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Free Sample Personal Statement in Design
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by,
and that has made all the difference.--Robert Frost--Have you ever taken
the road less traveled? When you drive home from work, do you ever
explore? Sure, it might take longer than usual, and there may be
unpleasant stops along the way, but occasionally you will find an
unexpected surprise. By casting aside strict conventions and routines
and by taking risks, we can achieve things we never considered or
thought possible. I find that many people in our religiously capitalist
society only seek the fastest, cheapest, and most efficient route. While
some industries hire to increase diversity and thereby innovation, many
dare not attempt anything new. In particular, many established
architects and developers fear taking chances and fear the risk of
failure inherent in untested methods. I, on the other hand, believe that
architects must not feel constrained by the past but must follow up on
promising possibilities. Exploring undiscovered methods and paths
requires self-criticism, self-assurance, and courage.
In my junior year in college, I doubted the teaching style of my
instructor in my first design studio class. I felt as if he pushed his
own rigid ideas into the students' creations and did not allow the
students the opportunity to pursue their own original designs. Fearing
my intellectual growth might be stunted by his lectures and dissatisfied
with his teaching, I basically taught myself design by researching and
combing through hundreds of architecture books. Through my own studies,
I came to realize that architecture should be learned, not preached.
That semester, I further challenged myself by working on a design of my
own creation, a design not as signed by my instructor. While it would
have been easier to accept the instructor's lessons and just follow his
ideas, I realized that I could never take the easy way again now that I
discovered that the beauty of architecture lies in learning it myself.
That semester helped formulate my approach towards architecture and
influence my design decisions to this day.
Although self-motivation is extremely important, seeking the guidance
and critique of others is essential to good design since others can find
what I may have overlooked. One critic who has been particularly crucial
to the development of my work is Craig Scott, a Progressive Architecture
Awards Winner in 1996, who worked together with Homa Fardjadi and Sima
Fardjadi. Craig was my studio critic during the spring term of 1997. His
instruction helped me achieve a level of design that I could not have
attained from books alone. Of greatest importance, he taught me a
combination of methodology and theory to the process of creating
designs. He taught me to begin with a simple conceptual spatial model,
then add site context and programmatic concerns to create an integrated
building. The application of a methodology to the design process made my
work more structured and rigorous than before. In Craig's studio, I
designed a furniture workshop for downtown Ann Arbor that was chosen as
an exhibit in the 1997 Summer Student Exhibition in the University of
Michigan. Professors chose the most outstanding projects in their studio
and put them in the exhibition. Although this was certainly not a major
trophy, the exhibition represented my first accomplishment in the studio
and was a milestone in my architectural career. When I saw my work in
the exhibition room, all the failures and difficulties I had experienced
seemed worth it.
Later, I designed urban housing in downtown Ann Arbor for the fall
studio 1997, which was also chosen as an exhibit in the 1998 Annual
Student Exhibition. For that exhibition, entitled "Taking Aim," each
professor chose the best three projects from his/her studio. In the
exhibition, the alumni of previous years and students from other
architecture schools were invited to share our success. These
exhibitions were important to me not only because my designs were
chosen, but also because they gave me the opportunity to display my work
before the most important critics of all--the general public, which
included the students and teachers from different years and different
schools. I plan to continue my studies at the graduate school level to
have the opportunity to interact and share knowledge with students who
are as focused and excited about architecture as I am. I have visited
Harvard Graduate School of Design several times, and each time I left
impressed and enlightened by the variety and complexity of the students'
work. The work I saw at GSD had that same element of innovation and
freshness that I strive for, the one that goes beyond the ordinary path.
I want to be an explorer and to face challenges that I can solve with
sheer will and creativity.
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