I could not be more content with the outcome of the AAVSLA workshop. I Joined the workshop for two main reasons.
- I saw the big names teaching the workshop(I still need to meet Marc haha).
- I was interested in meeting and learning from people around the world(biggest reason).
I was interested in joining before I even knew what the workshop was about. I trusted that it would be good since Alvin Huang(link) was the director.
Favorite part of the workshop
-The people. The workshop consisted of completely different individuals at different levels. Some were 2nd year under grads like me and some had their PhD’s. It is not every day that individuals of such different levels get to work together. I took advantage of this and asked those with more experience than me plenty of questions. There is so much that you can learn just from conversation.
-The TA’s. Normally it is very hard to keep up in tutorials(especially grasshopper). The TA’s were great because I could sit down 1-on-1 with them and learn at my own pace. Kevin Chen(get a website Kevin!) and Ismael Soto(link) were awesome and you need to check out their work.
-The faculty was alright too haha(check out their work if you have not done so).
-Grasshopper MAGIC. I came into architecture with an artist’s background. My art work is very influential on my ideas and I have had trouble bridging my art side with architecture. Until I do I will not be truly content with my work. Adam Marcus had some tutorials that got me very interested in learning grasshopper. I always knew that grasshopper had infinite possibilities, but this was the first time that I was actually interested in the work it could produce. He showed us work from Andrew Heumann(link) who created a Grasshopper plug in that can help create 2D drawings. Andrew recreated modernist's style art through digital tools. This does not automatically generate art for you, plenty work must be done in illustrator to create something nice. Check out some of Adam’s work(link). I see lots of potential in this idea and I plan to push it.
-Writing. I was actually a little bit skeptical about the writing part when I read about it. I am not too comfortable in that field and I was not really sure about it. Daniel Rigo(I spelled her name wrong on my first blog post -_-) ..Danielle Rago(link) was very helpful and taught us the importance of writing and designing. Writing is important because it helps depict your design idea and intent and it is vital to the culture of showing work. Writing and Designing should be done together.
-Learned. I learned so much. I am a better designer and I am more comfortable in using Maya and Grasshopper. I had no prior knowledge of using Maya and I know how to use it comfortably. I still have plenty of work to learn Grasshopper. That is were Kevin will help. I offered to help him build his thesis model if he can teach me grasshopper in return.
-Friends. I connected with a variety of people and I have some good friends all over the world. My friends are from Waterloo, Melbourne, London, Bangkok, Mexico, Vancouver, Detroit, Santa Monica, Los Angeles & China.
We had a Potluck on the roof top of Alvin and David’s offices. It had a beautiful view and it was a night full of beer, food, and small talk. It was a chance to celebrate our work and connect with everyone. I am so happy with the turn out of the workshop and I suggest that you all try it out some day. The benefit of the workshop is the time duration. I have taken a couple two day workshops and it is a little hard to take in all the information in a couple of days. Two weeks was enough to produce good work and really take information in. Thanks AA!
