Skate Break: A New Pair of Shoes

By Ryan Northcutt

We spent a lot of time last semester running around like chickens with our heads cut off. Well that’s been over for a while, which gave all of us grads plenty of time to sleep, rest and refresh. At this time we are all ready to lace up those brand new running shoes and do it all again! It might be exciting but it’s going to be one long run, but at the end it will be a sweet victory. As we test our strength we start stretching, warming up for what is to come ahead...

            Always looking back is never a good idea, but taking a glance is a good healthy reminder of where you were. We move forward into the final stretch of our graduate life here at Southern, hopefully learning from out past mistakes and putting our best foot forward, making this the best project we will ever do, until the next one after that. That is always the case as we come closer to getting our masters and becoming masters, logging those 10,000 hours of experience. Well that’s enough metaphorical talk.

            Personally I am really excited about this final school project. My thesis is geared towards my likes and interests and will utilized much of my “expertise”. Now I can’t call myself an artist in a traditional sense, but I did read The Art Spirit and I believe as a future architect and student in architecture, what we do could be considered an art. I have spent some time thinking about my thesis topic and would like to say I will enjoy myself. Now as a refresher, or if I haven’t said before, I choose to do a high rise residential living building that accommodates artists and design. My main objective is to exercise the essence of the materiality. I would have to say that I am most excited about my site. I choose to design my building in Kansas City. I have only been to Kansas City once, but the time I went, I loved the place. The city is nice and clean, plus there are some large firms out of Kansas City, for some future hopes. But to say the least, this is a good home for my design.

            To start summing things up, I am personally excited about my design, I believe it will turn out really nice. As for everyone else, I believe we are all going to do well and have great designs.