Just like every other classroom in the Armory, Studio 81 is filled with cardboard, rulers and paper.

For some students, though, this place is a home, complete with a hot pot, coffee maker and a permanent display of 35 Caribou coffee cups adorning the entrance.

Welcome to Architecture 201, the morning departure point for the Caribou caravan and a place where progress is measured in coffee cups.

“We’re here around the clock, so it basically all started in class,” said Mariela Bayer, sophomore in architecture. “We call them our ‘Caribootay Runs.’ We just all gather everyone that wants to go from class that day, or who wants to take a break from our project, and walk over to Caribou Coffee.”

Caribou runs soon became a ritual. A few weeks after the routine caught on, a couple of students decided to preserve the remnants by creating the Coffee Wall — a collective tribute to late nights spent drinking cup after cup of coffee together while working on projects.

The adornment started mid-semester as a “rebuttal” to an energy drink sculpture, evolved into a memorial of the classroom’s tradition.

“This is our home — we live here, really,” said Mitch Hartig, sophomore in architecture. “So it’s our own, and we’re proud of it.”

Joseph Rivas, sophomore in architecture, had his first taste of coffee when he was 4 years old. At his grandmother’s house, he could be found munching on coffee-dunked cookies.

“I remember drinking coffee out of a sippy cup,” he said. “My earliest coffee drinks used to be mostly milk with just a little coffee, but as I got older it became more and more coffee.”

During class. Before class. After class. Sixteen years later, Rivas and his fellow studio architecture classmates have developed a passion for coffee that helps them through long hours working in the studio.

“We usually go get coffee when it’s like, ‘Crap, we’re going to be here for the next three hours. We need some caffeine, pronto,’” Hartig said.

The College of Design is known for intense projects. For a class that meets 15 hours a week and requires 40 additional hours of work per week, coffee and energy drinks are popular ways to get by.

“How hectic the class gets and how much work we have to do determines how much coffee we drink,” Hartig said.

The design students are familiar with most of the campus cafes.

“It gets to the point where you begin to know the cafes on campus and when they close and how long you have before you get your last dosage of caffeine,” Bayer said.

Although she grew up hating the black coffee her dad constantly drank, Bayer is now an employee at the Caribou Coffee in the Hub. On the job, she gained first-hand experience with recognizing different blends based on their natural flavors.

“I can look at a coffee and know what country it’s from, or at least what region,” she said.

Coffee can make late nights more fun, but it can be dangerous to consume too much, especially when a project is due.

Drinking “too much” coffee can cause a “crash factor” to sink in, Rivas said.

“I know, from experience, that coffee is not a good way to try and stay up,” Rivas said. “It can keep you more awake to an extent, but then you hit a crash, and then you feel sick. After a while your heart starts paining, your stomach is paining … and it’s just not good.”

Eventually, coffee hits hard mentally as well, to the point where one can’t think properly during a presentation critique.

“I’ve seen people in the [design] program use it to push themselves so far, and then they crash after review,” Rivas said. “They can’t really begin to explain themselves when they’re presenting their project because they’re so tired.”

Hartig said cutting back on caffeine is rewarding, but it’s hard to not have his daily fix.

 “I drink a lot of caffeine, and I drink a lot of coffee,” Hartig said. “It’s part of my blood now.”

Top coffee picks:

Mariela Bayer, sophomore in architecture

Iced Latte, Cappuccinos, Light Roast

Joseph Rivas, sophomore in architecture

Turtle Mocha, Espresso Cooler, Caramel Macchiato