Roller Coaster Studio

Roller Coaster construction is determined by the site, and from the process that Alejandro Zaera-Polo describes, the design process was a roller coaster ride in itself. The geometries and structure of his project were changed several times throughout its duration, with the final product differing greatly from the proposal. He says that he would not have been able to adapt to the new versions of his design if he had not broken free of the standard architectural design conventions.

As I read this article I could not help but relate much of it to our studio. The most literal interpretation being the constant ups and downs, good days and bad days that fill our week are similar to that of a roller coaster. The other, related to a comment that some seasoned architects refuse to learn anymore because the have developed their own style and that's what they choose to work with. Sometimes our studio critics try and make us work similar to themselves, giving out certain requirements that they seem to find necessary. The need for everything to be hand drawn for instance, some critics are stuck in the "static past" of architecture and feel that is all that is necessary. Not to say hand drawings should be thrown out, but a generous blending of hand and computer modeling is the direction that our generation of architects is heading in.

Doctors are always reading and always learning, till the very end of their careers. Architects should be doing the same, there is no reason for them to stop learning. For all intents and purposes, architects are the surgeons of the built environment, designing the skin that covers the earth.