actually, i think it was this experience
I must've been 5 or 6 and I had this big mirror that I was looking into.
Initially I was looking at myself but then I started walking with the mirror in my hands and observing the space upside down while navigating it.
Strange, it was the same apartment but since I was seeing the ceiling and no objects I had my first epiphany of "space"
I would see the header above doors and thinking in my upside down world that it's a bit incovenient to jump over the header in order to enter the room.
the rest is history.
"I must've been 5 or 6 and I had this big mirror that I was looking into.
Initially I was looking at myself but then I started walking with the mirror in my hands and observing the space upside down while navigating it."
I've always loved art, and I began drawing "house plans" way back in elementary school. Architecture seems like the most realistic artistic occupation; and besides, who didn't love Legos??
I became obsessed while an economics major about how the building industry could reduce labor use, and consequently costs. The only way I can continue to work on the problem is with a further degree in architecture.
Because I'm great at Math and want to be rich....how un-becoming.
Actually, I was born an architect and I really dont have a fucking choice.
Now I want to be a developer and can figure out how I'm going to come up with the money.
Every day when I was little growing up just west of Chicago I could see the tops of the loop skyscrapers in the distance - that did it. Although I wanted to go into commodities trading, I gave in and did the starving architect thing. Some say you cant make good money at it - I say we need a new way of doing IT. Whatever IT is to you. I like Arch Angel's developer idea but that is a whole other set of headaches.
Is there any other job for a messy, perfectionist who can't stand the thought of life without building something? Besides, architects can do anything, we have wonderful egos.
because engineers are so boring and only look at one aspect of the deal.
architects look at the whole story in all sorts of different ways - and this is how i think.
19%__Lego’s/ Lincoln logs/ Erector sets
14%__Creative design & artistic tendencies
10%__Proclivity towards the creation/design of spaces, forms, etc.
9%___Mesmerized by architecture
6%___Intuitive problem solving skills
3%___Influential architect
3%___Fascination w/ Construction Documents
3%___Desire to make the world a better place
2%___Attraction to construction materials
2%___Natural born fort / sand castle design skills
2%___Parents/family
1%___Profession assessment test
1%___Money (amd honestly unaware)
24%__N/A… architect by default or accident (love of sarcasm, chicks, money, superiority complex, etc.)
i was born a painter, but i was going to be reasonable and become a doctor...
however people kept saying ARE YOU INSANE TO THINK ABOUT HAVING BEEN AN ARTIST INSTEAD OF A DOCTOR??!! over and over again [i had my doubts about the Dr. thing]... so I said YES, and went into arch. i don't know if that's what they meant to say.
designing things are increadibly fun. Anyways architecture combines the arts & sciences. I used to have tons of fun with the lincon logs and building sets as a kid and still do. And I've got a wish to make the world a more beautiful place.
My mom was an engineer back in the old country. My grandmother wanted to be an architect, but no one took her seriously as a woman, so she resorted to drafting and teaching. As a result, they both instilled in me a work ethic that surpassed anything I learned from school or my peers (I'd like to think that I'm living out my grandmother's dream). My grandparents were incredibly resourceful people: they constructed their own houses, and as a little girl, I actually saw one being built from start to finish. I love to draw, I love physics, and I have an imagination (LEGOS definately helped when I was little).
Having lived in a communist country, I am very afraid of bland, anonymous and identical buildings that mirror the communist superlative. I want to create evocative structures that inspire others to do the same: make environmentally, aesthetically and socially conscious spaces.
That and dropping organic chem after nearly failing it reiterated to my father that NO I'M NOT MEANT TO BE A DOCTOR! :)
Having lived in a communist country, I am very afraid of bland, anonymous and identical buildings that mirror the communist superlative - Lena I think that's a bit of a generalist view
there are so many labelled communist buildings that are very creative and particular - see anything Neimeyer
I guess it was that as really young I spent a lot of time in different sites, watching houses get built and often I would pick up a shovel and play with it. In high school I took a lot of art and ended somehow in College in the US, which I quit after 3 months, packed my bags, returned to Mexico and got into architecture.
