The Traveling Millennial


I admire a lot of the products of critical regionalism and the works of the architects we discussed in class (Siza, Utzon, etc.). It was also mentioned in class that our generation understands architecture in a different way that is not in line with the aspects of critical regionalism. We are so heavily influenced by the imagery of architecture (like photos on Instagram) and our visual knowledge of it that we may only be incorporating these characteristics of critical regionalism as an afterthought in our projects in school. 

I think that traveling and actually being in these incredible works of architecture can start to help with this problem. However, although the study abroad program at Clemson is a great asset of the university and attracts students every year, I think that this is not enough. So many students that attend these programs have never even left South Carolina besides these 4 month trips to Europe. This argument goes back to my blog post earlier regarding architectural education and integrating practice into the experience. Living and working in different cities all over the country or world exposes students to the culture, climate, light, materials, etc of that place and can translate into their design.




Comments

  1. I completely agree,
    visiting the places definitely has a major impact on our understanding of spaces, that we cannot get through flat images on screens.
    Apart from managing finances as a student, I will love to visit more places.. haha

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  2. I think for an undergrad and a graduate student though, the way we experience a place is definitely different. I loved the fact that we had a mixed class of older and younger students because it gives the class variety. But I found in my own personal experience, the professors in Barcelona really tried to get us to embrace the culture and incorporate the attitudes there critically. Instead of just "using ceramic" because it is used traditionally in Barcelona, they wanted us from the very beginning to “understand ceramic” – its properties, its limitations, and its opportunities to be more than just a brick. “Understanding ceramic” leads to critical regionalism where, merely “using brick” is the “simple-minded attempt to revive the hypothetical forms of a lost vernacular” (Frampton) – something I think Barcelona is struggling with.

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  3. I also agree with you. One thing is to quickly visit a place and another one is to experience a place in detail and learn how it changes with people and weather. It stops being just a pretty object to a learning experience.

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  4. I think this is so important. Similar to Michelle, I thought that being able to study and learn from architects thats know the Barcelona or Italian culture so well, allowed us to have a deeper understanding of the materials but also the culture. It definitely gave me a better understanding of the idea of critical regionalism.

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