Congratulations, you are officially an Architecture student. The questions you may ask yourself over the first few months is 'Oh My Life what is this work load that will not allow me to do all the fun things my flat mates are doing?'. All I can tell you is this is just something that will not change, unless you know how to manage your time effectively and beat your demons.
This article is now going to become your guidance.
Imagine you have just moved in to your less than 12sqm room at University,you have brought all of your things from home forgetting that one day you may just return to your humble abode to find that you have one wardrobe, a desk and a bed in your room. Shock horror right?
Your first thought it this looks a bit like a prison cell. Anyway, you begin the first two weeks of the course with an outlined brief of your first design project, you have to design a house maybe and produce plans,sections,elevations,3D model,sketches and all sorts of other explorative things that you may never have done in your life.
In your first year you are likely to be encouraged to hand draw ALOT! You can not go on to produce these fantastically wonderful, futuristic designs if you do not understand the basic principles of hand drawing, wether that be technical or sketches. You will need to know how to use a scale ruler, a drawing board and probably an adjustable set square.
SO firstly when living in halls, you need to organise your work space in order to accommodated for your equipment.
I recommend:
Setting Up The Desk Provided
You will probably have a worn surfaced but sturdy desk, with two draws and a noticeboard above. If your lucky you will get two shelves. With the desk provided, it would be benificial to measure it before purchasing a none freestanding drawing board, as sometimes the back of the board may slip off if the desk is too small.
You could purchase a small 3 tiered draw that will contain, drawing pens,pencils and colours. It is advisable to have a set of drawing equipment to leave at home and one to take to university, so that if you were to loose any then you still have ones at home.
In the two draws provided, you could use this to store documents such as support materials for projects or any preliminary work! I would make sure you keep these draws in order using a filing system for each project.
When modelling at home, ensure you purchase a cutting board to stop cutting through your desk and put down newspaper or a cloth, there is nothing worse than a bumpy desk and one with glue in odd places.
Organising Your Noticeboard
The noticeboard is where I would put my current design briefs and notes on what needs to be produced, this way you can not forget what you are working towards. Always create a list of tasks and tick them off as you go along, your list may change weekly after tutorials but it is a key way to keep on top and organise your time.
Also the notice board can be layered, a place above your desk where you can pin up reference drawings that you may need while you are working on a current drawing.
It is tempting to do the student thing, where you pin up pictures of friends and family, find another space to do this such as by your bed.Space is precious.
Setting Up Your Wall
Before a critic or review, it is essential that you double check that you have done the work that is required and to make sure it all flows as a project. In your room you could do this by using a wall to pin up your work in order as you would if you was pinning up for a crit. Use masking tape so you do not damage the walls! Leave the masking tape on the wall so that you do not waste masking tap.
Step back from your work and give yourself your own crit.
Storage of Materials for Models/Project
You will inevitably find that you will acquire a good amount of card or even Wood this is BIG... and unless you can find a space within the Architecture department to store this for personal use, you are better off taking it home. You can store this either under your bed, behind your wardrobe, down the side of your wardrobe, at the back of your desk or simply against the wall. eventually you will use it so it will not be there forever; your bedroom is still your bedroom and needs to remain homely.
Put models on your window sill, be carful of condensation as you do not want them to get wet but I find this works well. If your models look good then it will also add to deco in your room.
Do you have extra room for a desk?
If you are a lucky person who has a large room, then you may consider the purchase of a second desk, here can be a multi-use desk. A place for computer work! This will enable you to seperate the two aspects and remain organised, you will find that you will already have your drawing space set up and that you will have a computer desk set up as well. Its like having your own little office at home. Here you can also put your TV, which may like to double up as your monitor depending on how you like to work.
Hope this gives a little help...Good Luck!
© 2013 Kerri Rochelle Simpson copyright
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