I love it since, I don`t think there is anything else that could be so great, which such a broad variety of things to accomplish, from art, painting, scultpng designing, etc.
then I started walking with the mirror in my hands
i remember hanging upside down of the sides of beds or chair seats and considering the roof as a floor and stepping outside... (watch that first step. it's a tall one)
we kids also used to sometimes walk backwards trying to use a mirror to see "ahead" of us. must have been inspired by movies where the gunslinger shoots a tossed coin by using only the view through a mirror
it was 1989 the summer after my freshman year in architecture i considered dropping out and going into full time lawn care. a soul search lead me to my brother in seattle. i had alot of time to piddle away as i was young and saved up a small fortune in the navy. One day as i was searching for lawn care places in the phone book and i happened by the computer section, i thought "what the heck" maybe i should be a computer programer instead. i thumbed down the list. the biggest add caught my eye... microsun microsystem micros microsomething or other. then i started thinking about my h.s. senior year class in computers 1981 alls i remembered we're these little doohickies<> boot and enter and something about dos. nahh, nevermind, i think i'll just go back to school. that night i walked downtown and there was some wierd ragged sound coming out of a bar. the bar tender said it was grime, grudge, crunge or something. i played pool, watched unbathed girls dance and with a mellow buzz started thinking about dumping half of my savings into a new car...
When I was about 2 years old somebody gave me a box of Lincoln logs. My parents thought that those wooden sticks were far too dangerous for me at that age so they put it far up on a high shelf so I couldn't get them down and play with them. After some time, and growing taller, I was able to engineer a way to climb up and topple down the box. By this time I was probably 3 years old. Don't think I built anything but I threw the logs all over the living room and put a big pile on my fathers LP player. Next I went into the lego stage and built moon bases. Then I'd ride my bike down to buy firecrackers (only in TX would they sell a 7 year old firecrackers) and would proceed to blow up whatever I created. By the time I was about 10 years old I was starting to get fascinated by the latest highrise in downtown Houston and would always adore them when I was in the back jump seat of the old station wagon riding down to Six Flags. By high school I was getting the pressure to become an engineer like my father. Everyone in the family knew my brother wasn't smart enough to handle a science degree so my father tapped me for that. Then I nearly failed physics and skipped that class a few times. In my high school drafting course I designed a pretty generic McMansion and the teacher submitted it into some state competition. Sure enough I won first place and got a sweet $20 prize. That duped me into thinking I could make money doing this architecture gig and was off to college in the fall.
Fast forward about ten years and I've been out of college working for a few years. My brother, after changing majors about 4 times, finally squeaks out of college with a business undergrad. His first job right out of college starts him at over $20k more than I was making at the time after having 3+ years of professional experience in architecture. Damn them Lincoln Logs - I blame it all on them! I was supposed to be the successful one.
one more for the books...
legos & lincoln logs .... (is that how thats spelled?)
oh. and i used to draw make believe floor plans and perspectives of imaginary houses that i would someday own as a rich and successful architect.
at least the legos were fun.
I always had this problem of never being able to finish things that I started. Then one day I overheard an architect say that "design is never finished." A light bulb went off in my head and now here I am.
THERE'S SOMETHING FISHY HERE....I'M NOT QUITE SURE WHAT IT IS...
CAN'T QUITE PUT MY FINGER ON IT...
BUT IF MY SUSPICIONS ARE CORRECT.....I'LL SIMPLY TELL YOU WHO I REALLY AM....
never the mind. the fish is just repetitious sometimes.
these threads are becoming labyrinth walls...dance magic, dance.
"i didn't start talking or walking till i was four. between the ages of four and seven all i would eat was milk and chicken. my mom would take me from doctor to doctor and they all basically said i was retarded. some here would certainly agree.
my mom would put me in our backyard, and in costa rica, where i spent my early life, you only have to dig several inches before hitting some beautiful red clays....wet and absolutely giving to the imagination. and i built and sculpted with my hands, castles, dinosaurs, whatever my mind could come up with, it kinda became my voice and soon people started saying i was going to be an architect, i had no idea what the word meant, so they told me, and it made sense, so i said yeah, that's who i am."
