The Last Architects

Chapter Two.

Oct. 12.

I met a young man by the name of Ema, at the bench I previously wrote on. He reminds me a bit of a movie character, those silly ones who insist art is life. Just how he dressed and held himself. But I should stop jumping into assumptions-

"Yeah. You should." Jane's humorous voice behind me caused me to jump, turning to face him.

"Snooping is rude, Jane." Closing my journal I stood.

"Jumping to conclusions is also rude." He grinned, walking backwards with me after I had collected my bag. "Say, who is this poor young man you speak of?"

"He's a new student. Into the clutter-core type of architect." Jane laughed, shaking his head at me.

"You know, you ought to be nicer about others' opinions. Being so close minded will get you nowhere."

"And walking backwards will cause you to crash into our subject." I didn't bother to physically stop him from crashing into Ema, who had been staring at a map of the school in confusion. And when they both toppled over, becoming a mess on the floor, I hid the smile tugging at my mouth.

"Oh my god- I'm so so so sorry-" Jane immediately got off the blonde, helping him up. "You are ok, right? I really am sorry."

"Oh, no, please! You're totally fine! I should've been watching where I was going- are you okay?" I stepped back to let the two fumble around to get the papers and notebooks that had spilled, though when Ema looked up at me I gave a tight smile. "Oh! It's you." That was a tone... but I let it go as Jane gave a breathy chuckle.

"Hello again, Ema." I adjusted my bag, crouching to get Jane's music sheets into an organized pile.

"We were just talking about you! You're new, right?" Jane interfered before I could say anything snarky.

"Yeah, that I am! Sorry, I'm Ema Stray- hopefully I wasn't already getting slander?" They shook hands and I met Ema's gaze.

"Ahhhaaa, nah. Not any that matters. I don't get architect drama." Jane shrugged, and I raised a brow at him. "All I know is that there's modern houses and Greco roman. And that's it. And I'm Jane O'Mire, high five on pretty names!" He lifted his hand tentatively and I rolled my eyes, turning to leave their happy conversation.

"Ooh, I didn't know we had architecture drama already, that's funny! And it's nice to meet you- could you maybe help me actually? I'm trying to find the dorms. The truck is coming sooner than I thought so I had to miss a class and help them really soon."

"Totally! Skyler-" I paused, looking back. "Mind taking my saxophone with you? I'll see you at the jazz later." I extended my hand with a shake of my head, to which Jane handed me the case.

"Have fun, Jane, granny." I dipped my head to both in turn, quickly leaving before Jane could reprimand me.

I had to get to class anyway. And Ema certainly wasn't a top priority in my mind as I looked over my notes.

. . .

Trigonometry and calculus were as pleasant as always, and as I prepped my notebooks for Architecture Design, the room grew silent when Professor Winters cleared his throat.

"Welcome new students and hello old ones." He waved a hand, "today, we will get to explore-" The doors swinging open interrupted him, and I turned to see Ema leaning on the door frame, panting as if he had been running. "... Well, hello." The professor gestured to the open seat a few rows below me. "Take a seat."

With an apologetic wave Ema quickly went to his seat, and I leaned back in mine as I waited for the professor to pick up the class, but when Ema glanced back at me with wide eyes I lifted a hand in salutations before he looked away quickly.

"In your opinion, what's the best kind of structure for a home in a larger city?" The professor prompted and I pondered a little, the class silent.

Lifting my hand I blinked when Ema did as well at the same time, lowering mine to let him go first.

"Go." Professor Winters gestured to Ema with a piece of chalk.

"Well, of course, there's concerns such as your budget and location, which is why I believe a Victorian approach to housing is most practical, aesthetic, homely and just overall the best option. It doesn't matter the size because as it's been proven with San Francisco's Painted Ladies that you can make the design both small and comfortable. They stand longer than most modern houses, and rooms can easily be divided into apartments. I think larger cities such as New York, Moscow, Cario could all adapt to it, naturally, with their own style of what the Victorian means to them, Sir."

"Well put." The Professor nodded as he wrote points on the board, "you, go." He gestured to me after placing a few more words on the chalkboard,

"For housing in cities, I would have to say modern architecture should be the core of all buildings for housing. Modern architecture is designed to optimize space, functionality and energy efficiency, which result in buildings that are cheaper to build, maintain and operate. Not only does this save money in the total cost, but also is more sustainable overall. It also allows for greater population density, providing more housing per square foot of land, which is necessary to manage the growing population in cities. Modern architecture is sustainable, accessible, adaptive, scalable and beginning to focus on being eco-friendly as well. An example of this would be the Art Science museum in Singapore, which uses a sun shade designed to reduce solar heat up to seventy three percent and natural ventilation that has reduced the buildings energy consumption mmmm by forty percent." I narrowed my eyes at the shaking shoulders of Ema, he was... laughing? Taking a deep breath I continued with now a petty point to add. "In contrast, aesthetic architecture often prioritizes form over function, resulting in designs and buildings that are expensive, difficult to maintain and often not energy efficient or accessible at all. While this sort of design can be pleasing to the eye, it leads to buildings that are less functional, sustainable and clean, which has caused many of the problems in cities already." I met his watery smug eyes when he turned to look back at me, and I leaned back with a breath when he stood, collecting his bag and walking to the professor, whispering something to him, to which Mr. Winters gave a nod, before looking back at me.

"Good points." He turned to write them on the board, and I watched Ema leave silently. Hah. What a coward.

. . .

Glancing down at my dorm key, I paced up the stairs, already becoming tired from so many classes, but the prospect of jazz tonight was uplifting. Counting down the doors to my room I paused when I heard laughter from inside, to whichI assumed my roommate had already fully settled in. Hopefully they weren't slobs...

Silently I opened the door only to struggle with it when stuff cluttered the entrance. Well God didn't answer my prayers... with a deep breath I pushed hard, the boxes blocking my bath pushed to the side, and I stood at the entrance, tired, a foul mood growing on me, to be met with the sight of Ema, staring back at me with wide eyes. Looking like a complete dumb blonde. Fuck my life.