By Faith Eckley
While speaking to fifth-year architecture student Annie Squire Southworth about her experience as an architecture major at Thomas Jefferson University, we sat at her studio desk surrounded by models of miniature cities and large architecture textbooks, all complete with the monitor on her desk displaying a complex-looking 3D model of a digital building. “So this is where you end up when you say you are heading to the studio?” I asked Annie. Annie told me that she spends a minimum of twelve hours a week in the studio due to her required three-day-a-week, four-hour studio classes, not to mention the extra hours of work she spends in the studio working on projects and other tasks. As a law and society major who had never stepped foot in a design-major building, I felt I had unlocked a whole new world on campus. Annie views her studio space as a place where she can solely focus on work as the studio provides her with a desk monitor, places to draw, and a way to disconnect work from home.
Source By Annie Squire Southworth
The Architecture & Design Center is the studio and class location for many of Jefferson's College of Architecture & the Built Environment students.
Annie and I discussed her major in a Q&A:
Q: What are your classes about?
A: “In studio, we create one to three specific design projects a semester that follow guidelines for sites and clientele. The classes we take, in addition to studio, focus on learning the skills and software necessary to complete those studio design projects. Jefferson gives us a wide range of classes and software experiences because architecture firms worldwide use different technologies. Jefferson prepares us for our careers by giving us a range of experience.”
Q: Describe the architecture program in one to two sentences.
A: “Jefferson’s architecture program is about learning how to learn and teaching other people what you have learned. Many of our classes focus on understanding our own thought processes and how to visually and verbally describe them to an audience.”
Q: Does your major allow a good balance between school and life?
A: “There is a negative preexisting connotation that architecture is such a rigorous and time-consuming program; we are chained to our studio desks with no time for life outside of school. I think that mindset is very harmful because we tend to manifest a life that follows that stereotype. Still, that lifestyle is unnecessary to be a successful architecture student. With proper organization, time management, and commitment to your coursework, it is completely possible to have a manageable work-life balance. As a student with an off-campus and on-campus job, I have been able to find a complete balance with my studio and other coursework related to my personal life.”
Jefferson offers a wide range of majors and programs that allow students to pursue their interests and talents. If you are interested in being interviewed for our Major Spotlight series, send us a message to get involved!
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