Archi.ru:
Tell us about your studies at the Moscow Architectural Institute
Maria Krylova:
- Initially, studying at the Moscow Architectural Institute was my dream, and the process of preparing for admission can be described in a separate article … In the first and second year I studied with Natalia Saprykina, and from the third year I entered the group of Alexander Malinov at the Faculty of Urban Planning. I like the urban scale and the large amount of analytical work that precedes the project. During my studies, I lacked a bit of a sense of the reality of the projects that we were doing, and I got a job in an architectural bureau: I was attracted by "real" work. I graduated from the institute in 2013, having defended my diploma with the concept of development of the Domodedovo district based on the interaction of the city and the airport.
How did you come up with the idea to go to study abroad, and what was the reason for the choice of the country where you left - Germany?
- I knew from the first year that I would go to study abroad in order to get additional education and expand the boundaries of my professional knowledge. My father, who taught at Moscow State University and Stanford University, was very supportive of this idea. At first I planned to go to France, because I really like this country, but I met a young man who went to study in Germany. I cannot say that I fell in love with this country, but I am very pleased with the quality of education and simply the convenience of everyday life there.
What difficulties did you encounter when processing documents for departure?
- The preparation of all documents is very laborious: first - for admission to the chosen educational program, then - for applying for a visa, and after that - for extending a visa in Germany.
For admission, it was necessary to obtain a certificate of knowledge of the language, prepare a CV, a letter of motivation, letters of recommendation from teachers, scans of diplomas and even a grade book, as well as a certificate of graduation from high school. Applicants for the program were selected based on their motivation, education and work experience. To apply for a visa, part of the documents had to be translated into German and apostilled. In addition, it was necessary to open an account in a German bank and transfer the minimum amount for a year (in Germany it is 8000 euros), pay the tuition fees. I sent the documents for the program at the end of November 2013, and a visa to Germany was issued to me at the end of September 2014: everything took about nine months.
An entry student visa at the German embassy in Russia is issued only for 3 months, and upon arrival in Germany it must be renewed. To do this, you need to rent a house, register at the place of residence, take out insurance, register at the institute and receive documents confirming your studies, as well as take a bank statement on the availability of funds in the account. After that, make an appointment with the Office for Foreigners and apply for a visa extension with a full package of documents. In general, the process of collecting and submitting documents in Germany is not that difficult, but it still seems confusing at first, especially due to the language barrier. I have to give credit to the managers of my curriculum, who answered all the questions, organized workshops where you could learn everything you need to know, and connected us with other students who have already gone this way.
How was the adaptation process in the new country?
- In Europe, many people speak several languages, and this is the norm. It is understood that everyone knows English, so knowledge of the local language and some additional as a bonus is more appreciated. This becomes especially important at the stage of looking for a job or even an internship (which is a must in my program). In the learning process, of course, there is enough English, especially since there are many English programs. I studied in English, and I had to pass IELTS for a score of at least 6.5. In my opinion, it is better to know the language at a higher level, because even with English it was at first difficult to concentrate on lectures and receive a large flow of information. In my opinion, the greatest progress comes from communication with native speakers and constant reading of literature.
In Darmstadt, where I studied, there is an acute problem with housing. The city itself is quite small with a population of 145 thousand people, of which 30 thousand are students. The average cost of renting a room is about 300 euros and more due to high demand, and everything that is cheaper has to be looked for for a long time or rented in short intervals from those people who leave for internships or work for several months. Also, the difficulty lies in the fact that when a person is looking for a room in an apartment, first of all, you need to please those who already live there, which means that for each possible housing option you need to meet and communicate with these people, which also takes time … I had an intensive study from morning to evening, and therefore did not have time to search. I needed a formal lease to extend my visa, and ended up renting a room in a newly renovated house through a firm, which was more expensive but easier.
The first year I was constantly among my classmates - like me, foreign students from all over the world. The name of my program can be translated as "International Cooperation and Urban Development", and all students were basically selected from different countries (in my stream were Russia, Italy, Canada, Dominican Republic, Indonesia, China, Turkey, Mexico, Guatemala, Jordan, Montenegro, Greece, Syria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Ghana, Jamaica), so we were a group slightly separated from the German students. Due to the peculiarities of the organization of the program, we were constantly together, working in teams. Studying helped me most of all to adapt in the country, because I had to do something all the time. Plus, every weekend and on vacation, I went to my husband in Dusseldorf (three hours from Darmstadt), which naturally helped to relax.
