The end....sniff, sniff....

Hi y'all! So guess where I am?! Brooklyn, baby! And man, am I happy to be back. Don't get me wrong. I wouldn't trade my Harvard experience for anything (well, 50K a year for the rest of my life for free....maybe) but it's time had come to an end. Naturally. And really, with a dorm room that looked like this by the time I left....






...can you blame me?









I didn't think so.

Many of you have asked how my final crit went. Well, it was a good crit...a mixed review of accurate assessment which boiled down to...they loved the hill...they yawned at the courtyard....and that was pretty much how I felt too. Who needs that courtyard. My favorite comment was "I think you let the boundaries of the building limit your thinking in the courtyard. I want to see the corten steel supporting your hillside land forms move through the building and into the courtyard. Forget the building. Break it apart." Which is pretty indicative of how the design program at Harvard approaches all challenges. Forget reality. If you can think it, do it. User needs? Fuck 'em. If the design is cool then usage is secondary. Hmmmm....I think I'll digest that one a little further.

Which brings us to the other question y'all have on the tips of your tongues. What am I going to do with all of this information I have gathered over the last six weeks? Well, for the immediate future I am going to relax in Brooklyn and bask in the joys of normalcy. No grueling schedule, no clay, no superglue, no pink panty hose. Just blue skies, yoga, pedicures, and seeing all of you again. After the dust settles a bit I'll see what I think of next steps. But watch out if I show up your house with a little corten steel.

In the meantime, I'm contemplating my next blog. I can't help myself anymore. I'm addicted to blogging. What shall I call it? Back in Brooklyn? Stay tuned.

Peace out Harvard. B

quick and dirty

like me...

Here are some photos of the latest model...now to drawing...but just so Julyne doesn't yell at me again here is the....




before























Here is the after























And here is the "plan" view....or birds eye, top down, whatever you want to call it view.



















At this sleep deprived moment it doesn't matter to me...but please note my lovely flip flop wearing, pedicure needing foot in the lower right hand corner. I think it makes the photo. I tried photographing the model the other day in a skirt and the people in the pod over whistled at the show. All in the line of duty folks. All in the line of duty. One more day to go!!! Yahoo!

B

Crunch time...

Hi all...just wanted to say a quick hello....and not much else. We have final critiques on Thursday and life is pretty much constant model making and drawing from here on out till we present at 2pm that day. Then we will all dribble out of the presentations and drink ourselves to sleep. Which won't take but a sip or two at this point because sleep is not on the agenda for most people. The big game at night is guessing who the security guard will be. Technically everyone gets kicked out at midnight but depending on the security guard and the bribe (I'm not necessarily kidding, though I heard Captain Crunch sufficed for one podmate so we aren't talking rubies here) you might eek out till 1, 2, 3, even 4 am. Some of my more zealous podmates stay until the broom starts brushing their feet away from their desks. Me, I tend to hit the road by 1 am at the latest. So that I can stay till 1 am the next night. Pacing. It's all in the pacing....and right now pacing is telling me to take down my model again and get to work. Today's tasks are replacing some of the plateau I cut away last night and inserting my broom bristle (I mean Bamboo). Ah the tricks of the trade.

I'll try to post photos later. Perhaps of one of the many sleeping figures you come upon at all times of day passed out around the school. Costanza made a cubby under his desk for naps and the GSD is no different. Watch where you step.

See you all soon. B

Kenny Gems

So I couldn't let another day go by without sharing the pearls of wisdom I received from Kenny today. And I quote, "Dude, I am a bad ass! I've been up at 6 every morning until 2 every night for the last four nights! No one is working as hard as I am!" Followed that same evening with this exchange:

ME: Kenny, how did your crit go?

Kenny: (Shaking head) Maybe my schedule wasn't such a good idea after all.

And then the pieste de la resistance:

Kenny: I've been brushing my teeth like six times a day. I catch myself looking in the mirror and thinking, "Dude, you are going crazy!"

What more can I say folks. I did learn what his big issue was with the program. With all of Kenny's energy (did I mention that he likened himself to a Greek god shortly after his morning bad ass pronouncement?) he wanted to construct the final Architecture department project in addition to his own Urban Planning final project and his instructor wouldn't let him. Saying he couldn't focus as it was on the big picture of his own project let alone a second project in a field he hadn't been studying for 5 weeks. Kenny didn't think too highly of his instructors opinion. Now he is obsessively brushing his teeth and watching himself in the mirror. You do the math.

That's it folks. I'm off to bed after my own marathon day in the studio. I will post a new photo of the "mound" I am creating tomorrow. For now, sleep well. Talk soon. B

Twice as Nice

Alright, alright. So now the guilt is really kicking in and I'm going to post twice in one day. Julyne you will make an excellent mother one day.

