Branch's Architectural Summer Experience

September 17, 2009 -

For Abby Branch, a senior on the Carnegie Mellon University volleyball team, architecture is an artistic form of design, one that integrates communication and movement for a building, making it work for uses other than fundamentals.

The sport of volleyball operates in much the same way, as communication and movement are key components to the success of any team. As six players come together defensively and offensively, interaction must be on point.

Branch has begun her fourth year of a five-year architecture program in Carnegie Mellon’s College of Fine Arts, where she has worked for the Pre-College Program the past three summers. Starting as a counselor and advancing to a Teacher’s Assistant (TA), Branch has truly made her Carnegie Mellon experience work for her.

“Staying in Pittsburgh for the summer has given me multiple opportunities, both architecturally and athletically,” Branch said. “Working as a TA has given me a new outlet in case I want to teach in the future and has provided an experience outside of an internship.”

Juniors and seniors in high school flood the Pre-College Program at Carnegie Mellon yearly. Branch worked as a TA for drawing and architecture, assisting students on studio projects and lending an ear as they dabbled in what they might want to study in college. It also provided the chance for Branch to understand what she enjoys about architecture.

“I like models mostly,” Branch said. “But studio offers the time to work on drafting, computer drawing and hand drawing too.”

From an early age, Branch was enamored by the thought of building things.

“My dad was always in the shed building things for the house,” stated Branch. “Having the option to work in the shed and hammer out things was appealing to me.”

Abby had the chance to work for the Waffle Shop this summer, a storefront in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty created by Carnegie Mellon art students. There she was able to return to her roots of design, hammering out ideas. Signs were made, including a large waffle with the word OPEN which she collaborated with a student in industrial design to complete.

The future holds a lot for Branch as she’s deciding what to do next summer. An internship is top priority but she would like to study abroad either in the spring or for her internship. Carnegie Mellon’s Qatar campus shows a unique opportunity where she can be a TA and study business, a minor she’s taken on as well.

As for life with a Carnegie Mellon degree in architecture, Branch has thought about moving west or to the gulf where architecture is developing exponentially in Colorado and moving from cliché to more imaginative.