Year 1, Project 1: "Line with 3 Corners"

Assignment: Create a line with 3 corners on a 7 3/8"x7 3/8" piece of white Bristol paper.
Length of time: 5 days

Seems like quite a simple assignment for the first thing I'm ever doing in graduate architecture school, right? Not quite. Granted, I wasn't up till 4 in the morning every night pulling my hair out over what "MY" definition of a line is, but it was still a challenging assignment for the reason that we weren't allowed to ask ANY questions. The project was completely up for interpretation.

I started by asking myself the simple question of "what is a line and what is a corner?" My definition of a line isn't necessarily 1 single solid, connected form. As long as the viewer of this "line" is directed in a path or direction, I consider it a line. For example, a bunch of squares placed next to each other at close enough proximity could be considered in my book as a line. A corner, I felt, is a physical  or mental connection of 2 lines or points that creates a feeling of surroundedness, not openness. Can a curve be a corner? ABSOLUTELY!

Along with this assignment was an assigned reading in which I found a quote that really tickled my pickle: "Try to grow straight and life will bend you." From this quote I got inspiration to make my line somewhat of a timeline. The "bends" in life can happen at any time; youth, middle or old age. This is where the "bends" in my line occur creating the 3 corners. The pen weight signifies and emphasizes the bends. In my opinion, we tend to distinctly remember things that greatly effect us, which is why the interiors of the corners are so bold.

Overall I thought it was an intriguing and though provoking yet simple first assignment. The best part though was the pinup. Imagine 45 people crammed in a small jury room and your professor announces you have 5 minutes to make the straightest line he's every seen with our assignments....then he starts playing the soundtrack from star wars. This is making people LITERALLY start to sweat. I have a tape measure in my hand yelling at the person on the other side of the wall "52 INCHES.....IT'S 52 INCHES OFF THE GROUND!!!" Finally the music stops, we barely get them up in time, and we notice a bunch of students from Design 3 in the back of the room. Steve (our professor) tells us they are here to help him "weed out" some people. He asks, "let's just start off with the basics of the assignments, the requirements. Does anyone see a project that doesn't fit the basic requirements." I point to an assignment and inform him the paper is way too big. Steve walks over, unpins it from the wall, and crumples it up and throws it on the ground. Everyone's mouth is WIDE OPEN and I quietly ask myself "what the FUCK!?" Another girl points out a project on the opposite side of the wall that has the wrong colored paper. Steve walks over, unpins it, rips it up and throws it in the air. Unfortunatly, the rest of this story I can not repeat, because I absolutely can not ruin it for all the students coming in NEXT year. =P