It's a bird, it's a plane...wait, wrong story...
To pick up where I left off, high school was my first real introduction to architecture and design. I was entered early into mechanical design and immediately made the jump to architecture. Once I took that class, that was all there was to it. I was hooked. There was something about constantly developing unique and beautiful structures that no one had ever seen before. Especially doing it on a large, grand scale.
While working around the job sites and watching my father draw houses, there had always been a little disconnect on exactly where the two came together. Upon entering my architecture class, it all started making sense. In the back of my mind, something stirred. Something that made the paper and the wood in the field relevant. A light clicked, to say the least. Someway, somehow, I suddenly was able to envision how the lines I drew on the paper would evolve. Expanding and jumping off the page, growing into the places where people would eventually reside. There was something "magical" about the process of watching the development of the plans to reality. It seemed almost surreal that something as simple and fragile as lead pencil lines drawn on a thin piece of white, translucent paper could become a living, breathing home.
Okay, so I guess that's enough metaphors to fill you for the night. I guess there's no doubt in your heads that I truly love architecture and building in general. The two fields always seemed like a natural fit to me. Despite the intrinsic headaches, there was always an immense sense of satisfaction in seeing happy homeowners move on to the next stage of their lives with your assistance.
Throughout high school, while others were on spring and summer break, visiting friends, beaches, far away places, I was working on the lots. One day would find me hammering down subflooring while the next would be setting silt fence along the perimeters of the lot. I guess now would be as good of time as and to admit these were not the days I loved. Were they necessary? Yes. Did I love them? Not a chance. But such was the lot on life that I had drawn so I worked through it.
In the time I had available, I continued to teach myself architecture. Mind you, the basic class in high school helped greatly but for the most part, just laid the foundation for the design field. Along the way, I learned the best way to learn design was by actually pulling stock plans from the magazines and start moving walls, openings, things such as that. This eventually grew into an understanding of designing the roof, in all honesty, one of the most complex items involved in home design. As I started to get a grip on this, I was able to move forward and start designing the actual exterior of the homes from the ground up.
Suffice to say, by the time I was coming to the end of my time in high school, I had developed a rather solid understanding of architectural design. So what was the next step? Applying to an architectural school to get an architecture degree. I applied and was accepted into the programs at both Georgia Tech and Auburn. I had missed the deadline to the school I had truly wanted, North Carolina State but I was overall satisfied with my other options.
So what does an aspiring designer yearning for an architectural degree do when presented with these two choices of architectural schools? Why, apply at one other school and end up at The Citadel, a small military college in South Carolina with a planned major of civil engineering (which lasted all of two weeks before switching to business administration).
I'll bet you're curious how that road started tying back to my life as a designer, aren't you? Well, there wasn't quite as bad of a disconnect as you may think, but that's the next chapter of my blogging life.
While working around the job sites and watching my father draw houses, there had always been a little disconnect on exactly where the two came together. Upon entering my architecture class, it all started making sense. In the back of my mind, something stirred. Something that made the paper and the wood in the field relevant. A light clicked, to say the least. Someway, somehow, I suddenly was able to envision how the lines I drew on the paper would evolve. Expanding and jumping off the page, growing into the places where people would eventually reside. There was something "magical" about the process of watching the development of the plans to reality. It seemed almost surreal that something as simple and fragile as lead pencil lines drawn on a thin piece of white, translucent paper could become a living, breathing home.
Okay, so I guess that's enough metaphors to fill you for the night. I guess there's no doubt in your heads that I truly love architecture and building in general. The two fields always seemed like a natural fit to me. Despite the intrinsic headaches, there was always an immense sense of satisfaction in seeing happy homeowners move on to the next stage of their lives with your assistance.
Throughout high school, while others were on spring and summer break, visiting friends, beaches, far away places, I was working on the lots. One day would find me hammering down subflooring while the next would be setting silt fence along the perimeters of the lot. I guess now would be as good of time as and to admit these were not the days I loved. Were they necessary? Yes. Did I love them? Not a chance. But such was the lot on life that I had drawn so I worked through it.
In the time I had available, I continued to teach myself architecture. Mind you, the basic class in high school helped greatly but for the most part, just laid the foundation for the design field. Along the way, I learned the best way to learn design was by actually pulling stock plans from the magazines and start moving walls, openings, things such as that. This eventually grew into an understanding of designing the roof, in all honesty, one of the most complex items involved in home design. As I started to get a grip on this, I was able to move forward and start designing the actual exterior of the homes from the ground up.
Suffice to say, by the time I was coming to the end of my time in high school, I had developed a rather solid understanding of architectural design. So what was the next step? Applying to an architectural school to get an architecture degree. I applied and was accepted into the programs at both Georgia Tech and Auburn. I had missed the deadline to the school I had truly wanted, North Carolina State but I was overall satisfied with my other options.
So what does an aspiring designer yearning for an architectural degree do when presented with these two choices of architectural schools? Why, apply at one other school and end up at The Citadel, a small military college in South Carolina with a planned major of civil engineering (which lasted all of two weeks before switching to business administration).
I'll bet you're curious how that road started tying back to my life as a designer, aren't you? Well, there wasn't quite as bad of a disconnect as you may think, but that's the next chapter of my blogging life.
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