In the Fall of 1996: Architecture Department at Rhode Island School of Design
According the ‘The Telegraph’ Architecture school has a drop out rate of 7.2% which puts this path of study at the 8th highest for student drop outs. I feel like that number is a little low. Architecture programs are notorisously hard and some people just can’t deal with that level of stress. My program started with over 100 in the sophomore class and by 5th year we were to 60 maybe 70 students.
Over my art school education I pulled a lot of all-nighters. I found that I got more done without the distractions of the day: less people around, less going on in general and I was just able to function better. By 5th year at RISD my ability to stay up had been honed like a battle tested sword and I started documenting my nights in charts and in a series of Polaroid photos. During this specific semester in the Fall of 1996 I tallied 36 all-nighters.
This was the year of my degree project. Every Architecture student must create a self-initiated project from concept, pitch and execution over their final year. The Fall semester is the pitch process–but you are still completing other course work so it’s like doing two full-time studios at once.
My all-nighter rules are as follows. If I was awake at 6AM, then I had officially pulled an ‘all-nighter’ and at some point between 5AM and 6AM I took a photo. The situation would vary, but more often than not, I was in my studio at the Architecture building.
There are a few tricks that I can impart on staying up late. First, you have to eat. You can’t eat at dinner time, say 5PM, and expect to survive until 6AM on caffeine. You have to have 2nd dinner or at the very least multiple snack breaks. Caffeine is a huge help of course, but I always found that augmenting that with sugar was a great turbo-combo. Sugar gives you the short burst, caffeine the longer burn and real food for the duration.
During this time I started to skew away from traditional Architecture processes. I started using painting and collage for my drawings. I was creating some unusual models with gelatin, mold making and found objects. I wasn’t making most of my professors very happy. Some encouraged these activities, but that was kind of rare.
You’ll notice that most of these photos are just me. A lot of people stayed late at the studios, but most bailed at some point to get a few hours of rest. I never really found that worked for me. I’d end up sleeping half the day and just throwing my schedule way off. My plan was usually to leave the studio around 6AM and go get a good breakfast and then act like it was any other day and continue on.
At some point during the semester, we submitted our proposals for our degree project and a handful of us (9 if I remember correctly) were told that our proposals were rejected. This group, which I was proudly a part of, declared ourselves, “the Rejects” and I started posting around the building with messages to display our displeasure.
I would break my work down into two main categories: thinking and execution. Thinking work consisted of detailed drawings or concept work. Execution work was the brainless execution side, where I knew what I needed to get done. Thinking work was scheduled for the evening. Execution work was always saved for the early morning hours.
My degree project proposal needed to be re-worked after my rejection and it took an interesting turn. I moved towards the idea of reclaiming unused (or under utilized) public space for a greater good. I was inspired by Keith Haring, Burnside skatepark in Portland and David Hammons. Each of these inspired me to take action in real life–not just in a hypothetical school project. My first real-world test was inside the Architecture building. There was room on our floor that was commonly known as the worst room for critiques. It had some 70s-style carpeted step seating and poor ventilation. I did a survey of the students and asked what they wanted in that space. The results: a bar and an art gallery.
Over a long weekend, I destroyed and rebuilt that room as the first part of my new degree project. The Architecture department was not pleased and I was called to the office promptly the following Monday.
Nothing really came of my antics, aside from the fact that I received a very poor grade on my degree project. This set me back some and I had to make up some credits–but eventually I got my diploma and life went on.
Studio time, especially the late nights, were easily a highlight of my college years. There were heated debates about the work, which music was playing, food and coffee and lots of laughter. We worked really hard and everyone was so earnest about what we were making. Life was much simpler then.
I still stay up super late, often until 2 or 3AM. I may have broken my internal clock during my college years–who knows? Or maybe I’m just one of those people who can function with very little (or zero) sleep. I don’t really worry about it, I just do my thing and if I feel like staying up and continuing then I do just that.