Architecture School - A Reality TV Show Unlike the Rest on Satellite TV

Reality TV shows are a dime a dozen. You can find them on network TV, you can find even more on satellite TV and there are more and more making their debut on the internet. We are fascinated ate taking an inside peek at the lives of C list celebrities, their siblings and parents, former sports stars, wannabe fashion stylists and hair stylists, potential models, dancers, singers, even business executives and adrenaline junkies. There seems to be a reality show for everything these days.

Now, the Sundance channel, which you can watch with a satellite TV subscription, has come up with a new reality show about architects. No, this is not a competition pitting Koolhaus and Renzo Piano against each other, in an effort to design the coolest, most avant-garde opera house or Prada store. It's actually a little more humble. This show is about architecture students in New Orleans.

The show follows 12 students from Tulane's School of Architecture as they try to build, or rebuild New Orleans, using sustainable, design-forward principles. Their mission is to construct single family homes for those who lost everything in Hurricane Katrina. You won't find cut throat, anything goes competition here. It's a more charitable show, more akin to something you'd find on the Home and Garden channel, than a VH1 show about aging rock stars. Nor is this a mega event like the NFL Sunday Ticket. It's a little more low key.

But that does not mean either, that this is all good deeds. There is a competition at work here. It does not involve a panel of high powered, HD good looking star judges. And there are no weekly challenges. The students don't have to build houses out of piles of garbage or tin foil. The show takes a look at the actual design process and the workshops as students endeavor to design low cost houses. We as an audience are thrown interesting tidbits about modern architecture concepts and ideas.

There is conflict, but again, it's not the kind you'd see on Top Model or Project Runway where contestants happily bitch about each other in confessional camera shots. The conflict is composed mostly of discussions. The professor eggs his students on asking them how their designs contribute to lower income housing, or how their designs actually function for those going to live in the house.

Much of the show is spent taking a look at the lives of the Katrina victims themselves. The show asks them about their hopes, their dreams and how they perceive the future. The other part of the show is focused on the winning design and the building process. The students don't just sit at their drawing boards dreaming up fancy roof structures and innovative doors. They have to help in construction as well.

All in all it is a fascinating look at the inner workings of architecture. It takes a peek at creative thought processes, discussions and new ideas. The show is a refreshing break from all those other reality shows which really have no humane spirit behind them.

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