Tag Archives: Design

Brainpower, Fitness, Health

12 Ways to Increase Brain Power For Architecture School – PART 2

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Previous: 12 Ways to Increase Brain Power for Architecture School – PART 1

In the first part of “12 Ways to Increase Your Brain for Architecture School”, I gave my first six life-hacks for keeping your mind clear, powerful, and alert for those long lecture days and even longer work nights.

In case you need a bit of refreshing:

  1. Ditch the sugar.
  2. Get enough sleep at night.
  3. Drink enough water.
  4. Make sure you’re getting enough Omega-3s.
  5. Make nuts your snack of choice.
  6. Enjoy a cup of brewed coffee.

Today I want to continue the chain and add a few more brilliant, effective things you can do to help your brain stay revved in high gear.

Implement the complete twelve in a comprehensive and quantified program, and you my friend are setting your brain for some serious pampering throughout life.  Continue reading 12 Ways to Increase Brain Power For Architecture School – PART 2 →

Attitude, Blog Info - Q&A, Stories

The Start of Something New: A Short Story

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Adam was a tortured freshman in Archi-torture school.

The first semester of his 5-year long bachelor’s degree had just concluded, and as he slumped down in a dazed stupor on his dorm’s dusty couch, he couldn’t quite imagine himself surviving the next few terms.

It’s not as if he hadn’t expected that it would be difficult- it’s just that no one is really truly prepared for the new kind of work and endless projects that come in design school. He thought it would be hard – he didn’t know it would be hell.

“But don’t you guys just draw?”, his high school classmates would ask him when he showed up zombified during their first reunion. He wanted to flip the table – they didn’t understand. Heck, no one outside the circle of the design profession seemed to understand.

“Come on Adam, it’s just a night of drinks. Won’t it like, take you an hour to finish your drawing?”
“You’re just going to make a building pretty. Sounds easy enough”.
“Ooh, architecture. Is that…. like engineering?”
“How hard can it be?”
Continue reading The Start of Something New: A Short Story →

Design, Formation, Principles

Pointers for Designing an AWESOME Room – Part 1 (20 Tips)

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What’s in a “room”? A supposedly basic and elementary term for defining a space, you’d think. As architecture students, you’ll be designing a lot of rooms for your projects. Sounds simple enough – group together some blobs and squares to fit the form you want.

But as you’ll find out, doing so isn’t as trivial as most people think.

A good designer knows that a whole lot of careful thought should be put into each space, considering factors that relate to human psyche, anthropometrics, technology, energy-efficiency, cost-efficiency, comfort, beauty, engineering, and a whole lot of other synthesize-able things.

Don’t believe me? Well then, allow me to give you a few examples of things you might consider when designing individual spaces.

This first post will contain some 20 considerations, and succeeding posts will continue this chain – in hopes of providing you with a more holistic checklist while planning out your spaces. Continue reading Pointers for Designing an AWESOME Room – Part 1 (20 Tips) →

Attitude, Design, Formation, Principles

The BIG 4: Aspects of Architectural Education You Just HAVE to Focus On.

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Today is a short lesson in efficiency – getting the most bang for your buck with regards to your time invested.

Time and effort is precious in architecture school – so knowing where to focus your energy will be valuable in establishing a solid foundation.

And out of all the different skills and courses you’ll be dipping your toes into, there are 4 that I feel you should pay special attention to.

Naturally this meanders into the subjective realm, but these four are the intersection in a cosmic Venn Diagram of all my learning from my mentors’ – which is essentially centuries worth of experience. In other words, by age old wisdom, these are the four aspects that are largely responsible for driving your trajectory forward – both school-wise and career-wise.  Continue reading The BIG 4: Aspects of Architectural Education You Just HAVE to Focus On. →

Attitude, Blog Info - Q&A

10 ESSENTIAL Tips for Drafting Like a Pro (Q&A #3)

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Got an email from Sheena, a fresh applicant in my beloved college org. She has a concern that I’m sure many freshmen in architecture school have: how to combat the woes of manual drafting. Go on girl, take the floor. 

Good day Kuya Aldo! I'm Sheena, an ASA-APP who got your autograph last Hiyas :) But who I am doesn't matter (I'm a freshie who never took manual drafting and art classes before entering UP arki tho).
My problem is, my class for Arch 1 was either free cut, an off-topic discussion, or a lecture of a lesson for the nth time, so I still suck at drafting (especially lettering) and I still don't know how to construct floor plans and elevations and sections. I have only 7 Arch 1 meetings left.
I don't know what to do. I've considered reading books but I don't know what book to start with. P.S. I was so happy when I found about this website! I immediately saved all the articles to my Pocket and I make it a point to read at least one article everyday :D

Continue reading 10 ESSENTIAL Tips for Drafting Like a Pro (Q&A #3) →

Attitude, Blog Info - Q&A, Happiness, Health

9 Meaningful Points on Becoming Happier, Today. (Q&A #2)

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A recurring question I’ve been getting is “What is your most valuable advice for someone beginning or already in Architecture School?”, or something along those lines. So I thought I’d address it in this 2nd parcel of Q&A.

