[Images: Architecture School logo, sundancechannel; Satellite image of hurricane Katrina, google /Artwork: designslinger]

Design reality television has come to the Sundance Channel. We watched the first episode of
Architecture School last night with much anticipation. Our reality tv viewing only goes so far, not as much as most people, but more than some. So, we found ourselves in the position of comparing this program with some of our other design related reality television programming. It certainly has a Sundancian point of view, which is not a bad thing, just different.

Since we are also in the midst of a presidential campaign, I couldn't help but think of Architecture
School as the design program of choice for Obama supporters, versus say, HGTV's, Design Star for the John McCain crowd. School is set in New Orleans at Tulane University's School of Architecture. Unlike most of the other competition programs, there is no big cash award, or a spread on the cover of some such magazine, a car, or six episodes of your own show. The challenge here is to design an affordable 1200 square foot house, to be built in New Orleans Central City neighborhood.

[Images: Show logos, Bravo /Artwork: designslinger]

These are architecture students after all, so there is a lot more discussion of high ideals,
and thoughtful consideration of the intellectual process of design. I'm making a very general assumption here, but I have a feeling most of the viewing audience would find it all boring and elitist. After one 20 minute episode, its hard to say where the series is going, or how much drama will be introduced for drama's sake, but I found it to be very much like my experiences in architecture school.

There is an amazing amount of design related programming out in TV land, HGTV exists solely as a
haven for the home decorator. I find some shows interesting, some ridiculous, and some just spreading more awful decorating tips after worse decorating tips. We've enjoyed Bravo's Flipping Out not only for the drama queen antics of all involved, but for the really great design viewers are exposed to. The real estate shows, Million Dollar Listing, House Hunters, or Property Virgins, are a delight to watch for the simple reason that you get to see quite a cross section of America's interior decor.

[Images: Show logos, HGTV /Artwork: designslinger]

Then we have the heavy duty competition programming from viewer favorites like Project
Runway, Top Design, even Shear Genius which features the talents of the folks who create style for hair. The choices are more than any one DVR can possibly handle. It begs the question: is this a good thing for design? Lets face it, all of it is meant to entertain on some level. Architecture School for the high brow audience - Top Design for the average person who has an interest in decorating. So, ultimately its not about design, its about selling product, and in that regard it has been a very good thing.