It deserves a line of its own really, and some special and careful line spacing around it to give it the room it deserves. So the conference. Now to appropriately convey my experience I must firstly start with a bit of honesty regarding my 'feelings' towards said conference before I attended it. No wait, I promise not to delve into depths of deep emotion connected to architecture conferences. That is for another time. In all seriousness though, the truth is, I've heard about this conference before, at uni, in lectures where an indifferent Bek would scoff and think to herself 'as if you would go to that' for one it's in the holidays and for two, it's in the holidays! So it's fair to say I've never considered attending, justifying my lack of enthusiasm by my busy planned holiday schedule of doing absolutely nothing but not thinking about architecture instead.
Given this, I have to say that I was most pleasantly surprised and dare I say changed (perhaps for the better). The thing that remains with me most clearly after last week spent in a gloriously warm (for winter) and sunny Newcastle is definitely the sense of connectedness. What I mean by that is not simply a social engagement and the exchanging of architectural war stories with other students (although this was nice), but even more so, a connectedness to things which are 'happening' architecturally. On the scale of cities within Australia and even worldwide. And not just what's happening with our buildings in these cities, but what are the issues surfacing as a result of growth, for people. I really enjoyed seeing and experiencing the breadth and depth to which architecture engages, influences and interacts with society on huge number of levels. I also have to admit, that it's rare that such an engagement with the topics at the conference which brought about such inspiration and awareness would be covered in any other context. It's simply listening to practitioners, professionals in the industry, thinkers, do-ers and creatives who have spent time experiencing, thinking and developing thoughts about what's important in architecture. What a joy it is to be able to share in that and have my mind expanded by other people just being clever and saying profound things. Brilliant.
Now, back to my sense of connectedness. I think my experience in learning more about what AWS does has made me a bit more aware of how important sponsors of these events are. Just to clarify and answer the question popping up in your mind right now; no I am not saying this for cash and no I am not sucking up to win a free torch with a logo on it and no I don't think that sponsors are important or necessary just because they make these things financially possible. Sponsors are (well in this specific case of AWS) essentially in the field. Which, while sounding obvious, means that they directly involved in and contributing to the architectural world I spoke of appreciating earlier. They are the real life experience, armed with knowledge and with a great deal of specifications I may never understand. It's important that these kinds of 'branches' (if I may use such a green metaphor) in architecture are promoted and connected to students. It gives us an understanding of that breadth I spoke of earlier, and most importantly specially brewed beer.
I'm just kidding AWS we love you for your windows, not your delicious beer. Although that is just a serious bonus. This has been fun.
Thank you AWS for having me and thank you so very much for reading.
Your faithful Student Correspondent,
Rebekah