(off topic) lego seems to figure a lot in this thread and the other one on the same topic. I never had lego (although I knew about it and kids I knew had it) but I did have Stay-Lox building blocks and something called Tinker Toys and of course Kenner girder and panel building kits, out of which I tried to construct a copy of the Seattle World's Fair Space needle (but failed). I knew of Meccano and Erector sets but these were slightly too sophisticated and complex for me.
my interest for architecture developed from this moment on;
my grandmothers two story urban house was to be demolished that day on my way to 6 th grade. house was 100 years old and had beatiful futures about it. a courtyard with patterned cobblestone floors, high ceilings etc, similar the ones you see in 'turkish style' book. it was declared eminant domain with strip of neighbor's equally beatiful homes to enlarge street making it a blvd with 4 lanes. i was born in that house.
on the way back from school, i saw the whole strip of now would be historical houses were leveled. i did cry and said to myself, buildings must have somebody who cares for them. i found out that night from my father that person was called architect. over the years that particular day stuck to my mind while i eventually miandered my way into architecture.
i actually went to school for it (still in school) by accident
had a choice of schools, and was considering physchology, journalism, or architecture... and i decided on IIT, and so... architecture it was...
but thank god... cause since i got there... i have grown to have a profound respect for architecture... and i really love it
also learned that i want to be a musician, but i dont know if i can make that work... i think i could... but i would need lots of help...
by the way... anyone have any friends with recording studios? or looking for bands in chicago?
you're only a true fan of legos if you've gone to legoland,
for me;
legos
puzzles,
a book on drawing perspective skyscrappers in the 4th grade,
visiting rome when i was young,
i liked to take things apart and put them back together, (like radios, and such)
my gradfather designed and built sailboats
now that i think about it i should have been an engineer,,,
to bad i hate math.
Why did YOU become (or will become) an Architect?
tinker toys - my tectonic genesis
actually, i think it was this experience
I must've been 5 or 6 and I had this big mirror that I was looking into.
Initially I was looking at myself but then I started walking with the mirror in my hands and observing the space upside down while navigating it.
Strange, it was the same apartment but since I was seeing the ceiling and no objects I had my first epiphany of "space"
I would see the header above doors and thinking in my upside down world that it's a bit incovenient to jump over the header in order to enter the room.
the rest is history.
"I must've been 5 or 6 and I had this big mirror that I was looking into.
Initially I was looking at myself but then I started walking with the mirror in my hands and observing the space upside down while navigating it."
...wow
I've always wanted to use this revolutionary new Honeycomb system dat worgs reaally great. It's new. Never been done before. Ever.
I've always loved art, and I began drawing "house plans" way back in elementary school. Architecture seems like the most realistic artistic occupation; and besides, who didn't love Legos??
the chicks.
oh. and the money.
trip to NYC when i was three...my neck still hurts from spending an entire day looking up...
I used to see objects in the concrete splatter and characters in the water stains on wood shingles.
"Sex, travel & drafting pens - an architect's life for me!!" Architechnophilia
because simply if i went into finance like my sister, mother and father i would have died of boredom
I became obsessed while an economics major about how the building industry could reduce labor use, and consequently costs. The only way I can continue to work on the problem is with a further degree in architecture.
what else could i do with all these bass wood sticks and my handy little glue gun?
chicks love it.
because i love concrete and white walls.
Because I'm great at Math and want to be rich....how un-becoming.
Actually, I was born an architect and I really dont have a fucking choice.
Now I want to be a developer and can figure out how I'm going to come up with the money.
Every day when I was little growing up just west of Chicago I could see the tops of the loop skyscrapers in the distance - that did it. Although I wanted to go into commodities trading, I gave in and did the starving architect thing. Some say you cant make good money at it - I say we need a new way of doing IT. Whatever IT is to you. I like Arch Angel's developer idea but that is a whole other set of headaches.
Is there any other job for a messy, perfectionist who can't stand the thought of life without building something? Besides, architects can do anything, we have wonderful egos.
Because singing at the revival church just got boring!
because engineers are so boring and only look at one aspect of the deal.
architects look at the whole story in all sorts of different ways - and this is how i think.
a 5th grade trip to frank lloyd wrights's home and studio ... and working with attractive models all day :o)
ARCHITORTURE?
its fun!!!!
Because architecture combines the strengthof poetry and the beauty of the fine art.Ijust love this unique combination.
Rough summation of influences:
19%__Lego’s/ Lincoln logs/ Erector sets
14%__Creative design & artistic tendencies
10%__Proclivity towards the creation/design of spaces, forms, etc.
