he has been refinishing. This isn't for furniture design class or for any other abstract architecture project, it is simply a home project, something borne out of passion and free time. In the corner of the vast open studio space, a large white cube glows softly, with light penetrating the gaps in the grid of its construction. This thin white super-cubicle hung from the ceiling made from recycled sheets left over from a catastrophic printing error encloses two students' desks entirely. Again, not a spatial exploration, by any class requirements at least, but the product of collaboration, and certainly a lot of fun and free time from a number of students playing a prank. Across the rest of the open space, modeling materials are thrown about. Massive 1/2" scale daylighting models can be seen in different studio team spac es. Architectonic objects constructed from the deepest of emotional psyche and sensibilities toward a built future are hung from the ceiling. Students hold conversation, critiquing back and forth over one another's projects, offering new ideas and books for investigation.

What is Studio Culture you ask? It is precisely what occurs above. Certainly we discuss how our educational model as architecture students is different than most other curricula. We discuss the need for less all nighters and more time management. But I would like to call attention to the creative vein that embodies all of the positive energy I associate with Studio Culture. Studio is the space where we don't just explore our next typological design for a pre-programmed design project, but it is the home to collaboration, explorations of space at a high scale, and sometimes humorous one, like the paper super cubicle--in essence it is our creative playground. Certainly it needs to be a productive one, projects must be completed, and deadlines must be kept in a healthy manner, but there is much more to this idea called "Studio Culture" than meets the eye.

In the remaining days of this month and this semester, as the end approaches fast, I ask all of you to take a look at your studio space, your creative playground, or second home as you may call it. Step back and take a look, what is happening? What works? What doesn't? How can we further enrich and maintain these spaces, and the activities that occur within so that design learning continues in its best forms? Collaboration, how we interact with each other and learn from each other can be the most successful element of some design schools. So ask yourself...how do we keep it alive? If you have any unique thoughts or views on Studio Culture, or any ideas for change, please share them with others and then send them my way. AIAS wants to hear you! Happy Studio Culture Month!

Tyler Ashworth LEEDAP
West Quad Director
west@aias.org