Bridge 5: Learning Portfolio Reflection Post

My name is Autumn Breeze Mullin. I’m 18 years old and I was born and raised in Durham, North Carolina. I come from a large family, having six siblings, who I adore. All my life my parents raised me to follow my passion, which just so happens to be Architectural Design.

I’m currently a freshman at Parsons School of Design, planning to major in Architectural Design. Ever since I was young I’ve been interested in any type of building I came across. It stems from watching my father build an addition to our house. Watching him raise every wall and place every brick and then finally seeing the finished product and how proud he was of it made me want to do the same thing. In addition to being interested in architecture, I also crochet, sculpt, and draw cartoons. I’m extremely interested in anything I can make with my hands.

In writing my research paper for my last project I realized how much I needed to improve my writing techniques. I was challenged by finding information and using it in a way that seemingly got my point across. I enjoyed writing my paper because I admire Frank Gehry who is one of the inspirations I have for architecture.

When I began planning my research paper I immediately knew who I wanted to write about. The feeling I get when I see Frank Gehry’s buildings is like no other. To be able to create something such as 8th Spruce Street is a major goal in my life.

I began by giving the reader a brief background of Frank Gehry so they understand how his work is a product of how he was raised. I wanted the reader to be immersed in Gehry’s work so I wanted to use very descriptive language when speaking about the buildings he’s created so they could visualize what he had done.

I wanted the reader to want to know more about Frank Gehry after reading my paper. Being able to outline previous assignments helped me write this research paper because I easily knew how to outline my work and then go into the actual research aspect of the paper and keep on track. Although there were some kinks in my planning, having some sort of plan, in general, helped me a lot in writing.

Studio and Seminar were linked in such an interesting way. By having both on the same subject of how to express an idea(eg. Peer to Peer), but having one class make you express your ideas in a visual way and the other express it in the form of writing was intriguing and made me think of new ways to develop ideas so that they can be shown on different platforms.

One of the most important projects in studio to me was our Peer to Peer photo essay. I’m what I like to call a social introvert. It’s very difficult for me to put myself out there to new people but when I’m forced to I open up and can be quite social. In studio our project was to create a photo essay about an assigned person. In doing this project I got to know Finn walker and what he’s interested in. Likewise in Seminar, we were assigned a person to write a paper about. I wrote about Valentina Elarba Sanchez.  She shared with me intimate moments that made me see her more than just an acquaintance.

One of the next projects linked by Seminar and Studio was recreating the game ‘Masterpiece’. This was a challenging assignment because we worked in groups. Each person in the group relied on the others to pull their weight and complete their part of the project so that it all came together well. We made a board game based off of making memes using a collection from MOMA. Overall it was a fun task that easily carried over to give a presentation on in Seminar.

 

The last project for Seminar was to choose someone who is an inspiration to you. I chose Frank Gehry who is one of the most well-known architects of our time. To write this paper I used the New School library archives to get scholarly articles regarding Frank Gehry. I loved seeing his sketches. They’re almost comical in a way because they’re so messy and simple compared to the groundbreaking structures that he has created. The last project we made in studio was linked to the research paper we wrote in Seminar. Using the same person we researched, we were assigned to create a diary of that person. Using all of the research I had from the paper I was able to put myself in the shoes of Frank Gehry and create something that I think he himself would create.

I think in general I was able to create an image of Frank Gehry that compels people to learn more about him and be interested in his work like I am. In doing research instead of just writing a paper based on what I already knew, I was able to learn a great deal about Frank Gehry and rightfully inform the reader as well.

Conclusion:

Generally speaking, I believe that all the projects have helped me grow in a variety of ways. Over the entirety of the course the projects grew in their level of difficulty respectively. The project that affected me the most was the peer to peer project because it pushes you out of my comfort zone and it forces you to learn more about the people you surrounded by every day. Regarding Research, I think the most important things I learned were, to get information from certified sources, and to read through as many different articles even if they’re not specifically what you’re looking for because there may be certain unexpected aspects that you could use when writing.

For next semester and beyond I want to keep exploring the concept of combining writing with visual aspects to create new works because although visuals are usually enough to stand on their own, having words to express your thoughts is great.

This project generates another in the sense that I want to take my old projects and recreate them and really keep developing new ways to create and add on to things rather than forget them.