The World of Coca-Cola is located in Atlanta, GA. This is a museum that showcases the history of the Coca-Cola Company. This was a building that I visited a few years ago with my aunt and her family.

This building positively influenced me as it seemed bigger inside than the outside looked like. There were a plethora of art aspects and learning areas to learn more about the Coca-Cola Company. The way they incorporated the art displays into the interior of the building was interesting. It also made the museum more enjoyable as most of the components inside the building were interactive.

The exterior is comprised of a two-story steel structure, brick, and glass curtain wall. The building is also LEED Gold Certified. The World of Coca-Cola shares the land with the Aquarium.

I hope to visit the building again with my knowledge of interior design and what I learn from this class to further dissect the architectural components.

The second building that I want to talk about is called San Huberto Lodge in Patagonia, Argentina. This is the building that is the newest to me. I spent the winter of 2019 fishing out of this lodge in Patagonia. It was not only one of the coolest buildings I have stayed in, but it was also located in one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. This building only brings back some amazing memories because I was able to spend two weeks fishing with my dad in one of the most undisturbed places in the world. The building had 10 rooms on the bottom floor where all the guests from a few different countries stayed. At the end of the long hallway on the bottom floor was the dining hall where we ate all of our meals. The only room on the top floor was a big living area and a bar where all of the guests would hang out before dinner. The building itself is nothing crazy, but it brings back a lot of good memories of my time fishing with my dad in Argentina.

This house was my grandparent’s. They lived in it for 30 years where they raised my half aunt and uncle. This house sits on 200 acres of land and for many summers in a row, it, and all the land, belonged to me and my friends. We felt so rich. Now when we were there for the summer all of the furniture, except for a few things, was moved out. We didn’t care though, we slept in sleeping bags in the middle of the living room. We could do anything we wanted, stay up as late as we wanted and play all night. Granted we were about 12 back then and staying up all night seemed almost impossible.

My grandparents sold this house when I was 14. They had moved into the city and could no longer afford to drive all the way into the city for work. I loved this house. It was where I learned to love the outdoors and everything that goes with it. My grandparents taught me how to drive a golf cart. My grandpa taught me how to fish and hunt raccoons with his famous coon hunting dogs. I loved my time here and I only wish I could have been there more. I miss running around inside and my grandpa showing me all of the cool secrets of the house like a hidden safe room. It was my palace and my playground for the summers I spent there, and I wouldn’t have traded them for anything.

The first building that I choose to write about is the Bald Head Island lighthouse. This lighthouse is meaningful to me because it is the lighthouse on the island that I grew up going to with my family. When I was younger, every summer my family and I would go to Bald Head Island in North Carolina. My parents also got engaged over 25 years ago at the top of the lighthouse, so the building has a lot of meaning in my family. I used to be afraid of heights so it was an obstacle to overcome when I was younger but now it is all good memories. It looks like a pretty standard lighthouse, but it has a lot of meaning for myself and my family.

https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/2625-Park-Ridge-Rd_Flower-Mound_TX_75022_M77172-36965

I spent the years from fifth grade until twelfth grade living in this house. It was where I could find shelter, safety, and security. I always had a roof over my head, and a bed to sleep in. It was a place where I could relax after school but it was also a place where I received lectures and harsh words. Being raised in this house made me who I am today and without it, I may not even be at the University of Oklahoma right now. I made a majority of my life decisions in these walls and I couldn’t have asked for a bigger support group than the people who shared those walls with me.

I learned that I loved to run cross country and track while living in this house. I learned how to back out of the garage and down the driveway in this house. I learned where I got accepted to go to school in this house. I made lifelong friends and experienced breakups in this house. I put work into remodeling this house. I shed blood, sweat, and tears in this house. Now that my parents have sold it and moved away, I feel like a piece of me will always remain in that house. I’ll never go back inside it again. I spent half of my life in this house, it’s the only house that I ever truly loved.

https://www.theknot.com/marketplace/the-hillside-estate-crossroads-tx-2039210

This building really meant nothing to me until this summer. I had never even heard of it until July of this year. This is the building and the wedding venue that my older brother got married in, in August of this year. My older brother and I are extremely close, so when I found out that he and the love of his life were getting married I was ecstatic, but I soon learned what it meant for him to get married, as well as how big of a milestone it was for him and I got really emotional. This building was perfect for their wedding and it really facilitated their needs and desires for their perfect day.

