Fight or FLIGHT or Draw All Night

Option #1. Grab the nearby 2x4 and smash my current model and rip up my drawings.

Option #2. Go home and get some much needed sleep.

Option #3. Grab the parallel bar (or mouse), some thick trace and keep going. Until the sun rises. A shower can wait.

It was usually #3. Working a solution, hitting a ‘design wall’, then starting again.

Wait- where is that sketch I did 2 hours ago? That one held promise… Do I use canary trace or white? No, this sketch calls for cold press watercolor paper. Rats, my leadholder is missing. And who borrowed my adjustable triangle? Grrr…

This is one of the story arcs of my undergrad and graduate architecture studio experience. Making the commitment to stay at that drafting desk until, well, I had the beginning of some thing that resembled a form or a mass or, dare I say it, a base building.

Fool that I was to believe that it would end after my time at UK, OSU, and UPenn was completed. The projects for the firms at which I worked became a little more complex, and the deadlines were not as forgiving. The initial excitement at starting a new design soon faded into the panic of seeing that design to its conclusion.

It would be disingenuous of me to say that much has changed through the years in working as an architect- student or professionally. What I now realize is that there was/is only one option- choice. My choice. And while I took some pride in working so hard, I could have- and at times, maybe I should have- selected one of the other two choices.

The catchy title of this post is actually a revision of the name of one of my favorite songs at the moment. So, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Eirik Bøe (one half of Kings of Convenience) from the band Kommode. The song is infectuous and the video is clever. Come to think of it, dancing all night would have been an option.

But I got no rhythm and two left feet.

*The sculpture is a lucky find from 15 years ago at a little shop in Reykjavik. And check out Misc Goods Co if you like the incense holder. The amazing incense is there too.