Aaron Sherbany '09
Architecture, Art and Planning
April 4, 2007
Over the past decade there have been several talks of dissolving Cornell University’s College of Architecture, Art, and Planning based partially on the “incompatibility” of the three constituent majors: Art, Architecture, and Planning. As a result, AAP has announced a number of changes which aim to bring the three disciplines together.
As described in my essay last year, Fall 2005 celebrated the publication of Association Volume I, a student-run publication that showcases the work of more than 60 students and faculty and sets the stage for interdepartmental comparison and discussion. To quote our current Dean Mohsen Mostafavi’s reaction to Association, “Our departments have been, historically, strong but fairly independent. One of the topics that has preoccupied some of us is how we can best find ways of collaborating among ourselves and with others.” I was the Layout and Web Editor for Volume I, and I was the Editor-in-Chief for the second volume, which was published in Fall 2006.
During my freshman year, I set out to start a publication that would showcase student architectural work and concepts. However, I was unsure of a specific mission or genre. It turned out that I was not the only student that sought to start a publication. I had heard that a graduate student had a specific vision for a publication which would include work not only from architecture, but art and planning as well. He and I created Association Volume I, and with the help of our expanded staff and submission base, we created Volume II.
Association Volume II contains 45 new submissions. This year we not only collected over 80 submissions from students and faculty, but we accepted submissions from alumni as well. A copy of Volume II was submitted with my 2007 AVF to 103 Day Hall.
My experience as the Editor-in-Chief of the Association publication and website has greatly contributed to my maturation as a leader. Throughout the past year, I have met with students, various faculty and administrators to ensure the production of a high quality magazine. Each successive volume responds to conditions and feedback of authors and readers. Recently we held a meeting with an Art class, which meets regularly to discuss “the book” as a conceptual art form. The forum that we held was a priceless opportunity to get feedback from students and exposed a number of shortcomings in Volume I. Our “mapping” concept for the format of Volume II sprang from the concerns raised by the class.
The concept behind Association is well founded, though experimental in nature. Association Volume I worked much like a “Mix-and-Match” children’s flip book where one can create various combinations, or associations – think: bird’s head with an elephant’s body on a fish’s tail. Volume II was inspired by a sliding scramble puzzle, in which picture elements can be arranged and organized to create different identities within a grid. The second volume consists of a pocket folder which holds 3 18”x25” folded maps. Each map contains 15 projects and accompanying text on the reverse side. Dotted lines represent conceptual connections between the various works, but the fluid layout of the maps allows the user to find their own associations. The publication is a great way to explore communication through design and to break away from more rigid and restrictive publications. As a supplement, I designed a fully interactive Association online, which further explores the concept of the printed publication. The website is hosted at www.aap.cornell.edu/association.
This semester our organization has grown from 2 members to 6 members. We have taken in two graphics editors, a copy editor, web editor, and a person to manage marketing and fundraising. Of course, the driving force behind Association is the broad array of submissions we receive from authors throughout AAP. We are beginning to receive submissions for Association Volume III, which is scheduled for release in Spring 2008.
The goals of Association conveniently correspond to the agenda of AAP’s administration. As with the previous volume, my layout editor and I put together a graphic proposal, which secured all the $8000 we would need to produce Volume II. At $8 a copy, 1000 copies of Association were printed and placed in faculty and student mailboxes. My staff and I worked together to create a more effective book with the same budget that we received the year before. With the guidance of Cornell Graphics Purchasing, we were able to find printing methods to simultaneously cut costs and increase functionality. For instance, producing 3000 18”x25” maps was much less costly than producing 1000 54”x25” maps. Smaller maps focus the users’ attention on the individual projects and they are easier to handle than larger maps. Another way we cut costs was by using a 2-color process on one side of the maps. Functionally, maps are much more versatile than a typical book in that one can cut them into cards or hang them on the wall as posters.
Every member of the college and a few select alumni received the publication. The Fine Arts Library acquired a copy of the book, and it is currently listed in the Cornell Library catalogue. The maps, which double as posters, will be on display in the Business Service Center of Sibley Hall. In the past two years, Association has evolved from a mission into two fully realized printed volumes and websites and from a publication into an official student organization, which I co-founded.
It is very interesting to see how the idea and format of Association evolves from one year to the next. Our aspiration for Association Volume III is to create a temporary interactive installation, possibly around the Arts Quad, which showcases the work of AAP to the other colleges at Cornell. The website component can also be developed so that it is more effective. In the first two volumes, the number of submissions we received by a certain deadline determined the strength and number of the connections we could make. A website which would allow users to submit image and accompanying text data on the fly would create an online AAP community through instantaneous submissions and rolling associations.
Association has found its place at Cornell, and is beginning to shape the face and crucial identity of the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning. This experience has not only exposed me to the work of my peers in the Planning and Art departments, but has allowed me to interact with the authors as well.
As a result of my involvement with Association, I have become a natural and confident speaker. I have learned ways of presenting and progressing my ideas in conjunction with those of my peers. In addition, I have discovered something that my curricular activities do not offer - an opportunity to structure and develop an original project that is truly my own.
