MacDonald, Kent  

From what I could understand, this was Kent's first time teaching Arch 123. If you're looking for a solid curriculum, he is not the teacher to take. If you enjoy intriguing projects that grow and evolve as he comes up with new ideas, then you've found the right guy. While not always perfectly clear about what he wants, he's by far the nicest teacher I had all year, and is willing to step aside and discuss your project with you, giving you both the goods and the bads. His class was unlike other first year studios in that he's more relaxed than other teachers (I'm assuming a product of teaching mostly upper-division classes). Be warned though, he isn't there to give you an easy A. From a non-egotistical standpoint, I was regularly among the top students in the class but still received a B, and I find it perfectly fitting. Too many other arch teachers just hand out A's.

Kent is great for two reasons: manageable work load, and knowledge of the field. He will be able to answer questions and help you grow greatly in your education, however he does not drive you as much as other professors. If you want are a self motivated student who wants a laidback studio with a professor who gives you almost daily 1:1 feedback then take Kent, he's great. If you want a professor who will push you to new digital or technical skills or even a greater complexity of ideas you might want to look elsewhere. He specializes in kindness and knowledge of precedents and will definitely help you learn, but its more in soft skills like good programmatic design and use of materiality than how other professors will teach your rhino, rendering programs, parametric design, and organic forms. As a whole though he is a must have for at least once during your second year

Taught me the fundamentals and basics of architecture the way it should be. He is super experienced and logical about things. Great professor if one is aiming for a practical approach.

Kent is awesome! if you want an amazing studio professor and the best quarter ever you should take him!! One of my favorite professors at Poly!

Kent is a great professor for winter quarter. As a second year just getting into a overwhelming amount of practical building information, having Kent simplify it down to a process made creating our first real buildings so doable. We integrated in program, egress, structure and skin and it was still a more laid-back studio than others I've been in. I would recommend approaching the class with self motivation to accomplish lots, but in a healthy way. I worked from after my morning classes to 11 or midnight almost every day, and I consistently got a lot done, without ever having to stay up later, even at the end of the quarter. Kent is a also a great professor to practice your drawing skills (ask him tons of questions, his drawings are incredible) but he doesn't force you to represent your project in any particular way.

Kent is an amazing professor and a really nice guy. I had him for winter quarter and it was great. He taught us how to make a building in a very practical way, adding layers of development slowly throughout the quarter. The class overall is pretty relaxed compared to other studios but if you can motivate yourself to due the work he assigns well, you'll come out of his studio with a good project and not many all nighters.

If you want a laid back studio because you are taking a million units, take Kent. He only assigns one project a quarter and runs his studio under the motto "this is not slavery, but not a party." He is not a fan of all nighters and the whole quarter pretty much runs as desk crits everyday. He was also in charge of running Practice the quarter I had him, so he was a little bit distracted. People who had him previously even liked him better in other quarters, so I can't give an accurate description of his personality other than him making a lot of weird noises. He wasn't my favorite (maybe I'd warm up to him more when he wasn't so sidetracked) but he isn't bad, liked him overall.

KENT! He chill. Do take if you can.

Kent is one of the best professors I\'ve ever had. He really helps with every part of the process of a project, rather than just telling you he doesn\'t like it once you have an outcome. He has real-world experience and a lot of connections within not only the architecture department (esteemed professors came to our reviews, even the ones with only schematic designs), but also in the professional world. It helps that he\'s the nicest guy ever, and has a cute little sense of humor. I would highly recommend taking Kent.

Let me start by saying Kent is a super nice guy. Really one of the sweetest people on earth, and generally very knowledgeable. The problem is he's completely clueless when it comes to digital work and that's not okay when second year is supposed to prepare you for full digital design in third year. It's really hard when you have a question about how to do something in Rhino and your professor can't help at all. He almost always does housing projects so if you're into residential architecture, he could be a good choice. Just make sure you're willing to do a lot of self-teaching when it comes to Rhino, Vray, etc.

I learned that if I were to take up hunting, I should shoot deer, not bears, because a bear will hunt me back if I successfully wound it. Fascinating! I didnt know that the key to production and operations management was so brutally simple!

I found Kent\'s class very informative and ejoyed the class overall - it\'s nice to have a real life application for an architecture course. Whenever someone including myself had a question I have found Kent\'s answers very helpful. In my opinion it\'s courses like this that make Cal Poly students better professionals. I guess the only complaint about the class would be that it comes so late in the program.