Pin-Ups.
Posted at 12:12 PM

Not a single sound is audible now. 

Even the janitors have left the building.

The soft overhead florescent lights reflect off the polished granite floor in the Bridge area.

Despite the cold, I stood there a few minutes longer absorbing the space.  This may be one of the last times I'll be here, sitting through another review.

Few people know what it is to be an architecture major.  They heard the rumors. They've remembered the horror stories.  Stories of students stinking of body odor after not showering in days.  Tales of students collapsing after 32 hours of not eating for lack of time.  Glimpses of walking zombies with great big bags under their eyes from sleeping a total of 12 hours in a week. 

And for what?

When it comes close to review time, we are usually given a week's notice of what our final requirements are for a project. We have to do several floor plans, sectional cuts, elevations, and a physical model of the building we designed.

On the day of review, a few lucky ones have finished early and gotten a few hours of precious sleep.  But most of us have not slept in a very long time.   We operate on autopilot now, bringing our final models out to display, pinning our drawings up on the walls. 

The jury begins to file in, and we shift nervously in our seats.  Our professor shakes each of their hands and introduces them.  They are usually other studio professors, retired or still practicing architects, someone who knows what it is to be in Studio. 

When that clock strikes the hour, we begin.  One student stands up, introduces themselves and their project, and begins to take the jury through their design process.  This is typically a 5-10 minute speech.  Go over 15 in presenting and you face the wrath of your studiomates.  Then the jury begins to talk about your project.  Sorry, scratch that. They don't 'talk'.  Rip is more  like it.  They rip and tear and scratch your project into pieces.

The hell were you thinking when you put your stairs there? And what was your obsession with those type of windows?  They poke your project full of holes, and offer suggestions of things you could have done.  It's highly nerve-wracking and intense.  But it is also extremely valuable.

Because once you've lived through that hellfire, you can live through anything.   Because once you can stand up to critiques like that, you can stand up to any kind of criticism. 

Eventually they run out of things to say, so they stop.  And then the next student presents.