With an exception to playing sports, growing up my favorite activity was to build with legos. After years of asking for new lego sets when the opportunity arose, I gathered enough lego pieces to build a replica of the Great Wall of China. I would dump out my entire collection on the floor and go crazy, I couldn't get enough of it. Eventually after 17 years I had to figure out what I wanted to do for a career. Since my dad and older brother were engineers, why not architecture? My drawing skills were sub-par but manipulating spaces for human comfort was intriguing. I applied around the country hoping to get into a school out west and I did - Washington State University.
However upon arrival, I got off to a slow start because I was not prepared for the culture change (not to mention I had no relatives, knew absolutely no one and did not know a thing about Washington). My architecture class was a joke. I knew it was going to be a "weeding out" class because there were 79 other students in the class but only 1 professor and 2 TA. The projects were silly and random, getting one-on-one time with the professor was like winning the lottery. The professor was a tough grader which meant all work had to meet requirements/perfection... I could not keep up. Eventually after a year and a half at Wazzu and paying an arm and two legs for out of state tuition, I transferred back home to University of Maine at Augusta.
I felt rejuvenated when I came back to the right coast, had stability in family and friends and was familiar with my surroundings better than Pullman, WA. One of the first classes I have taken while here at UMA was ARC 123e (Philosophy of Architecture) with Roger Richmond. Professor Richmond is the founder of the architecture program at UMA and he presented a new way of thinking about architecture through space, shape and light. I could finally wrap my head around the concept of architecture rather than being forced into it which is what happened at WSU. During a class, Prof. Richmond shared a secret with the class that I will never forget: As the architect you are the DIRECTOR! The point of architecture is to design spaces, not buildings. You define space by giving it boundaries that take on meaning. Defined space is the highest expression and basis of architecture. Now I am in my second semester at UMA and currently in my first design class in the new Gannett Building. From here on, the rest is history....
