The AWOL Architect

I've decided to start this one with a bit of a funny story that exemplifies the fact that architects live and breathe architecture... Many of you know I dream about architecture; I also think about architecture in the shower.  Two weekends ago after cycling 70km, ocean kayaking 6km, and carrying my bike up a hill that's a pedestrian version of Lombard Street in San Francisco, I jumped into a much needed HOT shower.  My body hurt and I had burned 2,500 calories (equivalent to the healthy caloric intake for a typical adult male per day).   As hot water started to soften and melt away the tightness and soreness, what I wanted to do was lie down on my stomach and shift so the hot stream of water could palpate the points of fatigue and pain.  In a quarter circular shower stall with an approximate radius of 850mm this is NOT possible.  Who designed this shit?! So, to solve the problem of getting this glorious hot water to fall on to my lower back I decided I could stretch by touching

“I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” ―  Michael Jordan Grab a cup of coffee or a pot of tea as this is a long one... For those of you who knew in me in highschool, and before, you know that I mostly identified as an athlete.  Playing various sports, starting with gymnastics and ending with Track and Field (or athletics as its called in Commonwealth Countries).  During the winter months we practiced basketball 2.5 hours a day with games at night and on weekends.  During the summer months I left home and rode 3-5 horses a day, mucked 10 plus stalls and did 8-10 hours of hard yakka per day.  The others seasons varied and usually included some of the above.   I was fast - for a couple years in middle school I was the fasted female mile runner in my class.  I was strong.  I loved to run.

I was in the 'net' checking my various 'googleable' profiles and found this gem from last December... After being back in Australia for almost two months now, this was a nice re-read to see how far I've come in six months and to reflect back on what now feels like a dream. https://wp.architecture.com.au/news-media/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2019/01/AIA-newsletter-An-article-by-Alison-Stout-AIA-NT-Chapter-Member.pdf

“Responsibility I believe accrues through privilege. People like you and me have an unbelievable amount of privilege and therefore we have a huge amount of responsibility. We live in free societies where we are not afraid of the police; we have extraordinary wealth available to us by global standards. If you have those things, then you have the kind of responsibility that a person does not have if he or she is slaving seventy hours a week to put food on the table; a responsibility at the very least to inform yourself about power. Beyond that, it is a question of whether you believe in moral certainties or not.”  ―  Noam Chomsky WARNING: grammatical errors and stream of consciousness ahead; this is not a cohesive essay (sorry). The past couple of weeks I’ve hit the stage where the amount of privilege I have in my position starts to make me extremely emotional…tears come on a day to day basis now with overwhelming thoughts coming to mind about leaving, saying goodbye t

Hi Readers, I have a few ideas for my next blog post, but thought I would open it up to you as well....what do you want to know about my work in India? Or is there anything you'd like to ask me about architecture or design? Please post in questions or ideas below on this BLOG post only. Kind Regards,  Allison (Ali) G. Stout  (NOTE: Pictures below are from our presentation day at RNS Architecture School in Bangalore, India)