Code of Ethics

In theory class, we talked about the obligations, responsiblities, and expectations we have as architecture students. As a class project, we were to determine a code of ethics for our school. When discussing as a class what the School of Architecture's code of ethics could be, these thoughts came to my mind:

What do I expect of others? What do I expect of myself? What do I see as valuable within the school to hold it as an attainable value for future, prospective students, not just my current peers? As architecture and interior design students, we should be able to not only talk about our world views, our studio culture and its values as designers, but we should be able to talk about our standard of excellence. The relationships between students and other parties, such as other students, teachers or even the facilities of the school, is the basis for having an ethical statement and a conversation about what we expect and also what we are responsible for.

I believe we have obligations to ourselves, to our university, to our community as our environment, and to our profession.  We have an obligation and responsiblity as students to learn as well as to have expectations and hold obligations toward the School of Architecture and it's academic resources.

First, we have an obligation to ourselves to take advantage of all the resources around us. And in doing that, we "push the envelope" on our quality of work. After my first year at Tech, my motto was as follows:
To the measure of greatness I put in is how much I will get out. 

Also, we have an obligation to our university. Should architecture students have the responsibility to apply their education to the campus' physical environment, like a journalism major publishes a piece of writing? I believe that to a certain extent it is a valuable lesson of humility and reality.

I believe the university has the responsibility to give us an ultimate vision on what they think an architecture/interior design student should acquire to be, besides just guidelines to drafting and AUTOCAD skills.Don't get me wrong--I believe we have an obligation to the university to learn and absorb the vernacular and the educational skills required to work out in the field one day. But, ultimately, more students would stay knowing that this program is more about our ambitions to others, to the university as a whole, to something bigger than themselves than just gaining all the best computer software skills because you want to make good grades. There should be a balance, I think.

Also, I think we have an obligation to our community and its well-being. We are probably not the only major who studies on improving the "world around us", but I wouldnt' know. I had an engineering class this quarter and I gained another perspective; I had a environmental psychology class, and I gained another perspective. Who wouldn't want a well-rounded student working with them? I know LA Tech would be proud to have them represent the school.

The Ruston environment is our back yard. The community of Tech and of Ruston should be our study, research and application on improving the environment, whether its green implications, landscape and site studies on how to preserve as much original "earth," or becoming the go-to for professionals or business owners on how to apply a greater shopping experience so their profits go up. I don't know, we should have the opportunity to come up with what part of town we would make connections with and maybe what city events we could volunteer for. All in all, our responsibility to our profession won't seem so separate from the previous obligations stated. I mean, we shouldn't we blur the lines between those and what is expected of us in our community, in our school, in our classes (to ourselves) be the same for the profession??


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8dSQE74uL4 this video is in two parts and it's called The Good The Bad. it's about the difference between one student who follows the code of ethics and one that doesn't. (after the first couple of minutes, i think you get the point...the music choice is hilarious!)

http://www.grewdesign.com/blog/pivot/entry.php?id=17 this is a blog by a licensed architect. in this entry, he talks about ethics in the architecture profession. I found it very interesting!

Studio Culture

No sleep.
What to eat.
What's phenomonology?
13th floor.
It's 5 o'clock.
Got a sec?
No more dots.
What do you think?
Energy drink.


Studio.
It's a concept.
It's a culture.
A library floor.
It's a language.
It's a night club.
A storyboard.

It's Cane Sauce.
89 cent tacos.
Gas Station coffee.
Sunset reminds.
Another day.
Sucked in.
Computer screen.
Studio Culture?
What ever do you mean?

What Makes a House a Home

One sentimental object of value that has gone with my family no matter where we moved growing up was my grandfather's glasses. He passed away when I was about seven years old. My dad is one of nine kids, and they were all given one of their father's personal items. My dad came back from the funeral at his hometown in Puerto Rico with his dad's glasses. After all these years, my dad still has it in a case in his dresser drawer.


So, growing up in a very unique log home, one significant piece of furniture to my family is the dining table my parents bought for their first apartment after they were married in Hinesville, Georgia. My sister and I are using it as our dining table in our apartment in Ruston today. Growing up in a military home, the table has been in every picture and now is part of the new memories with me during my college years. 
I grew up in a construction zone. For the ten years we lived in the 1-1/2 story log home, I can remember always having my parents take on a project to renovate the old 70s decor. The living room had red carpet, a petrified wood fireplace that reached all the way to the 16' ceiling loft, and a mural on the opposite wall. The furnace in the kitchen was wood-burning and the kitchen and living room could be seen from upstairs' balcony. The upstairs bathroom was all blue and the downstairs bathroom was all pink: the entire bath tub/shower, the sink, the toilet, the countertops, etc. That and the velvet wallpaper had to have been the hardest things to deal with in changing the home to fit our taste. After all the paint, new flooring (got rid of all red and pukey-green carpet), bathroom renovations, our log home, interior and exterior make-over, was definitely part of all my greatest memories there. Because of the work, I knew every inch of our home. My sister and I had the best hide-n-seek spots and the best time making our "forts" out of the dining room table chairs we have now and large bed sheets.


I am not gonna lie, seeing the log home when we were first moving in was not love at first sight. It smelled like cigarette smoke in every inch of the house. The wood-burning furnace, the mural behind the cast-iron staircase, and the petrified wood furnace were the only things I fount fascinating at the time. My parents' hard work worked in their favor and after a year of trying to move closer to my dad's job, they now live in a home that needed no interior or exterior work. My parents took up gardening because of the large back yard with no fencing and no pets to draw paths in the grass. Now, my favorite place is the garden and the large french doors that lead out to the back patio. My greatest memory in the new home is the night we moved in: it was the Wednesday night the Boston Red Sox won the World Series!! We heard it over the radio as the four of us moved in all the furniture and boxes in all by our lonesome! I slept on a mattress with no sheets, but I slept like a baby that night.