When I moved from southern California to Flower Mound, Texas, Downing Middle School was one of the first buildings in which I interacted and spent a great deal of time. While many of the memories that I made within the walls of this building were positive, the architectural design of the building influenced me in negative way.

I came to Texas not knowing anybody, let alone having any friends, so this building influenced me in many ways. During my two and a half years at this school, I made countless memories and am still friends with some of the people I met there to this day. From playing football out on the field to eating lunch with my friends to going to classes that did not have too much stress, I associate my time spent in this school with my own adolescence and childhood.

However, not all the memories of this building were positive, and the overall architecture of the building washed away many of the good memories and replaced them with a boiling hatred for the place. First, when I first moved to Texas, I was missing my life in California and all my friends there, making it difficult to adjust to the new life and make new friends. Next, some of my teachers were terrible; they hated their jobs and did not want to be there, making it impossible for me to get acclimated to the new setting. Finally, the building was not the ugliest architecture that I have ever seen, but it had certain elements that were bound to give some people depression. The outside was shaped exactly like all the other middle schools in the area, making it look extremely basic, and the color of the bricks used on the building made it look depressing, especially when all the grass turned brown in the winter. Also, the inside was extremely cramped and small with a bunch of little kids pushing and shoving their ways through the hall. This was a huge difference from the school I had moved from, where we would walk outside in the fresh air from one class to another.

In conclusion, Downing Middle School influenced me in a positive way in that it is the place where I made a lot of formative memories and met some very close friends. However, in many instances, it negatively influenced me due to it being hard to make friends, teachers that did not want to be there, and the design of the building being depressing. Overall, to this day, I really do not like the building, but I have learned to appreciate it for some of the memories and friends that it has brought me.

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The University of Oklahoma’s Physical Sciences Center is located on the edge of campus at 601 Elm Ave. The Physical Sciences Center contains mostly general education classes along with a variety of math and science courses. This building is made entirely of concrete reaching twelve stories tall, with no windows on the lower half of the structure. Due to the strange architecture of the building, it has been nicknamed ‘The Blender’.

This building elicits many feelings for me, both good and bad. At the beginning of my college experience, it was where many of my classes were held. That being the case, this building has a nostalgic feeling when I do enter it. On the other hand, I absolutely hate this building; the layout is weird, there are no windows, and it usually smells like a room full of 6th-grade students after recess.

Overall, I am fairly intrigued by the history of the Physical Sciences Center. My issues with the functionality of it does not take away from the fact that this building has an interesting story and holds generations of memories.

Image Retrieved From: https://www.sosbrutalism.org/cms/18801332

Gould Hall has had both positive and negative effects on me as a student. Being an interior design major I have spent plenty of time in this building. I pretty much know my way around this building like the back of my hand.

From the first day of classes freshman year I have had a class in Gould Hall. My first every class was studio in the Gallery. The gallery in Gould Hall is a large linear space with a barrel ceiling. We were in this space because the basement (where we were supposed to be) had flooded. Therefore we had to spend three and a half hours in the gallery for studio. This was not the most ideal space for a few reasons. One of the reasons being we did not have any space to put our supplies. In the usual studio classrooms we have our own cubby space and our own oversized desk. The second reason being the gallery echo’s terribly. I now know that this is because the space does not have enough acoustic support. All the surfaces in the space are hard therefore the sound has nothing to absorb into.

After finally getting out of the gallery and the flooding was controlled we got to move into the basement. The basement had its own unique set of problems. The biggest problem for me was the lack of natural light received in the basement. I did not realize how much I appreciated natural light until the next year when our studio class was on the third floor. The third floor studio had much more natural light and resulted in a more positive learning environment. After moving out of the basement I have turned my negative feelings about Gould Hall into positive ones because of the experiences I have had in the building.

Overall I have spent a lot of time in Gould Hall. I have spent very late nights and very early mornings there. I am happy to never have to take another class in the basement, although I believe it gave me a new appreciation for having natural light in the classroom.

I had the opportunity of visiting the White House when I was 10 years old. My family and I took a trip to Washington D.C. and this was by far one of my favorite stops. My experience was definitely positive.

For me the experience has changed in meaning over time. When I went to the White House as a 10 year old the meaning to me was very significant (at least in my head). I thought the White House was the coolest place ever and the president was the biggest celebrity in the world. I thought it was the most amazing thing that I was walking on the same floors that the president does everyday. Although I did not run into the president while I was there (like I thought I might) I still was fascinated by the beautiful design of the structure. I vividly remember the three rooms in the White House that were all one color. There was a red room, a green room, and a blue room. Each of these rooms has such ornate and historic décor. I believe seeing the history and beautiful design of the White House will be stuck with me forever. I even believe my fascination with the interior design of the White House has influenced me to become an interior designer. I do not think I fully understood the significance of being in the White House at the time, but know I do.

Reflecting back on my experiences now I still feel so lucky to have been able to experience such a unique opportunity. I now have a far better understanding of the history behind the White House and why it is such a symbolic piece of architecture to our country. I do not know if I will have get to experience getting a tour of the White House again and so I am very thankful that I got to go once!

Overall I had a very positive experience at the White House. I feel very fortunate I got to tour such a significant (if not the most significant) piece of architecture in US history.

