Studio Culture In College

What is studio culture? When we hear about studio culture in college, the thing that comes to most of our mind is architecture student. Studio culture is the experiences, behaviors, habits and patterns found within the campus-based architecture design studio. The studio is the life of an architect. Studio is the place where all architecture students have many vivid memories that characterize their design studio experience. Late nights, exciting projects, commitment, extreme dedication, long lasting friendships, long hours of working, punishing critiques, unpredictable events, a sense of community and personal sacrifice is what studio culture is all about. I have decided to do my ethnographic paper on the Architecture students and their studio …show more content…
Each studio is under 3 professors and each professor has 20 students each in a studio. Each student has their own desk and a chair in the studio. Most people use the chair given by the studio, but some brought their own chair which is more comfortable than regular chairs. Each desk is medium sized. Each desk has a lamp and cutting mat attached with it. Few people decorated their desks. There are 8 rows and each rows have 8 desks. There are 4 desk attached together and then space in the middle to pass from one row to another. There are a lot of spaces in front and to the side of the studio. There are a lot of tables to the side which contains all students’ projects that they designed and built since the beginning of the semester. It was about 10 pm when I started my observation. At that time, there were about 40 students in the studio working on their final design, which is due the next day. Even though most students were in the studio, the studio was not that noisy. There was some music playing around. I heard some music coming from many desks around me, but it was not really loud. It was nice, peaceful which helped me to focus on my observation in a positive way. But most people had their headphone on. The air was fresh. The atmosphere around the studio made me feel like I am sitting in a restaurant looking through a window while eagerly waiting for my ordered food to come! It was really enjoyable. After observing the studio …show more content…
He has a lot of friends in the studio. He said, “Studio is like my home. I spent most of my time in the studio. All my best friends are in the studio. We are like a little family in there. Studio makes me forget that I am living away from my country.” Everyone in the studio is really helpful. Friends are always the 1st critics that you need before showing your project to the professor. Friends are always there to help them, give them ideas and to figure out something complex. For example, one day 30 minutes before their due dates one group were not done with their building, in that time of crisis everybody from studio gathered around and helped them to finish up the project just before the due time. When I asked him about pulling an all-nighter, he told me that all-nighter happen because of two important reasons. First if somebody didn’t work hard all semester, therefore, they have to make it up before the due dates. Second, (which happens most of the time) because of the changes professor advised them at the last moment which they don’t have time to change for, that’s why they have to stay up all night to finish up the project. He believes pulling all-nighter distinguishes them from all other majors; this is what makes them unique, because the architecture students are able to handle all the difficult situations and able to adapt as demanded by the professors or even their customers as an architect after graduation. His advice towards the