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Connor Hall

1/26/15

Building Literacy

With two very resourceful reviewers sitting in front of me, I began to present, my
heart felt as if it were pounding out of my chest. A sense of panic set in as, suddenly, the
whole presentation I had prepared for them was wiped clean from my mind. As seconds
began to feel like hours, I franticly started to search for words to form a coherent
sentence and not continue to stand there with an absent facial expression. Relying on my
old and developing knowledge about architecture I was able to craft a new presentation
and deliver it to them. This knowledge was the building blocks of my architectural
literature, which continues to expand, as I grow older.
There hasnt been a time that I can remember where I wasnt curious about
figuring out how everything made is put together, and the process behind doing so. With
everything now days built in factories all that we have is the finished product, and no
knowledge as to how it came to be. Out of all the things made and designed, buildings are
the one thing that I always see either pop up or slowly being built. I first took interest in
buildings when I was a little kid and tried to recreate the buildings I saw with my set of
Legos or Lincoln Logs. Putting one brick or log on top of another to recreate the image I
had generated in my mind. These early attempts were far off, but I never settled for a
simple four-walled structure with a roof. I was always looking for a way to add more or
figure out what I could take away and still have the structure be functioning. Always
pushing the limits of what the normal was at the time. Once I became older and more
capable of understanding the actual process behind what goes into a structure I tried to

build a few for my self. Grabbed my hammer, a bucket of nails and used the scrap wood I
collected to build rudimentary platforms. The simplicity of one may be deceiving as to
how much work can go into one that is well designed. Starting with a small idea or a
vision as to what it may look like once finished. Then moving to the plans only to realize
that your structure wont be anything monumental, but something that looks as if a little
kid built. This experience brought a whole new way of thinking for me an allowed me to
begin my journey in becoming literate in architecture.

Once I got into high school I enrolled in an engineering program called Project
Lead The Way. This was an overview of all the fields of engineering, some of which were
electrical, civil, and mechanical. With my interest of buildings I began to focus more on
the civil side of the class. However before I was able to completely finish the class I
transferred to the other side of the state. I did not want my passion for design to fade so I
looked into a program that my neighboring high school offered. This program was Career
Technology Education, which allowed students to choose from a variety of options that
may pertain to what they will want to do later in life. After researching both options of
carpentry and architecture, I was able to choose the Computer Aided Design and Drafting
program. This program offered the curriculum I needed to begin the steps needed to
become architecture major. During my time in CADD I was able to learn the software
used in most of the firms today called Revit. This program is designed for architects;
therefore all the terms used during the design process are included. Beginning to use this
on a daily basis I learned all the terms that an architect will use during the process of
designing a house. Becoming proficient in Revit allowed me to have to confidence and

knowledge to take and pass the citification test for the program. With this I now had a
new aspect of architecture that of which I was literate in. One this test concluded I began
to apply to colleges up and down the east coast as architecture major. I soon came to find
out that architecture no matter where you go is a very competitive program to get into due
to the limited amount of space each school offers. Charlotte for example has one of the
more competitive programs out of the ones I applied to. Once I got into the main school
had to begin my separate application to the school of arts and architecture. This included
a drawing with an explanation as to what it represented in your life, an examination of a
building that the provided, one this other than a building that related to architecture and
why, and an essay as to how you became interested in the field of architecture. With my
weak background in art I struggled though the drawing and critiquing part of the process,
but it all turned out well when I got in.

As I started my first year as an architect I came to realize that I had barely scraped
the surface of the architecture world. The amount of design concepts and terms that I had
not even thought of before coming to charlotte were immense. For example our first
project started off as a few simple black rectangles on a piece of paper. Progressing into a
four quadrant project that encompassed design concepts far more complex that I had
imagined for the first project. For example, flow may seem to be a simple and
straightforward concept, but its far from it. Working around half walls, horizontal planes
and our figure, there was a lot to consider when moving from quadrant to quadrant. With
the end of the half of the first semester brought my first experience at a formal review.
There was a strong difference between presenting in front of your classmates as to which

you sit next to and talk to everyday, to presenting in front of people that dont hesitate to
point out the flaws. Forcing each presenter to be able to answer any question or turn
down an assumption about each individual project and their meaning. However just
saying I did this here to show that was never enough because each of the reviewers had
heard it before, they wanted something more in depth. Thats where all the class hours
staring at terms and concepts came into play. Being literate in the terms allowed me as a
presenter to explain to the reviews what they were looking at and why it was done. As
the class moved along I became exposed to more design concepts and terms that are used
in the field. Some were out of the traditional textbook, but most of them were said during
lecture with the assumption that we all had previous knowledge about each word. With
the professor rambling on I looked at all the blank stares and confused expressions and
could tell I wasnt alone in my level of literacy that first part of the semester. Continuing
on in my first year as a student, teachers began to transition into learning about drafting.
Looking at and drawing he 2D version of a building was an interesting switch from the
3D models we have previously done this year. Rather than being able to physically see
the model, one has to be able to visualize the building and what it may look like as a 3D
figure.
Even though this is only my second semester as an architecture student I am
already thinking about what I will want to do next. Already looking at firms and what job
positions I may be interested in, to figuring out what masters program I will want to go
into. These all play a factor as to what path I take and what I do along the way to become
literate.

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