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A few years back I went to Europe, something I noticed was that the architecture there is unlike any other. In Barcelona, I had the opportunity to visit Park Güell, one of the great projects of Antoni Gaudí. Before visiting, I had never heard of Park Güell; all I knew is one of my friends kept saying it was where Cheeta Girls was filmed. When I arrived, I was amazed by the intricate design.

This park is no ordinary park, it is a wonderland full of bright colors with a stunning view of Barcelona. The first thing I thought of when I saw Park Güell was that it was real-life candy land. With the bright mosaic glass colors accompanied by the unique little homes that resembled gingerbread houses.

I remember walking down a trail flush with trees, expecting that I was going to see a regular park. When I made it to Park Güell and stood at the top I was flabbergasted. As I made my way down through the park, there were beautiful stairs that lead me to a maze of giant pillars. This is a piece of architecture that fulfilled my childhood imagination and I will never forget it.

Images 1 Retrieved From: https://www.apartments.com/callaway-house-norman-ok/6ks3s1r/

Images 2 Retrieved From: https://www.viator.com/en-CA/tours/Barcelona/Park-Guell-Exclusive-Admission-Ticket/d562-31070P36

Midland High School was the high school I attended in my hometown. This building had both positive and negative effects on me. The negative being the design of the building. The positive being the memories I have from my experiences at Midland High.

This building has had such a strong influence on me. From a young age I looked forward to finally getting to attend high school. I was in love with the idea of being a high schooler and all of the fun things that came with it. For example, getting my drivers license, playing sports, and growing up in general. Therefore as a little girl I always associated Midland High School with excitement about the future.

When I finally attended Midland High my attitude about the building slightly shifted. The building looked very different from the inside than the magical places I had in my head as a child. Hallways were dark and narrow, rooms had very few windows, and many of the spaces needed major updates (it was founded in 1926 and it still looked like it in most places). The lighting could give anyone a headache and each hallway had a different color of lockers. This made spending 8 hours in school not the most joyful learning experience. The narrow hallways cause congestion in-between classes and kids often got hit by classroom doors opening due to having such little space. Although the building itself was not the most ideal learning environment, I still associate Midland High with some of my favorite memories. Some of my favorite memories include meeting my best friends, playing sports, and attending football games. Overall I think if the building were designed more thoughtfully my high school learning experience could have been far more enriching but I am still very grateful for the memories I made.

When someone mentions a library to me this is what I picture. Growing up I would visit my grandparents in north New Mexico during the summertime, and with them they made sure my brother and I did not have a boring summer. We would frequently visit the Farmington Public Library as it was both free and had computers that we can use to play games. Video games were not at my grandparents so this was our only time to play games. The building offered a great open environment with windows around the whole building so it did not feel like a boring building. During the summertime there would often be interactive workshops for kids to engage in and a little theater that showed movies or shows that were based off children books.

This place will always remain close to my heart and will be a library design I hope to see more often in the future. With it being in the heart of Farmington, NM it continues to be seen and accessible to the general community. I hope that you find a library that has an impact for you the same way this building did for me.

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Growing up playing Minecraft made me always want to go build bases wherever I went. My parents knew this so whenever we visited my grandmother in Colorado we stopped at Bishop Castle. As a twelve year old seeing this whimsical castle it blew my mind and probably still would today. Bishop Castle is a cobblestone creation made by Jim Bishop who built it by himself excluding some help from his father. Seeing someone accomplish what I loved to do at such a grand scale was inspiring, Exploring each room within the castle and reaching the topmost parts of the castle made my visit there so much fun. I distinctly remember the roof being the coolest since it had bridges connecting the towers and provided a vantage point to admire the mountainous landscape near by. While I didn’t end up pursuing architecture, I hope I end up helping at some level with the construction of buildings and I attribute some of that desire to my visit to Bishop Castle.

Something I did not recognize as twelve year old was the castle’s defiance to the government. Jim Bishop had many legal disputes with the law in relation to his castle. From the rocks he used to its structural integrity, Bishop Castle stood for Jim Bishop’s political opinions which consisted of anti-government rhetoric. If you ever visit this interesting castle you can expect to see many political signs upon the property.

The Gateway Arch was the 9th National Park I’ve had the opportunity to visit. While the title of National Park is interesting for the arch, the monument is simply awe-inspiring. Walking through the city district of St. Louis to the lush paths within the park, I was amazed when the Gateway Arch came into sight. I always find it impressive when something exceeds expectations and the arch did exactly that for me. Leading up to this visit I reread Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief because in that novel the main characters visit and go up into the arch. Also I had completed a final project for my solid mechanics class where I had to conduct structural analysis for the arch under high wind loads and earthquakes. I thought my expectations wouldn’t be met because of these experiences with the Gateway Arch but that wasn’t the case. Taking the tram up to the highest point was such a fun experience and it felt just like a theme park ride! I spent hours afterwards in the museum since it had tons of great information involving all aspects of the arch. I would highly recommend visiting it if you happen to be passing by St. Louis since you can enjoy a lot of it in just an hour or two.

The use of 304 stainless steel gives the Gateway Arch a futuristic look that is toned down by the natural arch formation. The arch is modeled after an inverted, weighted catenary which is simply how a rope or vine would rest when connected between two points. The arch uses the largest amount of stainless steel for a single project thus giving it an exclusive look. My favorite monument now is the Gateway Arch because of its unique presence. I look forward to driving by it again and remembering how I amazed I felt being towered by it.