Getting right down to it, my own personal take on this has nothing to do with software or taking a special class. I think that a raging focus on skills training can only take you so far.

Surprise surprise, my most valuable piece of advice for anyone that wants a meaningful time in architecture school is a principle, an attitude that can actually be applied to all aspects of life.

In a nutshell, you could say that it’s become a sort of life philosophy in working towards my life-plan.

It took me over 20 years to really commit to it, but once I did – I never found more fulfillment in all my endeavors.

Related Post: As Promised – My Personal Life Plan at Age 23

Continue reading 9 Meaningful Points on Becoming Happier, Today. (Q&A #2) →

Design, Formation

36 Things You MUST Consider When Designing Your Project

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(Disclaimer: Many of the examples of this post are as per Philippine Context)

For the most part, defining “good design” is pretty much subjective. Each architect will have his own guiding philosophy on what constitutes an effective proposal- so at least on the conceptual level, debating on merits of styles will be never-ending. However, unless you live in a culturati first world society that likes to live dangerously, you have to be sure that your design is safe and liveable. In order to do this, there are a number of key checks I’ve found to be essential when planning out your design. It’s best to consider these early on, lest you realize you’ve made a critical oversight or code breach too close to your presentation. Or worse – to find out during your deliberations itself while your jury grills you on your fatal flaws. Continue reading 36 Things You MUST Consider When Designing Your Project →

Design, Principles

26 Things About Design Process That You Should Know

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Design is a pretty fantastic profession. I believe we’ve already established this. I’ve dropped mentions of it in a number of posts such as: What Does “Designing” Mean Anyway?, How do Architects contribute to Nation-building?, How Do Architects Think? – An Eye Opener, and Know The Difference: How Architects and Engineers Are Wired Differently.

So today I’ll be getting a bit more direct with this thing called Design Process – which is basically the process of designing. Doh.

As an architecture student, you’re going to be doing a lot of designing every semester. So you have to be familiar with what it typically entails, so you can reflect on how to make your methods better.

I plan to eventually get more in-depth with each of the little nuances that comprise each step, so I thought a little primer would be a good starting point for today.

Without further ado, here are some of the basic things you should know about Design Process, in the context of architecture school. Continue reading 26 Things About Design Process That You Should Know →

Design

What Can You Expect to Learn in Architecture School? – PART 4

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This is the 4th part of a multi-part series about “What Can You Expect to Learn in Architecture School?“. If you’ve missed previous parts that be sure to check them out and then come back to this page. Happy learning! 

PART 1: Architectural Communication, History and Criticism, and Architectural Design and Theory.
PART 2: Building Materials and Constuction
PART 3: Structural Analysis & Conceptualization

Imagine a pretty looking building without power, indoor plumbing, lighting, air-conditioning, and sound systems. Would you live in it?

Not so pleasant, right? In today’s contemporary world, we practically run on technology and convenience. Remove all that and it’ll literally be like a 21st century Dark Age. Technological advancement has become the cornerstone of human development, and the way we integrate all sorts of gizmos to our built environment is a clear indication of that.

Which is why you’ll be studying all kinds of building systems in architecture school.

In the fourth and fifth parts of the “What Can You Expect in Architecture School?” series, I’ll be giving you a glimpse on all those pesky (but useful) utility courses that you’ll be tackling in your upper years. Don’t be daunted – you’ll cross the river when you get there. Besides, you’ll be surprised at how fun they can actually be. This installment will give you the down-low on two of the most crucial utilities with respect to the beauty and pleasantness of your designs – Lighting and Acoustics.  Continue reading What Can You Expect to Learn in Architecture School? – PART 4 →

Brainpower, Formation

Read Your Local Architectural Magazines and Get SMART.

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If you’ve never took the time to open up an architectural magazine and browse through the content, you’re hampering your learning potential.

I bought my first two Architectural Magazines with my allowance way-back-when in 2008. I was a giddy little freshman who was both clueless and elated to learn about this new world before him. So as I stepped out of the bookstore I immediately tore open my fresh issues of Archikonst and BluPrint, found a nice seat in the food court, and devoured my new found toys.

To this day, I believe regularly buying and pouring through architectural magazines – especially your local ones – is a valuable learning tool for any design student. Here are some great reasons why you should consider buying some fine-print. Continue reading Read Your Local Architectural Magazines and Get SMART. →