Education as the battle between ideas...

I recently reflected upon my education for Marlboro College's "After Marlboro: Stories of Recent Graduates Off the Hill." Text below...

To me, interdisciplinary study supports the battle between ideas. The skirmish of my Plan of Concentration at Marlboro College was between disciplines with writing, film and community architecture. I have gone on to study in an “interdisciplinary” architecture masters program based out of Brandenburg University of Technology, Cottbus, Germany, called Architektur.Studium.Generale. But now I realize that interdisciplinary study does not translate easily between different institutions. Not all schools support the ideological battleground.

my abstract for "architecture and the political" conference

I will be presenting a paper at the Lebanese American University in Beirut, Lebanon, at a conference called "Architecture and the Political: The Fourth International Symposium on Architectural Theory."

Below is the abstract that I submitted to the conference. The final paper will vary somewhat from the below..

on a donkey's trail

I am on a student's journey. Years ago I traveled across the US, and over the last year I have traveled through Europe: Germany, Estonia, Portugal, Poland, Austria, and Spain. My body has moved through space. I am in a graduate program that takes me to these countries, working with faculty in different cities, and producing many architectural projects.

My mind too has gone on a kind of journey. This journey may have not been as visually observable or prescribed by the graduate program. However, my mind has taken highways, flights, trains, and paths. I have explored many directions. I have tested ideas. I have met new philosophies. 

Resisting Shock Urbanization

We must reconsider the role of the architect today because society has serious climatic, political, and economic crises. Climate change has exacerbated hurricanes tearing apart cities and droughts driving people off their farmlands — resulting in the largest human migration in history. Cities urgently need to be built and rebuilt.