ARCH UN1010

Weekly Instagram discussion posts and readings. 3 projects a semester. In terms of grading, none of the design projects had a clear rubric. The actual grading was very subjective, and sometimes I felt like I didn’t know what was expected of me until the final review. The grading process also takes a long time, but I think that’s typically expected of an architecture course. By the end of the semester we have yet to receive 2 project grades out of the 3 projects we did in total.

weekly readings and instagram post that summarize and apply the reading to a creative image (if you're confused by this I am too), 3 design projects with poor outlines and lacking guidance, and a case study (these were the most informative portion of the class because it was the only point where there was direct instruction)

pretty manageable, 2 journal posts per week but the deadlines aren't strict if you need to do them late. long weekly readings but you don't have to do them. 1 midterm project and 1 final project, each with several smaller parts/deadlines within the whole project.

Weekly readings and response papers, plus every week we would have to improve our project/planter. Over the semester, 2 presentations on readings. This class, even if you do not want to put much effort into it, requires a lot of time. I maybe spent at least 3-4 hours per week working on the planter then maybe an hour for the readings. The midterm was a critique with guest jurors where we had to prepare a 10 min presentation and present our project to the judges. The final was similar except it was only a 5 min presentation and a longer time answering the jurors' questions.

About 3-4 projects, 3 blogs posts and mandatory field trips. It doesn't seem like a lot but when she hates everything you do, it gets pretty stressful.

The workload is relatively manageable as you go through the course. You will use photoshop a lot and are thrown into it. I had never used Adobe software before and had to scramble to figure it out which was scary. Many other students were in the same position though so we bonded around that. At first, photoshop seems scary but you will quickly improve. I also had to pay for Photoshop (not sure if cc or barnard pays for it somehow but you may have to get it yourself). Professor Streeter understands this and is not a harsh grader. She is not always clear about assignment guidelines though which can be confusing. Readings are light and helpful but not necessary. Photoshop is the hardest element of the course and was a steep learning curve for me. Class is heavy on graphic design.

I think my expectations going into this class we're probably a bit too high because I've heard a lot of positive reviews of the class from former years . While the class didn't make me more interested in the subject, it did allow me to see the world in a different way in terms of design, composition, and overall aesthetics. Professor Tang’s (Fred’s) way of lecturing was quite engaging and informative, but I think the concept of design is a bit too abstract and oftentimes it seemed like he was dragging our class to a certain conclusion rather than letting us discuss it fully. Coming in as a first semester freshman, I also didn’t know how arduous a 3-hour class on Friday would be since the class takes up all if not more of the 3 hours the class is allotted for. The guest lecturers and field trips were generally interesting, but all of the documentaries we watched were rather monotonous.

WARNING: This class is not what you think you are signing up for. As an introductory level architecture class, I had an expectation of being introduced to current architecture projects in New York (as the name might imply). That is not at all what this class is, if you don't like just being dropped with an abstract assignment and no guidance unless you make your schedule fit to office hours that change every week, DON'T TAKE THIS CLASS. Even with misunderstanding the purpose of the course out the way, the instructor in no way makes the alternative, an introduction to abstract applications of design any more palatable. As an instructor trying to help as she called us, "design babies", there was not a lot of fostering new ideas. Virginia is very opinionated and argumentative. She will not entertain any idea but her own.

Do NOT take this class with Professor Rouhe (or Todd as he usually goes by). This class is one that completely varies depending on professor, and if you're interested in the course description I promise you will be disappointed. I don't have anything against Todd as a person, you can tell he is very passionate about his work and is very understanding/lenient when grading projects. As long as you attend class, do the weekly journal posts, and turn in the projects, you will get an A. He can also be funny sometimes and you can tell he is a cool person who is very knowledgable in the architecture field. HOWEVER, this class is 3 hours and 15 minutes on a Friday, and you feel every minute of it. Most times, Todd actually goes overtime as if the 3+ hours weren't enough. We do go on field trips, which are better than being in class but not as fun/interesting as you'd expect. Also, 2 or 3 of our field trips were canceled (we still had regular class though), which is a lot considering the class meets once a week. Todd is not a good lecturer; the information is very hard to follow and he is the opposite of engaging. Almost everyone in the class just goes on their laptop for most of the class. When not lecturing, we're usually doing pin-up critiques, which take basically the entire class time. What's so bad about the pin-ups is that the critiques take about 5-10 minutes per person, and ev…

I thought this class was going to be much more focused on architecture. To be honest, it was barely about architecture and much more about general design principles. I would separate this class into 2 different sections: the project and the readings/discussions. Our project consisted of making a planter that represented the future of NYC (this was the more architecture based part of the class). Then we had readings assigned weekly (around 50+ pages) which would be about various design topics, and I felt these were not at all related to the project part of the class, so it felt very divided. Also, much of the grade is based off responses to these readings and class discussion. The class is also very long, 3h30, on a Friday, with the professor speaking for so much of it (he usually lectures for around an hour straight at the start of the class; he really likes talking). Student presentations will then be around 30 minutes and discussion will then be 15 minutes and the rest of the class will usually be critiques on the project. I felt like this class was just too long and the professor talked too much, although he was nice. We had 3 outings to museums/galleries downtown, replacing our normal class, which I enjoyed. Unless you are very interested in architecture (and even then, it felt like the class was not super architecture heavy), I would not really recommend this class.