Contrary to my own expectations, in the first year I did not feel any sharp difference in mentality, on the contrary, I came to the conclusion that people are the same everywhere. I felt much more sharply the difference outside the institute, in my ordinary, everyday life. The first impression when you move is that everything is different. Not good or bad, but simply different from the usual. Even in comparison with Moscow, there is a difference in the pace of life.
What was your studies in Darmstadt?
- The first year I had an intensive program. Elective courses such as German, Economics, European Urban Planning took place from 9 am to noon; the main classes were from 13 to 18 hours, and in the evening it was necessary to prepare written assignments and presentations, which were the result of the work and took place every Friday. In between studies, conferences, excursions, lectures by invited teachers, as well as international evenings were held, where students from different countries gathered and shared their experiences. When we went to a conference in Rome, I thought that we need to take all first-year students to Italy as part of the "introduction to the profession", because this country is a real embodiment of beauty.
Darmstadt can be called something like an academic city, where the university owns a large number of buildings and territories throughout the city. The university itself is a technical one, with well-developed faculties of physics, chemistry, IT, medicine, etc. It has many sponsors and potential employers cooperating with it, whose factories and offices are located in relative proximity. The university attracts with its infrastructure and is constantly expanding, renovating and equipped with modern technology. This creates a truly cool learning environment. One of my favorite places is the library: a modern building with spacious reading rooms and auditoriums.
All lectures and seminars were divided into blocks of one to two weeks with different teachers from different countries (in my stream these were the USA, India, Australia, African countries, China, Switzerland, Germany, Turkey, Norway). My program is focused on theoretical interdisciplinary knowledge. We studied various subjects related to urban development in general and the structure of cities: "Urban planning", "Globalization", "Sustainable architecture", "Economics in urban planning", "Marketing", "Preservation of cultural heritage", "Ecology", "Security in cities "," Participatory design "(design, when future residents are directly involved in the planning process)," Urban infrastructure "," Transport "," Organization of reconstruction in extreme situations "," Urbanization and reorganization of slums "," Energy efficient technologies ", Statistics, Project Finance, Politics and International Cooperation. Additionally, everyone had their own set of elective courses. For each block, we read a lot, studied the information and prepared a small project or written work and presentation.
What was the difference between studying in TU Darmstadt from MARCHI?
- It was unusual for me that a lot of time in the process of studying was devoted to discussion. Each student had to share their thoughts, ideas and feedback on the read article, watched film or lecture. In my opinion, the approaches to the implementation of projects in Russia and abroad are fundamentally different. At MARCHI they always set a high bar for achieving their goals. Completing projects is often hard work, but it is an indicator of the right effort being applied. In Europe, more attention is paid to the personal space and the ideological content of the project; in the formulation of the problem, super-tasks are almost never set. If the implementation of the project causes stress, then it needs to be revised and the process optimized in such a way as to get the planned result without visible loss of quality. In Moscow Architectural Institute this skill is developed independently (or not developed), and in Europe they are trying to teach it. At the Moscow Architectural Institute, an architect is educated as an independent person who can fight for his project to the end. In Europe, more attention is paid to the very organization of the process and the interaction between people. A side effect of the Russian approach is that a person can “burn out” and projects are unstable. A side effect of the European system is the blurring of the line between minimalism and no idea. If we talk about work, then a young architect in Russia has a chance to get “carte blanche” for a really interesting job. In Europe, such a situation is hardly possible.
What did your education in Germany give you, and what did your education at Moscow Architectural Institute give you?
- I would also single out for myself work experience as very important: it also gave a lot. MARCHI, it seems to me, gives more than education, it provides a system of vital coordinates. It forms taste, fosters character and a certain adaptability to stressful situations that are inevitable in the process of study. From the point of view of applied knowledge, understanding the design process itself, working on real projects gave me much more. It was really interesting, serious and responsible. To a greater extent, I learned to do a project not at the institute, but at work.
