Every now and then we will feature a current student at AAP NYC to get a bit of an insight into the people that make the program, their experiences and interests. Today we will be featuring Ami Mehta, a fourth-year B.Arch student currently participating in the Product Studio at Cornell Tech.
SS: What do you love most being in New York?
AM: “Umm…I really like learning about people’s specific lifestyles. I think its super cool and interesting. For example, there is this woman in east village, and she has a bookstore that specializes in 1960s vintage cookbooks. And yeah that’s her job. The fact that you can be anyone and do anything is awesome and learning about that and being exposed to that is great. There is also this other store in Brooklyn that specializes in carrots and all the carrots are arranged in a rainbow. It’s like amazing!”
SS: What have you discovered about architecture while living in New York City?
AM: “Architects tend to believe that they have a lot of control over how the building is being used. But I think New Yorkers beg to differ. Over time, the use of buildings becomes owned by the people in the city and that there is so much diversity and unexpectedness in the way spaces are being used. There are houses being converted to museums. There are museums being converted to houses. There are buildings being renovated and reused etc. There is this whole cycle of added layers that the original architect never expected or designed for. In that way architecture can be a lot more surprising and we tend to underestimate that.”
SS: Tell me more about your Product Studio experience.
AM: “I really enjoy being able to place myself in a completely different context and learn about what I have learned in architecture. Architectural education is something that you subconsciously absorb, and it is difficult to understand them until you start practicing them. Some of the soft skills that I gained in architecture are communication, synthesis, distilling ideas and staying focused; simple things that are valuable. I also really enjoyed seeing how my teammates perform the same skills in different ways because of their backgrounds and learning from them.
What I dislike is not so much what I don’t like but it’s more of a mentality of optimism and believing in your team and the product you are designing despite the iterative process. It is something that is difficult to do and is easy to be overwhelmed by but it’s perfectly natural. I’m having a good time.”
SS: What do you wish you had in NYC that you don’t in the moment?
AM: “Um…hmm…we have everything! We have great housing and a great campus in NYC. We have the best of both worlds. Living on Roosevelt is great, it’s like we get a break from Manhattan and our campus is at a great location too.”
SS: You have about one more year at Cornell. How do you wish to spend your time? What do you wish to explore further?
AM: “You begin every semester thinking about what I could do more of. But this time, I want to do more thinking about what I could do less of. As young students the mentality is of more of this and that, but I really want to focus on exciting myself and engaging more people. That would mean devoting more time to my interests and keeping a peace in my mind rather than having severe FOMO. A part of that is just enjoying the day to day more rather than worrying about what I will do next.”
SS: Your best NYC moment?
AM: “Seeing people go out of the way to be kind. It was a sunny day and an old man on the street needed help crossing the road. And this wonderful lady went out of her way to help him out. This other time, a woman on the train overheard us that we needed to get off at this stop and she reminded us when we forgot. In another incident, a homeless woman on the train was sitting in the corner. A homeless man who got on the train the stop after her lovingly greeted her, and they got off the train arm in arm. They looked very happy. And yeah things like that just make my day.”
SS: If you were to look back in time, what is one thing you would tell yourself as an incoming freshman?
AM: “Your self-worth isn’t tied to anything external, simply being alive means that you are worthy. Other people’s expectations and your own aren’t as significant as you might think they are.”