It’s almost a month into the semester, so introductions will have to be brief: I’m Ryan. Being a third year grad student (it still feels weird to say that) I can present my perspective on all the happenings in the AAP NYC studio as well as what’s happening in this great city. First, a little about myself; I wasn’t as thrilled as most to be doing a semester in NYC. Before the rotten tomatoes start flying, hear me out: I’m from Toronto also a big city (by Canadian standards) and it took me almost three months to fall in love with campus town Ithaca but when I finally did, I fell hard. I became incredibly comfortable with the small town lifestyle. Going back to Toronto made me realize how much I love my home and how much their juxtaposition complimented each other – the two cities were a young romance. New York is the introduction of Veronica into this love triangle of cities* – this complicates things.
The new york comprehensive studios are taught by Dan Kaplan and Susan Rodrequz for the grads and Shigeru Ban for the undergrads. Our comprehensive studio is to propose new facilities for AAP NYC (our current location being a temporary lease) and our predetermined site is on the High Line, specifically 19th street and 10th avenue. The intention of having a New York studio is to, maybe in vein, comprehend this complex city – and the High Line is, at least, not the over analyzed World Trade Center site most New York based studios would default to. The studio professors are incredibly well situated practicing architects in the city and tempering their knowledge with site visits, office tours and guest lectures makes this a comprehensive studio in more than one way.
This being my first post, I’d like to lay out the format of reoccurring future categories I will report on; events at the AAP, design related events around New York, the design studios and notable architecture site visits. Looking forward to future reporting!
*you can thank my brother for the Archie reference