STUDIO PRESENTATIONS: PREPARING FOR ARCHITECTURE CRITIQUES

     Architecture critiques can be nerve wrecking no matter what year you’re in. The feeling can be worse especially if you’re not a public speaker yourself. Though, this should not prevent you from not liking architecture. Presentation come quite often, you will present not only for your studio but for almost for every class you take (history, systems, thesis, electives, etc). These tips are to guide you on what to expect and help you prepare for your next architecture presentation

1. REVIEW WHAT YOU’RE GOING TO PRESENT

      There are those who say ”How can I prepare to present, when I don’t have time?”, or ”I need to spend more time with my project”.  For sure, that person might be spend a little bit too much time on the details to their photoshop render, or finding the right format for their architecture board presentation. Allocating even just one hour on what you’re going to present is going to help your presentation skills. This would also help when you are presenting while you’re in the work field. 

2. REVIEW YOUR PDF PRESENTATION BOARDS 

      Always. Always. Always. Review your presentation boards, there will be that infamous presenter titling their project ”Pubic Library”. Please review your presentation boards, because not only is it embarrassing but unprofessional. Think about it – you are presenting this to your professor, peers, and professional(s). You do not want to be remembered as  ”that presenter with the public library presentation”. This can be really distracting, and you may loose focus if you see people chuckling in the crowd. Remember to spell check your presentation boards before they are printed, because these are going to be documented. 

3. ALLOCATE TIME TO PRINT YOUR PRESENTATION BOARDS

      A mistake that many architecture students make is to print their presentation boards at the last minute. For some professors, they will give their students a deadline to turn in their presentation boards before the actual presentation. That way, you will not have an excuse to be late for your presentation because you were stuck with printing traffic. For some professors, they do not have a deadline, so students end up working on their presentation or even working on their model. You have to come prepared because for sure 1 or 2 hours before your presentation, you will fall in the line of printing traffic. The solution to avoid this is to set a deadline for yourself or your group to finish all presentation graphics the night before. That way the next morning you will be prepare to print and have a couple hours to review your presentation!

4. PREPARE NOTES OR A SCRIPT FOR FORMAL PRESENTATIONS

      Be prepared with bullet point notes or a script. This can really help especially when you are not a public speaker yourself. Even though it is good to have a script with you on hand try not to rely on it too much. Remember you have to know the in’s and out’s of your project.

5. BE PREPARED TO PRESENT TO PROFESSORS AND/OR PROFESSIONALS CRTIQUING YOUR PRESENTATION

      Your studio professor might ask another professor of their choice or a professional that may specialize in that specific studio topic. They will sit throughout your presentation and analyze your physical model. These critiques can be either good or bad, so just do not take these architecture critiques personally. So it is really important to see it as a way for improvement for the next project, so you can get better. Always keep an open mind!

6. PRESENTATIONS ARE PUBLIC

      You’re architecture studio, professor (s), and anyone from the architecture school would be sitting in your presentation. That’s why  it is better if you’re prepared, then you looking back and saying to yourself ”I should’ve done this” or ”I should’ve said this better”. Remember this is your final presentation, and you want to do well especially when you want to impress your professor with the amount of work your did!

7. IN A TEAM PRESENTATION, CHOOSE THE PERSON WITH DECENT TO VERY WELL PRESENTATION SKILLS OPEN THE PRESENTATION

      Yes, this is definitely not that generation where hand drafting was the way to do drawings anymore. Architecture students and practitioners spend most of their time on the computer – BIM Modeling, photoshopping, presentations, and video conferencing. They will always be on the computer screen.

8. INDIVIDUAL PRESENTATIONS: YOU KNOW YOUR PROJECT, YOU ARE THE DESIGNER – BE CONFIDENT TO PRESENT THE CONCEPT

      Individual projects should be really fun, especially since you’re in control of the design this time. Remember if you do get stuck on what to present, always start off with your concept.  Also, ask yourself these questions: Who am I designing for? What am I designing and  how does that tie into to this demographic i’m designing for? How will it benefit the community?