On The Page
Reading the Room
Volume 7, Issue 07
April 7, 2022
HOUSTON | Paul DeFazio
NEW HAVEN | Signe Ferguson, Diana Smiljković, Mike Tully, Jerry Chow
PARIS | Jane van Velden
- In Simply Lecture, Simply Panel. Students from SOCIETY, Anti-Racism Collective, and NOMAS host REKHA AUGUSTE-NELSON, Wortham Fellow NATHAN FRIEDMAN, TANIA LEONOR GUTIÉRREZ MONROY, and DONALD HICKMAN for the student-led sections of the Spring 2022 lecture series Building Identities. ↩︎
- From Ro-De-OH!: Rice students travel to NRG Parkway to see the Houston Rodeo for cat-and-mouse roller coasters, corn dogs, and most importantly, the annual mutton busting competition. The announcer reminds us: a faceful of dirt lasts a minute, but the memories last a lifetime. ↩︎
- From ASHRAE: Arts and Culture. Students in STEPHEN REDDING’s technology class experience what might be described as an “MEP opera” as students tour the public and mechanical spaces of the Rice Opera House, with an emphasis on acoustics, lighting, and air conditioning. No spoilers, but the climax involves chilled water. ↩︎
- See The Rice Thresher. The demolition of the Rice Memorial Center has been postponed for a year. Coffeehouse bagel suppliers and Adjaye Associates to be notified. ↩︎
- From Ask Igor. A noontime conversation between students and dean IGOR MARJANOVIĆ is scheduled to be held in the Farish gallery but, due to non-inclement weather, is relocated outside. With a little ingenuity, the provided pizza is able to be siphoned into LAUREN PHILLIPS’ (M.Arch ’22) thesis defense. ↩︎
- In Annals of 504. Associate Professor RETO GEISER makes a suggestion in reference to cladding and uses the expression “brick up.” Cf. An anonymous source spots fellow faculty member JESÚS VASSALLO FERNANDEZ on the teeter-totter by Smith Courtyard. ↩︎
- From News from New Haven. Caravans of designers flock to GHP’s printer facilities on a tour organized by Graphic Design critic AYHAM GHRAOWI (GD MFA ’17). The whirring sounds of printing ring out. A screening of videos and works concludes critic LINDA VAN DEURSEN’s workshop in the Graphic Design department. As she leaves the Atrium to depart for Amsterdam, she says “rock ’n’ roll.” ↩︎
- For reference: The weather is fluctuating between spring and winter. The launch party for Paprika! 7, no. 6 (eds. CARLOS BLANCO, M.Arch I ’23; ALEKSA MILOJEVIC, M.Arch II ’23; ANDREA SANCHEZ MOCTEZUMA, M.Arch II ’23; JAHAAN SCIPIO, M.Arch II ’23) is a success, occupying the 4th floor pit in the realest way we’ve seen in a while. ↩︎
- See Shows You Should Have Seen. Vibrant Matters, the Painting and Printmaking thesis show at the School of Art, closes. Painters celebrate. What is graphic design made of?, a symposium initiated by MIGUEL GAYDOSH (GD MFA ’22), gathers people to question relationships between design, material ecologies, and environmental crises. Collaborative drawing covers the long wall of EIK. ↩︎
- As seen in “The Printer”: “I’m a thirty-nine-year-old man. Divorced, childless, middle management for an insurance company.” (anon., n.d.). ↩︎
- From Yale School of Badminton: A Shining Tradition. The Spring 2022 iteration of the Rudolph Open completes its second round. A member of ITURBE REJECTS sprains an ankle playing against CHUDDER STEP; foul play is suspected, though unconfirmed. I’D SMASH THAT wins in under 7 minutes—domination. ↩︎
- From The Food Systems of Architecture. “23—24,” a mysterious baked goods pop-up, advertises an assortment of pies—limited run. More bribes from the administration: Milano cookies, hot chocolate (still thicc), and stale coffee. Chicken wings are eaten over Systems Integration drawing sets. ↩︎
- See Midterm Reviews (New Haven: 2022). Core 4 Studio critic ELIHU RUBIN (BA ’99) works out on a bamboo exercise/wind machine, spotted by TIM HAWKINS (M.Arch I ’23); teammates SIGNE FERGUSON and BENJAMIN DERLAN (both M.Arch I ’23) hold their breaths. Cf. YONG CHOI (M.Arch I ’23) decides on his date of death and presents it, with ANA BATLLE (M.Arch I ’23), to the public. He hopes to one day become a tree. ↩︎
- Ibid. During the second half of the week, review snacks are baked by local women refugees from Syria. Senior critic MARTIN FINIO insists we each take two. Norman R. Foster Visiting Professor TATIANA BILBAO, IWAN BAAN, and senior critic ANDREI HARWELL (M.Arch II ’06) pull off an unexpected delight: a puppet show in Hastings. Their studio exacerbates the ongoing plywood shortage by using up all the shop materials available. AVLEIGH DU (M.Arch II ’23) hires hand models. Louis I. Kahn Visiting Professor FRIDA ESCOBEDO and critic KAROLINA CZECZEK (M.Arch II ’15) create warmth in the 4th floor for their studio review using a Lazy Susan, twinned screens, and strawberries in a colander. 5 critics at the review fight over who gets to keep the table made by GUSTAV NIELSEN (M.Arch I ’22). ↩︎
- From the Box Set 4 v2: Spring Semester 2022, Perimeter Architecture. The revolutionary spirit is alive and well in RSAParis. FEDERICO PEDRINI, MARIE-PIERRE VANDEPUTTE, and PIETER DE WALSCHE of XDGA ask for a site model; what they get in return is the forest (1:1000), stairs (1:1000), farm (1:1000), quarry (1:500), and two ditches (1:30, not a real scale). ↩︎
- See Midterm Review (Paris: 2022). Men (and only men) travel from across the world to join the jury. Post-review, a lot of wine is poured, and only a little is spilled. ↩︎
- From Spring Break in Nancy, Strasbourg, and Colmar. Students from École nationale supérieure d’architecture de Nancy welcome us to their LIVIO VACCHINI-designed school. Perspective drawings cover the windows. A proliferation of plants rival the Houston studios. The second night ends in the living room of JEAN PROUVÉ’s home, assembled by his family one summer from leftover pre-fabricated parts. We walk from dawn to dusk, jumping from one city to the next. LIONEL DEBUS from ENSA Strasbourg leads us through an urban fabric shaped by the collision of two cultures. No one goes wild. ↩︎
- From Greater Paris: An Infrastructural History (“(wanderings) in the cracks of ‘official’ Paris.”). We desperately try to keep pace with FRANÇOISE FROMONOT through the streets of Paris. In our second urban walk, we discuss the “revival” of formerly industrial intra muros areas in Bercy and Paris Rive Gauche and visit DOMINIQUE PERRAULT’s four monumental, open books framing a forest. An unknown man shouts, “PARIS IS DEAD!” ↩︎
- See Last French Class. GAËLLE REY, our beloved French teacher, apologizes for “bursting our balls.” ↩︎
- From Greater Paris, 3rd ed. The studio lies on mounds of grass outside of SANAA’s Louvre-Lens. Twin slag heaps in the distance. A culture of industry replaced by an industry of culture. FRANÇOISE FROMONOT recommends we give up on studio; “living is outside.” ↩︎