9%___Mesmerized by architecture
6%___Intuitive problem solving skills
3%___Influential architect
3%___Fascination w/ Construction Documents
3%___Desire to make the world a better place
2%___Attraction to construction materials
2%___Natural born fort / sand castle design skills
2%___Parents/family
1%___Profession assessment test
1%___Money (amd honestly unaware)
24%__N/A… architect by default or accident (love of sarcasm, chicks, money, superiority complex, etc.)
i was born a painter, but i was going to be reasonable and become a doctor...
however people kept saying ARE YOU INSANE TO THINK ABOUT HAVING BEEN AN ARTIST INSTEAD OF A DOCTOR??!! over and over again [i had my doubts about the Dr. thing]... so I said YES, and went into arch. i don't know if that's what they meant to say.
designing things are increadibly fun. Anyways architecture combines the arts & sciences. I used to have tons of fun with the lincon logs and building sets as a kid and still do. And I've got a wish to make the world a more beautiful place.
AYN RAND!
yeah that's right, wanna fight?!
I HATE AYN RAND!!!
My mom was an engineer back in the old country. My grandmother wanted to be an architect, but no one took her seriously as a woman, so she resorted to drafting and teaching. As a result, they both instilled in me a work ethic that surpassed anything I learned from school or my peers (I'd like to think that I'm living out my grandmother's dream). My grandparents were incredibly resourceful people: they constructed their own houses, and as a little girl, I actually saw one being built from start to finish. I love to draw, I love physics, and I have an imagination (LEGOS definately helped when I was little).
Having lived in a communist country, I am very afraid of bland, anonymous and identical buildings that mirror the communist superlative. I want to create evocative structures that inspire others to do the same: make environmentally, aesthetically and socially conscious spaces.
That and dropping organic chem after nearly failing it reiterated to my father that NO I'M NOT MEANT TO BE A DOCTOR! :)
I am a visionary, a critic, and a humanist.
Because I'm still in high school and don't know what I'm getting myself into...
...is the money really that bad, or are u guys being bitter?
Both actually JeffS
Because my high school guidance counselor thought it would be good to combine my talents in art and math.
Because I love staring at the burnt orange carpet, windowless building, and hot studio...plus i've always loved legos and play-doh
Having lived in a communist country, I am very afraid of bland, anonymous and identical buildings that mirror the communist superlative - Lena I think that's a bit of a generalist view
there are so many labelled communist buildings that are very creative and particular - see anything Neimeyer
Niemeyer lived in a democracy, Brazil.
I guess it was that as really young I spent a lot of time in different sites, watching houses get built and often I would pick up a shovel and play with it. In high school I took a lot of art and ended somehow in College in the US, which I quit after 3 months, packed my bags, returned to Mexico and got into architecture.
I love it since, I don`t think there is anything else that could be so great, which such a broad variety of things to accomplish, from art, painting, scultpng designing, etc.
i remember hanging upside down of the sides of beds or chair seats and considering the roof as a floor and stepping outside... (watch that first step. it's a tall one)
we kids also used to sometimes walk backwards trying to use a mirror to see "ahead" of us. must have been inspired by movies where the gunslinger shoots a tossed coin by using only the view through a mirror
it was 1989 the summer after my freshman year in architecture i considered dropping out and going into full time lawn care. a soul search lead me to my brother in seattle. i had alot of time to piddle away as i was young and saved up a small fortune in the navy. One day as i was searching for lawn care places in the phone book and i happened by the computer section, i thought "what the heck" maybe i should be a computer programer instead. i thumbed down the list. the biggest add caught my eye... microsun microsystem micros microsomething or other. then i started thinking about my h.s. senior year class in computers 1981 alls i remembered we're these little doohickies<> boot and enter and something about dos. nahh, nevermind, i think i'll just go back to school. that night i walked downtown and there was some wierd ragged sound coming out of a bar. the bar tender said it was grime, grudge, crunge or something. i played pool, watched unbathed girls dance and with a mellow buzz started thinking about dumping half of my savings into a new car...
