Summer Survey Results

Summer at Yale is as diverse in it’s range of activities as the academic year itself. M.Arch I students start the season with the construction phase of the Building Project and the final Visualization class (the intent, methodology, and reason for existence, of which remains questioned by some students). Some second year students take on the tradition of the architectural ‘Grand Tour’ and spend a month in Rome, sketching details of antiquities and contemporary structures. Still others take advantage of the time to repose and replenish before the fall semester, while for some, the summer is chock full of
deadlines, research projects, and internship assignments. And then there are the ‘chosen ones,’ those selected among the incoming students to attend the summer bootcamp even before taking their first true fall semester course at
the School.

With this breadth in mind, we asked you to share your summer experiences with the YSOA community. Presented here are the compiled photographs and writings of the paths taken and the roads travelled, both near and far, in the
brief sojourn from our collective journey, one which recommences today in Rudolph Hall.

Where were you this summer?

Rome and San Francisco

UK, the Netherlands, Italy, and Spain

Greenwich, Connecticut; Kentucky, and Puerto Rico

Europe and China

Berkeley, CA and  Rushford Lake, NY

Chile

What were you doing there?

“In Orient, New York,  I’ve been working on events related to the Architecture Lobby and also working on my research on how the Sherman Antitrust Act affects architecture and the workings of the AIA.  Idaho was backpacking in the White Cloud range with my son, Cam, and daughter, Frances.”

-Peggy Deamer

I went to Rome for the Yale program: Continuity and Change, and I did an internship.

-Jessica Elliott

In Greenwich, I worked for the fabulous architects of Joeb Moore & Partners. I overpaid for Cold Pressed Juice and Soul Cycle. In Kentucky I hand picked my breakfast lunch and dinner. In Puerto Rico I predict I will overdose on guacamole.

-Madelynn Ringo

If any, please share what books you have read lately

The Annual Soane Lecture, Julien-David Leroy

“In Search of Architecture”

-Madelynn Ringo

A Deathly Compromise, its written by a good friend and it’s her very first book.

-Jessica Elliott

My Struggle, vols. 1-4 (Knausgaard); Infinite Jest (Wallace)

-Peggy Deamer

Do comics count? Transmetropolitan.

-Benji Rubenstein

“A Place of One’s Own” by Michael Pollan

“Tortilla Flat” by John Steinbeck

“Both Flesh and Not: Essays” by David Foster Wallace

“The White Album” by Joan Didion

-John Kleinschmidt

The Possibility of an Absolute Architecture, Et in Suburbia Ego (Jose Oubreri’s Miller House

-Chad Greenlee

The Laws of Simplicity by John Maeda; Tenth of December: Stories by George Saunders

Caitlin Baiada

The Images of Architects

-Lily Hou

Would you share an anecdote, quote, or description of what you did over the summer?

My project at work was the reconstruction of an historic 150-year-old Hay Barn on the University of California, Santa Cruz campus. This structure was said to have been built by an East Coast barn builder. I spent the remainder of the summer hiking/kayaking/etc. in upstate New York, and found many dilapidated barns very similar to the one I worked on in CA.

-Timon Covelli

BP internship. Built a house. Got sweaty. Learned not only what it takes to construct a wood frame building and master my chop saw skills, but also the challenges of construction management. Was able to get inside the head of a construction worker because I was one.

-Benji Rubenstein

More than learning about the Sherman Antitrust Act, I learned, from working with a Yale law professor how different law thought is from architecture thought.

-Peggy Deamer

I drew like mad in Rome, fueled by anchovies and cheap wine. I flew direct from Rome to Charlotte, North Carolina, and retreated to the Smoky Mountains to recover from the shock. When I ran out of food, I left the forest and built a chicken coop on a farm. Once the chickens moved in, I went to New Orleans where the questionable future of the Connecticut coastline was dropped in my lap: I prepared maps and diagrams to support the State of Connecticut’s application for a slice of the $1 billion HUD is offering for resiliency projects.

-John Kleinschmidt

I did a ten day workshop with fourteen  participants, where we learned how to mix cob (clay/straw/sand) to build earthen walls, construct solid foundation systems and make adobe bricks. We also learned light-straw-clay infill technique for conventional stud or timber framed buildings, earthen plasters, and earthen floors.

-Caitlin Baiada

I have been traveling to Europe and China with friends and it was an amazing experience. Got to see how modernism had come to its shape in Europe and the development of sustainable buildings in China in the past 10 years.

-Lily Hou

If you worked this summer, provide us with some information about your job.

Working for Joeb Moore & Partners was fantastic and a true pleasure! I was able to contribute to a variety of office work from marketing to site surveys, schematic design and design development. They spoil their interns with a hefty paycheck, fancy office espresso machines, and trips to the Whitney Museum. I even received a going away bonus! This office is rare find in the architecture scene. – Madelynn Ringo

It’s all work, even when you read the paper.- Peggy Deamer

I held a full-time salaried position as a project manager at an architecture office. I spent 1.5 years working there, during which time the Hay Barn design & reconstruction was my primary responsibility. I also managed a feasibility study and a residential project while there. – Timon Covelli

Fixed fee basis: one grand per week and lunch every other Monday. Hours on my terms; as low as 25 but never more than 40

-John Kleinschmidt

Pirie Associate is small (5 of us) and super laid back.I would describe the experience as “the perfect blend of academic thinking and professional practice”. – Chad Greenlee