Blog Prompt #5 - The Designed Environment + Me
As Ozayr said today in class, this prompt is digging at why I am taking this course and why I want to become an architect. Well, Ozayr, I will tell you why...
Throughout my life growing up, I had chosen various careers that I wished to grow up and pursue. I went from wanting to be the House Mother or Homemaker (basically not wanting to work) to the typical "every kid's dream" of becoming a Vet. When my Junior year of high school swung around and I started looking at colleges, I was always asked what I wanted to go into. I had no idea. Then, I took a semantics class that same year and we were assigned to choose a career and define 50 words relating it. I always thought that architecture was "pretty neat" so I decided to choose that as my topic. From then on, I whenever I was asked what I wanted to go into I would tell them Architecture.
To explore if I really wanted to go into architecture, my dad took me to a friend of the family's architectural firm (Hagemeister and Mack) in St. Cloud. There, I was shown around the office, shown displays and models of projects, along with handcrafted drawings and digital depictions. We talked a bit and answered some questions. After leaving the office that day, I decided that this was the career that I wanted to pursue.
I came into college without hardly any architectural knowledge and therefore I originally wanted to build your high-class monster homes or shopping malls. But after delving further into the theory and practice of architecture, I have learned so much more. I have also decided that I want to do so much more. This class has been a tool for discovering myself and the designed environment around and that is why I was so eager to take this course.
One aspect of architecture that directly affects me and the world around is the issue of environmental degradation. My architecture classes this year have exposed me more in depth to this issue and also some solutions being used to stop or reverse the effects. I am very much interested in becoming a part of making this world a better place through the use of green architecture and smart solutions. Like the readings from this week, I hope to find harmony between architecture and nature.
In finding better solutions for green architecture and minimizing carbon prints, I hope to do some related research. Perhaps go on a j or m-term somewhere or get involved with a professor's research. I hope to contribute positively to society by doing this.
Overall, my career choice is about making this world a better place. Not only do I want to help the environment through architecture, but I want to help in other areas also. For instance, I would really like to travel to third world countries, perhaps refugee camps, and help solve some of their problems. Whether it may be designing adequate housing or helping to feed them, as long as I am making this world a better place somehow, I will be content. Architecture gives me this opportunity, to work with many aspects of society. Architects not only design for society, but they also get in touch and work along side with society. Not many others get this type of involvement or direct impact on society as much as architects do.
http://drwhiteley.com/My_Vet_2.jpg
http://www.careersserviceni.com/NR/rdonlyres/DC75518C-E716-4A6A-B0AA-FBE850F3FCE0/0/architect1.jpg
http://www.linearchitecture.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2006/12/cormiami2.jpg
http://www.wright-house.com/frank-lloyd-wright/fallingwater-pictures/fallingwater-1.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/karnaphuli/516821905/