When I was about 2 years old somebody gave me a box of Lincoln logs. My parents thought that those wooden sticks were far too dangerous for me at that age so they put it far up on a high shelf so I couldn't get them down and play with them. After some time, and growing taller, I was able to engineer a way to climb up and topple down the box. By this time I was probably 3 years old. Don't think I built anything but I threw the logs all over the living room and put a big pile on my fathers LP player. Next I went into the lego stage and built moon bases. Then I'd ride my bike down to buy firecrackers (only in TX would they sell a 7 year old firecrackers) and would proceed to blow up whatever I created. By the time I was about 10 years old I was starting to get fascinated by the latest highrise in downtown Houston and would always adore them when I was in the back jump seat of the old station wagon riding down to Six Flags. By high school I was getting the pressure to become an engineer like my father. Everyone in the family knew my brother wasn't smart enough to handle a science degree so my father tapped me for that. Then I nearly failed physics and skipped that class a few times. In my high school drafting course I designed a pretty generic McMansion and the teacher submitted it into some state competition. Sure enough I won first place and got a sweet $20 prize. That duped me into thinking I could make money doing this architecture gig and was off to college in the fall.
Fast forward about ten years and I've been out of college working for a few years. My brother, after changing majors about 4 times, finally squeaks out of college with a business undergrad. His first job right out of college starts him at over $20k more than I was making at the time after having 3+ years of professional experience in architecture. Damn them Lincoln Logs - I blame it all on them! I was supposed to be the successful one.
one more for the books...
legos & lincoln logs .... (is that how thats spelled?)
oh. and i used to draw make believe floor plans and perspectives of imaginary houses that i would someday own as a rich and successful architect.
at least the legos were fun.
Niemeyer is a communist to this day.
newstreamlinedmodel you win
I always had this problem of never being able to finish things that I started. Then one day I overheard an architect say that "design is never finished." A light bulb went off in my head and now here I am.
The Hideous Building, I will succeed, or fail really.... the world needs intentionally unethical architecture.
THERE'S SOMETHING FISHY HERE....I'M NOT QUITE SURE WHAT IT IS...
CAN'T QUITE PUT MY FINGER ON IT...
BUT IF MY SUSPICIONS ARE CORRECT.....I'LL SIMPLY TELL YOU WHO I REALLY AM....
never the mind. the fish is just repetitious sometimes.
these threads are becoming labyrinth walls...dance magic, dance.
"i didn't start talking or walking till i was four. between the ages of four and seven all i would eat was milk and chicken. my mom would take me from doctor to doctor and they all basically said i was retarded. some here would certainly agree.
my mom would put me in our backyard, and in costa rica, where i spent my early life, you only have to dig several inches before hitting some beautiful red clays....wet and absolutely giving to the imagination. and i built and sculpted with my hands, castles, dinosaurs, whatever my mind could come up with, it kinda became my voice and soon people started saying i was going to be an architect, i had no idea what the word meant, so they told me, and it made sense, so i said yeah, that's who i am."
(off topic) lego seems to figure a lot in this thread and the other one on the same topic. I never had lego (although I knew about it and kids I knew had it) but I did have Stay-Lox building blocks and something called Tinker Toys and of course Kenner girder and panel building kits, out of which I tried to construct a copy of the Seattle World's Fair Space needle (but failed). I knew of Meccano and Erector sets but these were slightly too sophisticated and complex for me.
my interest for architecture developed from this moment on;
my grandmothers two story urban house was to be demolished that day on my way to 6 th grade. house was 100 years old and had beatiful futures about it. a courtyard with patterned cobblestone floors, high ceilings etc, similar the ones you see in 'turkish style' book. it was declared eminant domain with strip of neighbor's equally beatiful homes to enlarge street making it a blvd with 4 lanes. i was born in that house.
on the way back from school, i saw the whole strip of now would be historical houses were leveled. i did cry and said to myself, buildings must have somebody who cares for them. i found out that night from my father that person was called architect. over the years that particular day stuck to my mind while i eventually miandered my way into architecture.
i actually went to school for it (still in school) by accident
had a choice of schools, and was considering physchology, journalism, or architecture... and i decided on IIT, and so... architecture it was...
but thank god... cause since i got there... i have grown to have a profound respect for architecture... and i really love it
also learned that i want to be a musician, but i dont know if i can make that work... i think i could... but i would need lots of help...
by the way... anyone have any friends with recording studios? or looking for bands in chicago?
you're only a true fan of legos if you've gone to legoland,
for me;
legos
puzzles,
a book on drawing perspective skyscrappers in the 4th grade,
visiting rome when i was young,
i liked to take things apart and put them back together, (like radios, and such)
my gradfather designed and built sailboats
now that i think about it i should have been an engineer,,,
to bad i hate math.
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