I realize that I was remiss in my Kenny duties earlier but that is because Kenny has fallen out of my view a bit. My tunnel vision has set in and I have also realized that a little Kenny goes a long way. That being said, here is the latest that I know. He told the old girlfriend not to come visit...god knows what that means for him when he returns to his school of 300 people (total) in the fall and sees her every day (oy!) but that is how he chose to play it. Librarian...god knows. School...I heard rumblings today that he was pissed about something that happened in his program but I don't have details. I can say that Kenny's rumblings, and most anything Kenny related, is heard loud and clear through all of the GSD. A loud crash. Kenny. A sharp peal of laughter followed by "Yea man!". Kenny. A nuclear bomb. Kenny. I will see if some of that exuberance carries details my way soon.

On the home desk front...I've had time to snap the latest in my ode to messiness. Below is the model I was talking about earlier along with a million other things I just can't find the time or desire to clear off my work surface. I'm in hog heaven.

















My butt mate by comparison keeps her desk pristine. Care to comparison shop?



But now I must away to dinner. The guilt is in full swing though so keep your eyes peeled. More on the way. BB

in demand

Hey all...so I was not so subtley told by Julyne to update my blog...her exact words were, "ummmm, update your blog lady". And since I'm so accomadating...well. Here I am. But there will be no photos today. Just a down and dirty update.

First of all, I was briefly in NY last weekend. Which rocked. But threw me out of the Boston/school mode a little bit. So let's just call last week a wash as far as school goes. I was here and we all worked but none of us liked the assignment that much and by Friday I was ready for several beers and a long nap. Which I got. This week is much better. It's all about how messy can Brittan get. Today I am making a model for our latest project (model making, I've discovered, is something I love) and it requires a LOT of cardboard and elmers glue. I daily scrub my fingers trying to delete the gummed up mess of paint and glue and god knows what else from my nail beds before heading home. As I've been prone to say, "God made dirt, and Dirt don't hurt." But it doesn't always bode well for eating out at fancy restaurants. Not that I'm partaking of fancy meals while here. But I'm just sayin'.

What else....last night I went to a Boston Red Sox/Kansas City Royals game at Fenway. Franklin is back in town and he and I cheered on our respective teams (I rooted a bit for both, I admit...) but alas, the Royals lost...much to the joy of the rabid fans that packed the stands. I highly recommend a trip to Fenway for anyone visiting Boston. Old School kickin' it baseball style. Way better than any fancy new stadium I've seen in my limited baseball viewing life.

There is a lot more to tell but I need to get back to the model at hand....I promise to be more prolific with the blog in the next week and a half. And then, sniff, it's all over. Crazy!

Talk to you all soon. See many of you soon as well. B

Long train coming...

Ok, ok...I have been remiss in my blogging duties. But I'm here to make up for it. So let's get started, shall we?

First, what day is it? Week? Month? How long have I been here? Two years? Just three weeks you say?! Impossible. Already I am folded into the fabric of this crazy process. A few highlights from school since we spoke last...

I haven't talked too much about Eric, one of my podmates, but he is the oldest in our group....52 for those counting...and Career Discovery is his vision quest. And man is he having a good time. The whole department was invited on a tour of the Mount Auborn Cemetary in Cambridge (yes, they need Landscape Architects too) and Eric was so enamored of the sights that he looked like this....



















for the duration of the field trip. If he could fly from happiness right now I'm sure the Cambridge police would be getting calls from confused and slightly scared residents everywhere.

I should also add that he and Kenny are best buds. Eric says that Kenny reminds him of himself when he was younger. And somehow I believe it.

I don't have too much new to report on Kenton (Kenny's birth name). The librarian might still be in play but it does not stop him from trying to impress other young things in the studio with his committment and zeal. He and Eric are known to pull late nights/early mornings in the studio and should that impress the Santa Barbara blonde in the pod over, well, he's ok with that. The real drama will begin when his old girlfriend visits at the end of July. Will the dust settle on a victor for Kenny's heart? Stay tuned.

And onto the work itself. It's been very rewarding but the hours have been grueling. As most of you know I am not a morning person and well...this program is forcing it out of me come hell or high water...just so I can get everything done. Our latest project required coming up with a temporary (year long) installation at a harbor front property in Boston that for the life of me...well...here is the...




before







and my proposed after...






and the model I worked with to get there...






Again, I know it doesn't look like much...so why did it take so *&$#@! long to get it all together?! We saw the site on a Monday and had two weeks to concept and create the final product before crit this past Friday. I can only say I am humbled, happy, and glad to have made it through.

Speaking of being humbled and happy...Team Franklin visited last week which also contributed to no blogging. He has seen the pod and can attest to all of the craziness of which I write. He even met Kenny! Now you know I'm not making that guy up!

And to end on a Kenny note (because really, you need a thread in these things) my friend Curt back in NY made me extrememly happy when he told me that he had started greeting a select few with "Ca-Caw!" To all of you I say, "Ca-Caw!" And see you soon hopefully. Your podmate. B