If there is anything MIT students in general, and the Architecture cohort in particular, know all too well, it's commiseration. Pre-pandemic, this communal act was never of much significance -- after all, it is a collective joke at our own expenses. However, as lockdowns began and the most embedded part of the architecture curriculum -- studio -- was no longer accessible, it became clear to me how vital commiseration is to our sense of belonging.

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I miss pulling all-nighters and deliriously gluing things together with my friends at 3AM the night before a review. I miss taking turn napping, waking each other up, getting each other coffee and snacks. I miss knowing that this is hard, but the hardship is so clearly shared and understood. So I set out to create my virtual version of studio: a 24-hour sample of the commiseration that had saved me through the years.

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Having the privilege of forming the friendships I had and receiving their unquestioned support as I put this project together is a sanctuary of a process. Being able to recreate these moments of bittersweet nostalgia for myself and all the friends I did not have a chance to say goodbye to is, thus, a sanctuary of a product.

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Thank you for carrying my sanity through the years. I love you all.