It's time for a blog post with an update of what the school year brings.

I have 4 classes I'm taking. The college cancelled 2 classes i was registered for, 'construction documents' and 'ethics and practice'. They claimed they couldn't find a teacher.

So, the classes i do have are, studio that has focus on integrating building systems, a building technology class that will focus on different building system types and applications, urban design theory and principles, and a course on Landscape Ritual and Archaeoastronomy.

It should be an interesting semester.

Our first studio assignment is a case study. We we're told to work in groups and my group has been assigned the salk institute. It's an interesting and very simple building. It's very straight forward and i like that. They want us to map out and identify the physical and aesthetic systems and their arrangements.

For our technology class we are going around our architecture building and mapping out all the systems in the building, structural, lighting, heating, cooling, circulation etc. So we can gain an understanding of the logic behind their placement. There are 2 buildings we have to map, one is an older one constructed in the 70's i believe. It houses the admin offices and a the 1st-3rd year undergraduate studio. It has been through numerous remodels. The other building is our newer building which was completed 2 years ago. It contains the graduate studios and 4th-5th year undergraduate studios. It also houses the wood shop, metal shop, and digital fabrication lab. The labs are a mess because a solar house is being constructed that is going to be entered into a national competition. The house is supposed to be completely self sufficient. Here is the link to our school's entry http://www.uasolardecathlon.com/