“The hardships that I encountered in the past will help me succeed in the future” - Philip Emeagwali
ARCH 3233 is the subject code for Building Utilities 3 Lighting and Acoustics. Architects are not only responsible for the exterior design of a building, interior design is also essential. This includes the planning of lighting system and proper acoustical treatment of spaces. This proves that Building Utilities 3 is a very significant subject.
Due to some schedule issues, we were almost two months late in our BU-3 class. On July 28, 2016, we finally started with our new professor- Ar. Eric Baño. My first impression was this class would be different from the typical set-up because he is different from our previous professors. Our first activity was the “Brochure Hunting.” It was about collecting some brochures for lighting and acoustical materials. We were tasked to classify them in CSI format and make a BLOG. Yes, you read it right! We had made three blogs for the whole semester. It’s unusual right? I didn’t imagine that we did such thing as a schoolwork. Back to brochure hunting, it was our first time to do this kind of thing. We got to explore the outside world, away from our comfort zones, and got to meet and communicate with other people. It was tiring but very fun experience indeed. On our second meeting, our grades in Blog no.1 was revealed and we were shocked of the results. Some of us failed, most of us got 3.0, and luckily I got the highest grade of 1.5. I think it was because we have different understanding of what really the task means. I have read several blogs about Korean food, Korean skin care, and Korean beauty products so I have some idea of what a “blog” should look like. Well, it was certainly our fault because we failed to follow this golden rule “Don’t speculate, assume, interpret… ASK questions.” We should think critically, ask questions, clarify and verify the task given so that we could avoid errors. In real life, it is time and money that you’ll waste for every mistake that you’ve done. To wrap it up, our second blog is about our first ever quiz and CSI Naming and for our third blog, it is about lumen calculation and acoustics.
Let’s now talk about quizzes…heartbreaking quizzes…huhuhu TT_TT It’s embarrassing but I only passed once (most of us I think) out of 4 quizzes. It was like a quiz bee competition in difficult round, literally. The rule was, you should get a score of 70% to pass. So for a 20-item quiz, you should get a score of 14 to pass the quiz. Meaning, there was no difference if you got a score of 13 or 0 because you both failed. The questions were purely applications, you should certainly understand the lessons because reading and memorizing it is not enough. The quizzes were really harder than concrete hallow blocks…hahaha. But an unusual thing also happened. One of my classmates, he normally doesn’t study for quizzes, maybe because of lack of interest and determination. But due to poor performance in his previous quizzes and blogs, with high probability of failing the subject, I was really shocked when I saw him for the first time, studying hard for our last quiz! Amazing! Hahaha. But the thing was, he only scored 13…close enough! Hahaha. See, the quizzes were very life changing.
We also did reporting of our chosen topic about acoustics. We were limited to 7 slides, just make it direct and powerful. Honestly, I really regret for not doing my 101%, for not giving my full effort. It’s not because I’m over confident that I’m going to pass the subject, actually I really lack in self- confidence and that’s really my problem, I’m only good in expressing myself through my works but I’m trying to overcome it as early as now. Talking and communicating is two different things. Architects communicate not only through their works but also by socially communicating to their clients and/or associates. Good work is nothing if you can’t express it by communicating confidently.
Lastly, for our final requirement, we were tasked to design a home theater, music room, recording studio or any other space that has lighting and acoustics. Rendering is the hardest part for me. It took me several days to finish rendering. After a day, my laptop was on coma due to overuse hahaha. Luckily I have a computer engineer brother to revive my laptop xD I did not meet the deadline but I still passed it even there’s a possibility that it will affect my grades but at least I have given my best because I don’t want to end the semester full of regrets.
Grade is just a number, but the learnings and experiences that we had is what matters the most. I will still choose the long path over the shortcut… even it’s hard and may take a longer time, I will just think of it as a journey to success. And more importantly, putting your heart on everything you do. To my classmates, I know that all of us gave our best to do well in this subject. Do not regret because all of our efforts were never wasted. Having high grades is nothing if you do not have good personality. The most important thing is we have the perseverance, and determination to accept the challenges in front of us. On behalf of the class, I want to express our heartfelt gratitude to our professor, for giving us an extraordinary adventure. It’s our first time to have a professor like you. With your high standards and way of teaching, we took it as a challenge. Maybe if you’re our professor from 1st yr. to 5th yr., we might be suma cum laude hahaha. You always push us beyond our limits. The hardships that we’ve been through will surely help us succeed in the future.