Ole English Architecture

ohh dammit, the English system....

I did my Architecture BSc back in Malaysia. It was tiring.. filled with sleepless nights and the nights that I did sleep was under/on/around a drafting table. It was packed. They cramp in so many information into a five month semester. And you'd get two of those every year.

So, naturally after four years of that i was drained and needed a change of scene. I applied to continue my studies in the UK.

The system here is different. They don't treat a year as having 2 semester but instead treat it as a single study year. Meaning, there's only 1 final submission a year!! Easier right?

Furthermore, a degree in the Malaysian system would have you do an urban redesign project [think city planning] in the 1st semester, a freaking high rise in the second semester, and a building complex project in the final year [goes thru 2 semesters].

Now, lets look at the English system ; For the first year, I had to design a component [component e.g brick or cladding panel system] and an architectural installation. In the final year I would probably have to design a large building.

lets put that side by side

---Malaysia--------------English-----

1. City Planning--------Brick/panel etc

2. Skyscraper ---------installation

3. Building complex ---Large Building

need I show you the gap of difference and complexity?

But somehow here I'm struggling more. Because we are doing much much much less complex projects.. the level of detail that they look into here is much much much more. Say spending three months on a brick for instance [in comparison to a city]... in those three months they would have you explore the contents of the brick. Break it down into its core materials yada yada. Not enough with that.. they're gonna ask you about the emotion of the brick. What would you feel if you were touching the brick? What if it were a whole wall of bricks? Were not even studying it from an engineering point of view.

The first tutorial for the installation, i tried my best to keep it minimal.. i proposed two walls.. and a step. Their comment : they are too many things going on... [wtf? it's just 3 planes].

The architecture here is much more arty. More artistic. Like they say, its harder to do less.

...and i am not arty.... i am not artistic.. so please god, help me.

p.s. I'm not sure which is a better education system though. I don't know how being more artistic is going to help me in the working world..... a topic for a whole different posting.