This studio has been an interesting ride. I personally, felt like these past 2 quarters have been 2 completely different projects, which it has been physically, but not really mentally right? Yet it has. When I was developing my own personal project winter quarter, I was very passionate about my project and its shape for it had a very specific form as well, but I realize that I was very naive in my intentions. I still had a cluster like theme in my project but it was very weak. In mine and Karina’s project this quarter, we developed our project focusing specifically around the courtyards and the cluster-theme, making sure our structure and form followed these themes. With my project from winter quarter, I wanted a cluster-like area but I wanted to keep the shape of my building more so than I wanted to accommodate what the program should have been. This quarter has really forced me to think in multiple dimensions, multiple squiggly lines, instead of one straight one. It has forced me to become humble with my intentions, to accept new beliefs and ideas, and be able to mold old ones more thoroughly.

Mark has forced me to mature in my ways of thinking. I was always used to showing a professor an idea and asking “what do you think, should I change something?” and then they would tell me and give me a pat on the back. Mark doesn’t really do that, you’ll ask him a question and he would be like “hmm maybe.” I remember very vividly an experience where I focused-in all of my energy on something that didn’t really help out my project, showed it to Mark, and got the “….???” reaction. I could tell Mark was not very pleased with me, and I was pretty humiliated with myself. After leaving that class frustrated to almost the point of tears, and having plenty of rants ready for my boyfriend, I realized I needed to humble down a few notches. Once I sat down, and fully tuned myself to my project, the ideas started flowing, and I really appreciate Mark for forcing me to grow up a little bit as a person, and a lottt as a designer.

I’ve never been as passionate about a project as I have been about this one. I’ve never know a project so well, as I have this one. I’ve grown close to this project like a friend. Sitting down behind my laptop, cracking my knuckles, and starting where I was like an old conversation “where were we? Let’s revisit.” I’m excited to use this enthusiasm with every aspect of my life. I don’t look at anything that I pursue now and think “hmm I’m only going to put in 80% of my effort,” no I try to put in everything and more. Though I wish I had more time with this project to work on diagrams, I feel like I now know how to truly investigate a project as it should be investigated. This was not just some school we had to design, this was an evolution of thought, an evolution of design process and an evolution of thought, and not every professor is able to help his students envisions this, and for that I will always be thankful, for I feel that I am much more prepared for my upcoming internships than I ever could have been.