ROCKSTAR-ARCHITECT

There are two types of scarves.  Those For the Ladies and Man-Scarves.  This architect-icon is akin to the man-bag phenomenon.  The man-scarf can be very manly, but you gotta have swagger.  Otherwise, you’re a fashionable-male.  Nothing wrong with that…..it’s very french.

This post was verging on creepy so I decided to keep it short and sweet.  Basically, there are two types of architecture tight pants.  Under Boots and Not Under Boots.  Boots require tight pants.  It’s so obvious.  But just plain tight pants can be worn with sneakers or flats.  it’s that simple.  They should be black, but we’re open to creative tight pants interpretation if, and only if, you have raging style, are foreign, or are wearing heels.

fact:  architecture students love scarves

fact:  architecture students love boots

fact:  no pants are too tight for students…..ever

fact:  glasses MUST be chunky, preferably black, but certainly hip.

in honor, no, in tribute, to these truisms, i begin my very scientific exploration of  architecture school fashion in upstate new york.

As October draws to a close, I’ll devote these last four days to fleshing out the crit-talk lexicon. Please architects, do your damnest to use at least one of these words today.  Otherwise, how will we know you’re smart? [all of these were heard on campus].

didactic

parallax

articulation

mimetic

non-mimetic

fragmentation

disjunction

juxtaposition

climax

developer-architecture (ouch!)

Since I’m not feeling very “rockstar-architect” of late, I’ve decided to take the pressure off and devote November to architectural analysis I care deeply about:   scarves and hunter boots.  November is Architecture school fashion month:  boots, scarves, and tight pants.  Summer was short-shorts and boots.  Fall has been tight pants and boots.  Scarves, scarves, and more scarves.  One picture a day from Rem’s spaceship at Cornell………stay tuned.

Or does Jean Nouvel look like an evil super-villain…….

So, apparently this word (phrase?) is common in academic texts, but after reading several different sources, I still have no idea how to use it in context. Por exemplo:

• As Ronald Martin has shown, further, the principle was the basis of a multiply-ramifying discourse on force……
• These multiply-ramifying glaze arteries are formed when free-floating wood ash ……..
• The basic strategy is utterly simple:  reverse the causal sequences (often netlike and multiply-ramifying) that have brought a troubling situation . . . .

Utterly simple.  I think it’s code for: ”I’m smarter than you.  We both know this.  You’ll forget to even look this word up later.  No matter, it doesn’t exist in the dictionary, you fool!”

Multiply:  Increase.  Ramifying:  Branch.  So, increase branching?  Can’t wait till I have the opportunity to slip the ole ‘increase branching’ discourse into my review.  Someone will owe me a dollar when I get that guy in the mix!   Kind of like at my wedding when I bet our buddy he couldn’t work ”Dalai Lama” and “Sherpa” into the Best Man speech.  He did it.  Seemlessly.  I’m still amazed.

Within a day of creating the architectural-obfuscation-station, I stumbled upon these gems in the spring course-listing.  p.s. Rem didn’t use a single ONE of the words from my  list.  And he’s a professor.  What the What?  Clarity is convincing afterall.

Contemporaneity

Milieu

Tropes

Contrivances

Discursive

Formal significations

Hegemonic

Genericity

Conflations

Morphogenesis

Modalities

Overdetermined

Appropriated

Multiply-ramifying (huh?)

After two months of resisting, I’ve finally come to the conclusion that grad school reviews require conformity, or death.  The following is my first iteration of THE LEXICON, a list of words  I’ve compiled from my reviews and critiques.  Words only made the list if I’ve heard them at least twice.   The lexicon reminds me of one of my favorite client -phone-call games…..The  “do-it-yourself architectural dialogue” matrix.  Have fun!   Impress your friends!

For More Fun with Architecture, try:  Do-it-yourself-architectural-dialogue  and Architecture Bingo !