When given a good work space, students can make good stuff.

The title will make sense in a minute.  Promise. 

My cousin's firm, Michael Willis Architects, happens to share a LEED certified renovated building with several other companies and workspaces.  One of those "others" happens to be the University of Oregon's Architecture Program.  Michael suggested I make my way up to the 5th floor to check out their work for their final critiques.  He forgot to mention how insane their workspace is.

I'm talking state of the art, beautiful huge space where each student gets their own semi-private built-in workstation with pin-up space in a room filled with light from floor to ceiling windows.  Did I mention they have a laser-cutter and 3-D printer?  I tried to keep my cool, but I think some of the students might have started to wonder who I was as I stood in the corner drooling.

This picture does not do it justice.  I felt a little creepy snapping pictures of their space, but I had to share this with my classmates.  I wish I had a picture of our space to compare the desk table that I have to work on to this.

Anyway.  The title.  When given a good work space, students can make good stuff.  Their designs were beautiful.  Their models were amazing.

On my little exploration day in the city, I also visited the AIA building (American Institute of Architects).  They had some student work on display from the University of Oregon.  This featured both conceptual and architectural drawings and models. 

This is the AIA building from the outside (also LEED...)

So, needless to say it was both inspiring and humbling.  Go Ducks!  I hope that I can take some of this inspiration and apply it to my thesis work for this upcoming school year. 

[Side Note: This is the first full week of my 3-jobs-6-days-of-work-week-week.  It's not even Friday and I'm exhausted.]