ARCSOC Fresher's Guide 2014 by Oliver Baldock

YOUR GUIDE TO #K100 Your Guide to #K100

Welcome from the President

Arcsoc: Your New Family

Key People For First Years

How the Course Works

Tutorials, Crits, Lectures Time Management Advice

The Studio: Your New Home

When is it open? Etiquette

Where Do We Buy Our Stuff?

The Arcsoc Shop Where else to buy your supplies

Arcsoc Events To Look Out For

Get involved! Exhibition Pavilion Cabaret Talks Films Life Drawing 1st & 2nd Year Swap : Sunday 19th October @ Mai Thai

WELCOME FROM THE PRESIDENT Dear Freshers, Congratulations on meeting all of your offers and welcome to Arcsoc! We thought we'd give you a little advice before you arrived here in Cambridge to hopefully ease any uncertainty you may have about the course and what you need to do before you arrive. As you may already know Arcsoc is an entirely studentrun society responsible for running many events throughout the year including talks, films, life drawing, club nights and the summer exhibition. We hope to make the lives of Cambridge architects more enjoyable as well as running events to improve our understanding of the subject. We are always looking for people to get involved with everything we do, so throughout the year make sure you sign up to help with the events we run. If you have any questions you can ask us on the 'Cambridge Architecture Freshers 2014-2015' page on Facebook. This will also be kept up to date with any information you need when you arrive. Finally, make sure you come and say hello at the Freshers' Society Fair on the 7th and 8th of October. If you are unable to find us there, there will be plenty of other opportunities to sign up. Look forward to meeting you all in October!

Alex Baker [Arcsoc President, 2014-2015] 4

ARCSOC: YOUR NEW FAMILY

Arcsoc is the University of Cambridge Architecture Society, led by students of the BA Tripos in Architecture. We are an entirely student-run initiative, whose efforts each year culminate in our annual exhibition held in London. As you will soon find out, there are very few architects in the University compared to other subjects. This means whilst there may only be two or three of you in each college, the architects soon become very good friends. With the various trips abroad over your time here and the collaborative projects you will work on, both Arcsoc and the architects will hopefully become your new family. Make sure you take the time to get involved in everything we do and you're bound to enjoy it. We may work hard, but we party harder! 6

KEY PEOPLE FOR FIRST YEARS Julika Gittner (First Year Studio Master) & Your Tutors Your tutors are the ones who set you design work and give you feedback in bi-weekly Tutorial sessions. At times the work can feel overwhelming, and the feedback can be tough, but don't let this discourage you! You will feel genuinely proud of the sheer volume of work you produce over this year, and the tutors are the ones that push you this far.

Emily So (1st Year Co-Ordinator) Emily is responsible for organising the first year course reviewing course content, coordinating site visits, the Naples trip, inviting critics to reviews and liaising with the examiners. She is on hand to answer any questions on the course.

Stan Finney (Faculty Computer Officer) Stan is your go to guy for all your IT and printing problems. He works superman-hard to make sure we get all our work done and printed before deadlines!

Clive Tubb (Workshop Supervisor) Clive manages the workshop, and will happily help you out with any model-making advice. Be good and tidy up after yourself in the workshop, and return any tools!

Alan Baldwin (Chief Custodian) Alan is the man to ask for any questions about the department and - more importantly, if you can steal major resources from the skip outside.

Your Lecturers For questions on the theory section of your course, your lecturers are the most knowledgeable. Use them wisely.

Your DoS (Director of Studies) Assigned by your college, your DoS meets with you twice a term. Their role is to mainly check you are on task and provide you with any academic support.

Your Supervisor Again associated with your college, your supervisor sees you once a week to go consolidate lectures, and set you work such as reading or essays. Your supervisions are ideal for revision and clarification.

HOW THE COURSE WORKS Tutorials, Crits, Lectures Over the course of your degree, your studies will be divided into Studio work (60%) and Theory (40%). Studio work is all things design - drawing, modelmaking, building. You work on a project for a period of time, during which you will receive feedback via tutorials (with your tutors) and 'crits'. Critiques or 'crits' are a chance for you to present your project development to an audience of internal and external experts, who will help you push your design forward. You will hand in a portfolio of work at the end of the year which will be assessed by a team of examiners. Theory work is based on 5 lecture series which help broaden your more general knowledge about architecture. Your Theory mark comes from your written exams at the end of the year. Be sure to keep on top of your subjects as the year goes on - you will only have time to look over notes between portfolio hand-in and exams!