Everyone liked my education abroad, first of all, because it is relevant. We discussed current problems, trends and possible prospects for the development of cities. I liked the complexity of the approach. We viewed the city as a system - from different perspectives, across different disciplines, on different scales. And at the same time, all subjects were somehow connected with each other, each new block added knowledge and expanded ideas about problems and relationships. This program provided a more comprehensive, broader understanding of global processes.
Would you recommend Darmstadt Technical University to other Russian students?
- I would recommend both the university itself and the program I studied. The Mundus Urbano program is organized by four European universities and implies a double degree system, when the first year the whole group studies in one country, and in the second year everyone travels to different countries - to partner universities - and receives a second diploma in the country of their choice.
In accordance with the program, you can choose France, Italy or Spain as the second country. But, besides this, you can go by exchange from the university (and not from the Faculty of Architecture) to almost any country in the world. So, several people from my group left for Korea and Indonesia. You can also stay in Germany (as I did) and for the second year independently choose a set of training courses, teachers and training mode. The second year is given for an internship and writing a diploma. In general, the program is very flexible and each student can customize it for themselves.
The main principle of the program is interdisciplinarity. In accordance with it, they even try to select students from different fields (in my stream there were architects, city planners, engineers, geographer, sociologist and journalist). Much time is devoted to the analysis of existing trends and features of urban development - not only as a planning structure, but as a system of interconnections.
The program can be considered more theoretical. Students are chosen from among those who already have basic education and work experience. This is a kind of "thinking outside the box" - rethinking the usual stereotypes, gaining new knowledge and complex analytics.
If you could go back in time, how would you organize your learning process in architecture?
- I had a strong personal motivation to leave - I was leaving for my husband, and this made adjustments to the choice of the country and city of study. If I were independent, I would do everything differently from start to finish. I was born and raised in Moscow, I never fled from here shouting “it's time to blame” and do not share this position. It seems to me that it makes sense to spend your time either for the sake of substantially better living conditions, or for the sake of something special that is important for a particular person personally.
I do not want to create the false impression that "the grass is greener" abroad. A person who leaves, in my opinion, should clearly understand why he is doing this, and soberly assess his capabilities, including stress resistance. No matter how wonderful another country is, at least the first year is spent on adaptation, on learning the language, on organizational chores, on getting used to a foreign environment, etc. From a financial point of view, Germany is perhaps one of the most favorable countries, especially since you can study here for free in German, but, nevertheless, it must be borne in mind that the estimated 8,000 euros per year for a full life in reality is not enough. Staying here for permanent residence, if you already have a student visa, is not so difficult, but getting a good job is very difficult. For an employer, a foreigner is an additional hassle with documents, and you need to have some serious competitive advantages in order to qualify for a job. Therefore, if a person does not plan to stay, then I would choose short-term training programs, workshops and internships that increase the value of a professional in the Russian market, but do not take so much time to lose this market by the time he returns.
What are you doing now?
- I recently completed my internship at the German landscape office in Dusseldorf. In Germany, the topic of landscaping, organizing public spaces and improving the quality of the urban environment is popular, therefore there are many landscape bureaus. Everything there turned out to be new for me, starting with the fact that I had never worked in this field before, and ending with the study of another computer program.
I was hired to work with tenders, work on which is popular here and is one of the stable sources of receiving orders for the company. It was unusual that a lot of time was devoted to discussing the project. In Moscow, I got used to the fact that the sketching stage and the creation of an idea take little time, and the bulk of the work falls on the preparation of drawings. Here, most of the time was devoted to searching for an idea, analytics, discussion, and even not so much searching in sketching as creating a narrative, a "legend" of the project. According to the general impression, projects in Germany, in principle, are developed as succinctly as possible, the task is not set to radically change the situation or create "mega-projects". In the top three "Benefit, Strength, …" in the last place, rather, you can put the "purity" of the solution or the aesthetics of minimalism.
Since the beginning of my studies, I started to keep my blog https://www.archiview.info about architecture, cities where I go, education and everything that seems interesting to me. In my free time I try to travel more, paint and learn the language.
Give one piece of advice to a novice architect
- I think that young architects should not be given advice, but opportunities.
Maria Krylova
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