architorture || info

Film's Mission

Architorture is a documentary that captures five diverse students in a single studio at one university throughout the entirety of their thesis project. The film will convey a mere sliver of time, wholly representative of the experience to create a student’s paramount work. The footage will illustrate the range of emotions and process of this extremely intense period at the conclusion of an academic career. It is our goal for the documentary to possess educational, entertaining, realistic and inspiring qualities in response to the dynamic world these students cross.

Synopsis

Tapping their feet and chewing pencils, five students nervously await the outcome of five tumultuous years of intense labor. In moments, they will hear from their committee of professors as to the final decision of their senior thesis projects. The documentary Architorture follows these five students and their struggles over the course of their final semester at a university to complete their projects, which are the manifestations of years of hard work, stress and, ultimately, success.

As a film, Architorture captures the turbulent final semester for five unique architecture students as they struggle and succeed in this rigorous program. The documentary focuses primarily on the diverse characters, each with a strong personality, as well as their interactions with friends and faculty, and the projects they are creating. In an environment where students spend multiple days in a row locked inside the studio, often with only a toothbrush and design supplies, dramatic interactions are commonplace. The audience gets an in-depth look into this creative yet competitive process and the conflicts that arise from immersing oneself into the passionate pursuit of academic achievement.

director's statement

The profession of architecture deals with the design of spaces for people. As an architect you study how people interact and respond to space in order to provide a better understanding of the spaces you yourself create. Architorture is a documentation of this study which happens to capture Architecture students and their interactions with one another within the studio environment.

The idea came about early into my fourth year of study as a student of Architecture. I was on pace for early graduation and had completed all of my required design studios. I opted to take a graduate studio as an elective course. It was my first glance at the studio environment as an "outsider". I instantly realized how amazing the process was and how wonderful of a story it was. My classmates and I had always struggled to convey to others why we dedicated so much time and energy to our creative studies. We were never able to successfully explain how unique the studio setting was. It is here where my interest in documentaries collided with my captivation with this architectural process.

We have since evolved and elaborated on this idea to ensure that the integrity of the story and studio process is preserved. The film is merely a mirror of this process and aims to reveal two things. The act of sacrificing certain aspects of one's live to strive for a goal fueled by dedication and the desire to succeed. The second goals is to shed some light on the profession of Architecture and tell the little known story of the road to becoming an Architect.

Sustainable Initiative

To explore environmentally sensitive alternatives throughout the entire filmmaking process that are sustaining to this project's needs.

General Notes

In 1875 Mary L. Page became the first woman to graduate with a degree in architecture. Although a lot has changed since then, there is still a significant disproportion of women to men in the professional environment. The progress is obvious in the educational world, where 1 out of 3 architecture students are currently female. However, in 2003 the National Architecture Accreditation Board (NAAB) revealed that only 13% of registered architects are women. Many statistics suggest that although more women are receiving architecture degrees, there are still gender barriers to within the profession.