"Don't try to finish things, try to communicate things" and "it's not your building" are my big takeaways. Oh! and physically rehearsing as well, haha. Cheers guys.
I would also say rehearse as you are doing the drawings so you are thinking about what you are saying and hopefully that is communicated in the drawings as you are doing them.
Saint Kevin and Andrew, Savior of arch students around the world. This has been super helpful. And will for sure guide how I plan my presentation I have soon. Also found the dude that waved as he rode past pretty funny.
Dang, that was all good advice! I wish I had understood the importance of communication more at Uni. Design your presentation. It’s as important as your actual architectural design… allowing your jurors/ clients to understand clearly - what… why… how. Brilliant.
In the past I've often fallen into this trap of just talking about my process from start to finish, "I was interested in this, so I did this, then I did that..." until I only had a minute left to talk about the actual project. Being conscious about the fact that people are putting time and effort into listening to you really helps prioritise what information is important vs what can be left out. Thanks for the video!
I have been watching your videos during the pandemic 2022... it made me ponder on my 25years in architecture...and how i just forgot to internalize my critics before and after the thesis presentation in the mid 90s. You just made it soo simple and objective "To Keep the main thing...THE MAIN thing" while we stitch it out in drawing and words...our mediums. Thank you.
Such an under considered element in architecture school. It wasn't until I was asked to help on a jury in 5th year, that I finally understood the importance of a concise presentation, which clearly explains the why, what, how. Great video guys!
Yes. Learning to critique others is where you would learn about presentation. That’s why I force my students into that situation when run studios so they can see and learn for themselves
Great content as always guys - I wish I knew this in my uni days, but is still very applicable to professional practice too! I think as a student there is some leeway to have an uneven presentation (not tightening all the screws gradually) if you deliberately explore one particular aspect / drawing more than others as a learning exercise.
Yes and no. It does come across as not having explored other aspects of the design and therefore opening a huge weakness to be exploited (easy lazy target) by jurors.
Your guidance and advice has been so helpful, straightforward and logical over the last 2yrs of my Masters, and it's made quite a difference to the way I've approached my projects. Final presentation next week and that's the end of it all. Fingers crossed.......Just wanted to pass on my thanks and appreciation.
As always, an awesome conversation. It feels like I'm there with you. I'm a recent graduate, would love to learn more about design presentation aproach to clients and how to communicate (or persuade) them to buy your design ideas. cheers.
Great episode as always! Yeah as you said people want to know what you CAN DO. I just finished the "Design Fundamentals" series and it was full of good stuff, The one that I liked most was "The main thing". I seriously like the way you guys represent these ideas, as someone who intends to enter Architecture school in the next few months, I learned a lot & so glad that I found your channel. Thank you :)
Excellent advice guys. I would add that a good project is about asking good questions. Make sure you clearly communicate what questions and ideas you are addressing at the outset. The project is the outcome of these questions.
All great information. Students would be remiss if they don't listen to this over and over on repeat while in studio. The analogy of tighten screws is great. I use the idea of a spiral ramp keep bringing all your work up level by level so that no part falls too far behind.
Great video! You´ve spoken about all the fundamental things to consider. It´s like a spinal cord or a trunk where we have a lot of ramifications to go deeper with the rest of the videos. I totally agree with you, as architects, we need to communicate efficiently. It´s perhaps the most important skill. How to communicate what we are proposing, not only in architecture school. This is a long journey and University is just the beginning. (Clients, workers, colleagues...we need to learn how to engage them with our proposals) Another point I find extremely important is to avoid speaking about what is unsolved yet. You´ll have further instances to think. And even if you won't, don´t dig your own grave. This applies to exams too, once you talk about something that is not clearly shown in your presentation, people are going to ask about it. Be smart!
Seriously great discussion gentlemen, with ideas and advice that apply more broadly to any professional practice. (Also loving the sunny travelogue through North Fitzroy/Westgarth.)
One thing that I wish I knew earlier about architecture school is how flexible the criteria are at the end of the day. I'm such a rule-follower that I got hung up on the list as per the unit outline rather than using the best tools to communicate my design. I also got unreasonably angry about people who didn't meet the full criteria but got more positive feedback. I've said it in my own videos, and you say it here too, that design never stops so you have to draw the line at some point and then just execute the drawings/models in the lead up to presentation. Better for your sanity and sleep too 😉
P.s. commented too soon! My strength was always my model making so that's where I spent time - though I always left it until last because I enjoy making models so much and wanted to have the drawings just done.
final drawing requirements drove me insane at my school. We'd have a whole list of drawing that we needed. quite a few wouldn't drive the point of the project across. Sometimes none of the drawings they required would display a certain concept and we'd add a different drawing or item to show the concept, but we still needed all the initial drawings that didn't speak to the project.
Question: as critics...how do they decide who gets the flying colors or just passing grade, granted all is well in the presentation drawings and communications of design... seamlessy outstanding thesis.
Quality and depth of work. Also factor in the complexity of the design idea, as if it’s gymnastics or diving where there is a factor of “degree of difficulty” of an executed move. For those with higher degree of difficulty, there is more leniency towards how resolved the project is and for those with not too difficult idea, then we want to see a lot more resolution and refinement