Blog Prompt 4
Historically, some of the world’s most famous architects have been self-trained. It sometimes makes me wonder why there are such steep requirements to become an architect, especially when you are allowed to just get a master’s of architecture degree regardless of your undergraduate education. I mean, if the math majors and the dance majors are going to catch up to us in grad school anyway, why are we even putting ourselves through the intense undergraduate major of architecture? So if I was freed of the obligations of design school, would my heart be broken? No, I might actually feel more able to pursue the other things I want to devote time to en route to becoming a majorly successful architect.
First: writing. I believe my strongest skills lie in writing, and that is where I have the most opportunity to change the world I live in. Professor Angelo Volpe (we just call him “Volpe”) has trained me for three semesters now in expository writing and argument. My first semester of college, he was the one who started me down the path of social awareness. The papers I write are always on topics that interest me, usually having something to do with the messed-up relationship skills of my generation. It certainly is a far cry from the work I do in architecture school, but I know my writing classes has benefited me as a person to a huge extent. I think people don’t realize that a good writing teacher doesn’t teach grammar or style, but they teach their students how to think. Combined with my passion for story-telling, I think my expository skills could lead to a second career telling stories with significance, with meaning. I live for good stories, and I know writing them will always be a part of me. No matter how time-consuming my career in architecture may be, the writer inside me will never stop coming up with characters, plots, settings, and life lessons. I think since it takes so much training to become an architect, the world will always consider me an architect first and a writer second. To me? Maybe it will depend on the day.
Second: traveling. There’s no way to learn about the architecture that already exists on our earth better than to experience it firsthand. It truly takes a three-dimensional experience to discover a building’s essence. Architects need to know historical precedence like the back of their hand. An architectural history class can only get you halfway there. Wouldn’t it be super cool if architecture school consisted of traveling around the world for four years with an architect and studying famous and vernacular buildings? Maybe that would just be too cool. Everyone would want to be an architect.
A picture I took of Le Mont St. Michel in France. I definitely learned lots about architecture just from a day trip to this extraordinary village.
Third: hotel designing! I’ve always had an insane obsession with hotels and resorts. Someday, I want to design them for a living. I know I’m supposed to say my ultimate goal is to create affordable housing and sustainable buildings, but why not work those things into my true passion: the hotel industry? The Four Seasons on Koh Samui by Bill Bensley has been hugely influential on my future career. Bill Bensley got onto Architectural Digest’s 100 top designers list by designing this ritzy resort that doesn’t interrupt the environment in any way. He literally built the cabins around the palm trees. They come right up through the bedrooms, bathrooms, lobby, etc. How more exotic, yet obviously sustainable, can a resort be? I want to be that kind of designer when I grow up.
Bill Bensley's totally amazing Four Seasons resort that I wish I had designed.
Another of my secret ambitions is to design for Disney. Yes, it's sad but true. I want to be a more whimsical Michael Graves. If it were allowed, I would make a semester at Disney World be a mandatory part of architecture school. There really isn't any other designed environment in the whole world to make you deliriously happy. Every inch of Disney World is highly designed to be beautiful and fun.
A picture I took at Disneyland Paris. You can see the magical architecture that is absolutely lovely.
Michael Graves' corporate Disney building in Burbank, California.