There were a lot of emotions in this building on their wedding day. A lot of tears were shed and it was overall a really meaningful experience. I love my brother to death and I wouldn’t have missed his wedding for anything in the world. I was very emotional at the wedding naturally, it was weird to see how grown up my brother had become. It felt like it was yesterday when we were wrestling in the living room after 1st grade. He has made such an impact on me and my twin brother, and he had no idea how much he meant to us until we gave out toasts during the wedding.

I visited St. Peeter’s Basilica with my family on our trip to Rome a couple of years ago and the architecture and decore on the Basilica blew my mind. I am not a religious person and we only visited the Vatican to see the beautiful architecture and sculptures and it did not disappoint. As a non-religious person, I felt for the first time that I could understand how someone could believe in some greater power when looking up at the majesty of the domes and arches filled with stone carvings and beautiful paintings. The Basilica is so rich in culture and style that you feel that you are walking through history when moving through the building. 

when looking back at that trip the architecture of the St. Peeter’s Basilica imprinted a mindset of how religious buildings should feel and look I have been to other churches both before and after, and even though they have never quite managed to reach the same height I could always feel part of that grandeur in the building.

(not necessarily related to the St. Peeter’s Basilica, but a slight criticism of modern American churches ending this blog)

I did feel that way until I came to the US for college. I have never been in a place with a higher percentage of religious people, and never in a place with an equally high concentration of churches, yet I have never been more disappointed in church architecture. I feel that the churches that I have seen so far, especially in Oklahoma have been difficult to point out with the exception of a cross and it makes me a bit sad to see the grandeur that I appreciated in St. Peter’s Basilica completely lacking from local churches.

The Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco, California, though not typically part of my favorite architectural design types, is one of my favorite buildings. I love the design of the skyscraper, with the square pyramid shape and wing-type features toward the top. This building is very architecturally different from pretty much any other skyscraper, making this skyscraper very unique not only in this city, but worldwide. I also appreciate the height of this building, where even though San Francisco’s skyline is rapidly expanding and buildings are getting taller and taller, this building is still so prominent. This skyscraper was designed to allow more sunlight to reach the streets below, something that I believe is very important in a high density city like this one. My family and I took a vacation to San Francisco over the summer in 2016, where I immediately fell in love with the city. I had only ever seen pictures of this building beforehand, and seeing it in person was almost breathtaking. This building will always hold a special place in my heart, and I would love to see it again some day. 

Another one of my least favorite buildings is the Mercedes Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. Much like the Physical Sciences Center at OU, this building has the appearance of a military fortress. To me, there is nothing special about the look of this structure, with the metal siding extending all the way around the circumference creating a very dark, almost arguably depressing look. This structure is used for sports events, but has also been known to house people who are stranded in New Orleans during a hurricane or other natural disaster with nowhere else safe to go. Although this building is not visually pleasing, its use in the city of New Orleans is without a doubt a positive. When I first saw this building, I could not believe how large it was. It covered a massive area, and makes it even more disappointing to me that the designers of the stadium could not have chosen a more aesthetically pleasing look, though I’m sure money had something to do with that. 

One of my least favorite buildings is the Physical Sciences Center at OU. This building is one of the most displeasing to look at, incorporating very brutalist architecture. This building almost resembles a military fortress or bunker, as the first two to three levels are all made of concrete and completely devoid of windows and natural light. In my opinion, it is unfortunate that this is one of the tallest and most prominent buildings here at OU. Attention is automatically drawn to this tower no doubt because of its striking appearance, though that is certainly not a positive thing. This building was originally designed to house different physical sciences like physics and chemistry, as well as mathematics. Today, this building houses a number of different courses, making the term “the blender,” referring to its appearance, even more appropriate.