What have we learned?
There are many people who have said it before. There will be many to say it after. You are not your job. You are not your discipline. You are not your GPA. You are none of those things. You will not all learn in the same ways. You are greater than the sum of your parts. Thank you for making the sum of my parts so much greater.
I never got a chance to ask you all the most important question I've asked every young artist, architect, designer or engineer I've ever worked with.
There are many elements to what you do. There is historical reference. There is context and site. There are material choices. There is geometry. There are human factors. Tectonics. Craft.
What is the most important element of your work?
LOVE!!!
Not that you need to love everything. Not that you need to love what I love. But the single most important element in your work is that you love what you're doing. This is a macro and micro filter. Your choices, which are always yours and you are always free to make, should include the overwhelming sense that you love them. You believe in them. Everything else will come into place. So from your career to your window mullions, love what you do.
See you around...
PPS: If you any of you want to know what we're really up to, read THIS.