I only had 3 years of experience as the design thesis studio coordinator.
The last session just ended and now we are in exam week and this is my review on the Design Thesis Studio 2010/11.
When I first met this group of students in May 2010, before they left for Korea, it was with Kevin and a discussion on the topics ensued. I had an impression that this batch was ‘weird’. Yes, weird can be good.
Fast forward and now my verdict is that this group is full of brave souls. After going through the Malaysian Board of Architects (LAM) visit and the External Examination, I can clearly say that this batch has ticked all the boxes and surpassed my expectations.
It was not an easy ride because I told this batch, that I had this ‘monkey’ on my back, which is the meddling by the Department, ie Kevin was left out in the original lecturing team and I was just flustered and had to shoulder on and moved on. It was a relief that we got him back because it was an essential ingredient to get this batch up to scratch and to fulfill their own expectations.
What got me in the end is the sheer brevity of this group. The fact that the projects that they undertook was mostly “unsafe” projects. I had to deal with this problem with the last previous two batches. Of course the first batch (2008/09) had even more safe projects than the last batch (2009/10).
I have written before about taking risks and it clearly showed that this batch were full of brave souls taking risks. They just push headlong and with their hearts defied the fact that they will be scrutinised so much due to the LAM requirements expectations.
I want to congratulate all of you for defying the odds.
