My latest sketchbook (Cover)

In my third year, I find it wholly important to have a personal space to keep your thoughts, not as a diary, but as a pocket-sized brain catalog.
On the cover is a small spiritual zone on a hill in a forest. To me, that is somewhere I can go to dream for a day. If not inside the box, it can be outside in endless nature. What lies beyond in the darkened sky? Only the pages know...

Pocket-sized Sketchbook- Gel Pen sketches.

Less than a week before Final Crit (Design 3)

This is me procrastinating different projects because they all want to be finished RIGHT NOW!

So instead, I'm just going to say what's due and what's my plan...

For Design, I need to stretch my building to the farthest extents of the project boundary line (about 40 feet West and South). And then I need to finish building the 1/2" scale detail section model. All the pieces are cut (I hope) it just needs to be glued together and some pieces need to be manufactured.
The drawings need to be finalized by Friday morning the latest. And Plotted.
Finally, the last 1/16" scale building model and structure model need to be built. and a tiny 1/32" model for the site.

This all before Monday morning. I know, it doesn't sound like a lot, but I've lost the ability to sit down and build models. I prefer doing drawings mostly.


For Environmental Systems I, I need to draw up the Passive house section and some water calculations.

That's all.

It's just a matter of getting off the internet after this post and getting to work for the next 72 hours.

Why I Chose Architecture (and other tidbits of news...)

I'm a bit behind in posting, mostly because of being super busy with school and holidays at the same time. But with the recent news I've shared with family, friends and neighbors, and now with you, that I've been accepted to the 5 year B.Arch program at NYIT; I've been asked this little question that's difficult to share with strangers thus, I wanted to put it out here where anyone can read.

What made me choose Architecture?

It started in high school after I switched schools, that I began to ask myself 'what makes me happy?' what do I enjoy doing?
At the time, my first answer was Comic Book Artist. After looking into I'd found that it's incredibly hard to break into the career. So I moved on to the next best thing: 3D Computer Artist and I'd begun learning how to use Blender, and tried modelling different things including myself. I'd learned a lot over the year, but then gave it up as I'd moved onto writing and story telling, my mother had even given me some Writers Digest magazines, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It involved tips on writing and how to create mysteries and intriguing dialogue. I was eating all of this up, but what didn't sit right were the words from my grandfather: "There's no money in that."

Apparently money is a big deal as you're growing up, and as I see it now it really is, but it's not the most important thing.

Because of this I started looking into lucrative careers, I was only 15 at the time. I knew I didn't want to be a doctor, it wasn't in my future. I liked math and I was doodling every day in school. So I wanted a job that allowed me to draw every day, help people, and possibly tell stories. It came down to two options: Engineer or Architect.

At this time, the internet had relatively little information to give about Architecture, what it is, and sometimes I look and see that it hasn't changed.

The description for 'Engineer' told me that I needed to learn all of the sciences including Chemistry. I HATE CHEMISTRY! That was the major turn off. Most of the information taught about chemistry is it's history, useless things for moving forward.

The description for 'Architecture' said I need I needed to be an expert at almost everything and be able to use technology. After I had given it some thought, I began researching shuls (synagogues) as my base point for understanding architecture.

I feel that until I'd decided to do that, the local library that hosted at the time maybe 4-5 books on synagogues was never touched. Now it has almost 20 books on synagogues and the books on architecture is growing in the library. Anyway, I was constantly researching and was sold on the idea. I even looked into schools within New York to apply to.

My main goal was to become an architect to builds shuls and homes in hopes to revive the old European designs that I found were the perfect places of spirituality and prayer.

But I think that covers why I chose Architecture...

Anyway, thanks for reading dear reader, and I hope to start posting more again-- I mean there is SO MUCH happening right now, and I know I promised pictures... They're coming. Just need to sort and edit them at some point.

~Architalmud

Final Presentation - Design II - The Fire Urn

Hey reader!

I've been busy, trying to get myself together for the summer. Got a lot to take care of like putting the portfolio together for the B.Arch application.
But I'm here to reminisce about the final presentation before I forget all about it.

The week of, the professor was really excited about my project and assured me that all I need to change were some drawings and little fixes for my 1/4" scale model. So I did. Most of Thursday I spent putting a quick animated walkthrough together for the powerpoint presentation. The powerpoint was supposed to be 5 minutes max, but at the rate I was giving it at home, it was taking 8-10 minutes to make it through.

So the morning of the final, I had went to sleep around one, packed a box and my garbage bag for the models, and had left my boards in my school locker on Wednesday. Everything was prepared, so I decided I would be once of the first three to present.

Up until the final moments before we officially began, I watched as guest critics walked by our projects and STOPPED BY MINE for long periods of time to examine my boards. It was flattering for the most part, but it made me nervous, 'What do they see that I missed?'
Of course the obvious piece missed was the little rendered figure of my professor hidden in my section render... When he saw that during the presentation, his face got all red and he started laughing. He looks to me and says, "Nooo! You didn't!" before pointing it out to the guest critics and saying I get and automatic A..

We had FOUR guests, I did not catch any of their names. Anyway, the first two presentations got picked apart because they were solely based on construction designs, while mine was a full concept.

As I sat down before the laptop to begin the powerpoint, I looked at the female guest, smiled widely and said HI! She smiled back and asked if I would begin. At this point, with all the practice I had put into the the previous day repeating my shpeil, I started rambling quickly about the context, the process, my concept, the design phases and the Louis Kahn inspirations.
They stopped me when I reached the concept image of a greek urn. They were curious because my project actually used the negative space to define the urn mostly.
Soon the 5 minutes were up, and everyone was together by my boards as the guests picked the idea apart.

I was eating up their critique, because I've learned to take note and try to understand what would make the project better. For some reason, during critiques, my face probably looks depressed as I'm learning from what they're saying so from Greta to Diamond the these new guest critics, they had to reassure me that what they were saying wasn't bad. Which I knew! But my face read otherwise.

To quote, "We aren't saying all these things because we don't like it. On the contrary, we like it very much and that's why we're saying all these things!" ~Female Critic

Each critic tried to take a turn because they had so much to say. One drew on the boards, others tried to illustrate with their hands. One related it to a prison.
The most important line was from the female critic, she said,
"We see that you have pulled all of these individual moments from your inspiration and put them all together, but which part of this project is YOU?"

The critique soon finished after that, and I was really happy with how it went. Like SUPER HAPPY! There were applause from the class, there had been some laughter in the middle. The professor had blushed. It was an amazing 10-15 minutes.

And I know I promised photos. I will put them up eventually... Probably after I finish the portfolio...

Thanks for reading, dear reader :)
~ArchiTalmud

Project 3 and Health Update!

Firstly, I'm feeling a lot better. Got meds and sleep... all before the midreview. Which went really well.

Here's a picture of the current work, I'll post more stories later...

Interior view of the Office-Level Bridge System.