When I applied to colleges, I applied to Tulane School of Architecture, a five year program. I was accepted. My best friend was accepted to Tulane and planned to attend. I on the other hand, got waitlisted at my first choice school which was in California. When I was accepted to Oxy, I really wanted to follow the Beach Boys out to the land of surf and sun. And, so I made a choice not to go to architecture school. While I don’t regret that choice, I still love architecture and design. I had a great experience in California and my life was changed by my encounter with the living God who I found wanted to have a relationship with me. For that reason alone, I made the right choice.
But lately I’ve been reflecting on my love of architecture and design. A friend recently invited me to a workshop about the psychology of design and the importance of our experience of place. As a result, I bought and read Toby Israel’s book, Some Place Like Home: Using Design Psychology to Create Ideal Environments. My daughter got her degree in interior design and is now a practicing junior designer. The university where I work has a consultant advising us on campus master planning and giving presentations about our needs for space. The confluence of all these things has me reconsidering my lifelong interest in architecture and design as a possible career path. When I look back over my adult life, all the coffee table books that I’ve purchased have to do with residential architecture and design.
In the mid-1990s, my father served as his own general contractor to build their dream retirement home. I spent six weeks that summer visiting my parents and enjoying the close up view of the construction process. Ever since, I’ve loved to walk through houses under construction. My years working for a custom yacht builder also developed my love of interior architecture and design. In 2004, we designed a custom house for our family and hired a design-builder to help us bring this dream to life. The result was fabulous and we enjoyed living in that house.
Now we live in a marvelous custom contemporary that is one-of-a-kind. And as I pursue graduate studies, I think again about studying architecture and design. I may be a perpetual student for life!
