July 16, 2009
Where do I begin? Today was amazing! I worked with Mr. Harold Olin who was a pupil of Mies van der Rohe at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). He gifted one of his drawings to Studio Gang and he wanted to fix his name on each of his drawings. Harold Olin also wrote a textbook for college and university students. The book is also used at architecture and construction firms. I learned some valuable lessons from Mr. Olin. He explained how each of his drawings was very different. Some of them did not even make sense and could never be built, but that was how Mies taught. Mies believed that this was the way to learn--to combine several different ideas and learn how to make them work and how to reform them. The drawings were extremely detailed and I could clearly tell how much time and effort Mr. Olin put into them. He mentioned how important it was to learn how to draw and sketch quickly. Mr. Olin used to work with the Chicago Building Code/Permit inspectors. He said that from his apartment he could see several roof deck violations!
Working with Mr. Olin was a great experience, because I felt like I was learning bits and pieces of Mies van der Rohe's teachings. Another one of his professors was Alfred Caldwell who also worked with Mies at IIT.
After lunch, I fixed a few more drawings and then headed back to Studio Gang. I made some boxes for archiving and went home with great advice.
