天美传媒

Seven days of the Triumphal Arch: Winterim 2012

The wall of triumphal arches.

Just after the New Year, the 天美传媒 welcomed eleven students to the 2012 Winterim Professional Intensive.  This year’s group came from seven different states and was comprised of practicing architects, architecture students, interior designers, two doctors (a first, for sure), and even one Winterim alumnus ‘11.

A plaster cast model of the Roman arch at Aosta served as inspiration for the seven-day Intensive.  Through the lens of monumental triumphal arches, the instructors were able to provide students with a sweep of classical architecture from antiquity to today.

Appropriately, this included a tour of the arch in Washington Square Park and the one at the helm of the Manhattan Bridge.  (Unfortunately, this also included having to walk around the city on probably the coldest day we’ve had in New York this winter.)  Despite the weather, the group traipsed downtown and stood at the Washington Square arch while Michael Djordjevitch spoke about the history of the park and its surroundings, from Henry James’ Washington Square to Jane Jacob’s triumph over Robert Moses.

Winterim at Washington Square Park

The group then made its way to the Manhattan Bridge to examine the masterful triumphal arch by Carrère & Hastings.  Unhappily, this beautiful structure serves as the mouth of a highway, though it could not be more obvious that it is meant to be admired while standing with two feet firmly planted on the ground.

At the end of the walking tour, with the images still fresh in their minds, Michael Djordjevitch assigned the design problem to the students: an imaginative reconstruction of an attic for the Roman arch at Aosta.

Students worked on their designs during the Orders & Elements Design Studio taught by Michael Djordjevitch and Steve Bass, while the rest of the week was consumed by a rigorous course of study: Literature and Theory of Classical Architecture with Marvin Clawson; Traditional Drafting by Hand with Seth Weine; A Comparative Study of the Orders with Martin Brandwein; Architectural Wash Rendering with Andy Taylor; Linear Perspective with Patrick Connors; Theory of Proportion with Steve Bass; Observational Drawing with Angela Cunningham.

The week ended with a vernissage on the evening of Sunday, January 8.  An informal jury (Richard Cameron, Barbara Eberlein, and Joel Pidel) selected four top designs and awarded the students with a copy of The New York Public Library published last summer by W.W. Norton.

After a full week studying the great masterpieces and immersing oneself in the language of classical architecture, the work that students produce is always distinctly inspired.  When everyone—students, instructors, and staff alike-can finally take a step back and appreciate the designs tacked to the studio wall and the sketches arranged on the desks, there is a sense of awe at all that has been accomplished over just a series of days.

Congratulations to the students whose designs were recognized by the jury:

Jennifer Gibson Bruce Lanier III
Wendy Posard Joseph Tralongo

Congratulations and many thanks to the talented group of eleven we had this year:

Pablo I. Altieri (New York, NY) Troy Barney (Hampton, VA) Paul Estipona (Elmhurst, NY) Jennifer Gibson (Philadelphia, PA) Bruce Lanier (Birmingham, AL) AJ Michel (New York, NY) Robert O’Grady (Pittsburgh, PA) William Pordy (New York, NY) Wendy Posard (San Anselmo, CA) Lisa Teters (Fort Worth, TX) Joseph Tralongo (West Palm Beach, FL)

Intensives serve as the beginning of a journey, and one that we hope our students, past and present, will continue with us, wherever they must return to when the short (but intensely scheduled!) week is over.

Winterim 2012

For information about our next Professional Intensive, please visit our website.