Time Management Advice The Cambridge course, let alone architecture is an intense one. But remember that your health and happiness come first! You will spend late nights finishing work but try to set yourself manageable goals for the time that you have. Do not expect to ever 'finish', but make sure you have the representational tools to show what your design is about.

THE STUDIO: YOUR NEW HOME When is it open? By default, the studio is open weekdays from 8am-5pm. A third years must volunteer as a 'duty student' so that hours can be extended to a maximum of 10pm on weekdays and on weekends. studio is generally open when you need it to be, but remember to notify a third year in advance if you particularly need the studio open, eg the night before a crit, or on the weekend.

Etiquette The studio is a friendly and social environment for First, Second and Third years to work together. It is, above all, a workspace though, so please be considerate of other students. Be mindful that Second and Third years have their tutorials in the studio, and that keeping your space tidy is important to your neighbours.

WHERE DO WE BUY OUR STUFF? The Arcsoc Shop The Arcsoc Shop is an informal, student-run provider of your basic architectural needs. We stock highdemand products such as cardboard, paper and glue.

ARCSOC SHOP

We aim to keep our prices low, and any profit we make goes back into Arcsoc to help make the exhibition a success.

Shop reps are around the studio to sell you anything you need, and if you prefer to pay by card, you can make your own purchases on the website.

http://arcsocshop.weebly.com/. Feel free to come talk to us in studio or email us if you have any questions/feedback!

Where else to buy your supplies Though we try our best to meet students' needs, there are some items we do not stock, due to the nature of their demand. In Cambridge Tindalls, your local art shop is a 15min walk from studio. http://www.tindalls.co.uk/ For model-making there is London-based 4d model shop: http://modelshop.co.uk/ Amazon also do very good deals for bulk buying.

ARCSOC EVENTS TO LOOK OUT FOR Get involved! Everything Arcsoc puts on is to benefit the architects, since it is run by the architects. However, it is us running it, that means when we are preparing for events, all to raise money for the exhibition, we have the potential of an 120 strong workforce, if everyone participates. The more everyone puts in, the more we get out, and the bigger and better our final exhibition will be. So get involved at every stage and you'll enjoy yourself even more when everything comes together!

Exhibition The Cambridge Architecture students run their own summer architecture exhibition under the patronage of Arcsoc. It's a chance for you to share your work with the specialised public as well with your friends and relatives. It's a beautiful environment to interact with relatives and professional architects and reflect on your year's work. We encourage all students to participate in this special event. It's very rewarding, and great fun working alongside friends in a relaxed atmosphere in the break.

Pavilion Pavilion is Arcsoc's brand new branch which creates temporary structures for public events in and around Cambridge. Be it a busker's stage, underground life drawing cavern, or a soup kitchen with a contemporary twist, pavilion offers the chance to realise a proposal at life scale.

Cabaret Arcsoc is proud to call this event one of the biggest and best parties in Cambridge - invite all your friends! As in most of the Arcsoc run events the really exciting part is that you can actually get involved in organising it! The annual themes are quirky and imaginative, which makes the set design all the more exciting. Not to mention putting together your own crazy outfit!

Talks Arcsoc Talks invites architectural and design leaders to present their current work and practices. Speakers share insights into their design processes and projects, helping to provide students with a stronger understanding of professional work beyond Part 1.

Films The weekly Arcsoc films provide a different perspective on architecture through a variety of short films and movies to work alongside your course and inspire you for projects. Check out the Arcsoc page or posters around the department to find out what's playing and when.

Life Drawing Every Friday 7-9pm, life drawing sessions in the department are a good way to relax and exercise your drawing skills.

1st & 2nd Year Swap : Sunday 19th October @ Mai Thai Join your classmates to meet the 2nd years for a night to remember! Get to know those you'll be working with. A must for freshers!.