Reflection Paper # 3
My Passion
So what is my passion? What is it that I love doing? How is it reflected in my work, daily life and life's journey?
Love and Passion for Architecture
I love Architecture. As simple as that. It is my job and it is my passion.
Mickey mouse, Donald Duck, Niknok, Voltes Five, flowers, houses with farmland and nature, Haring Matsutsu, Superman, Spiderman, Tom & Jerry...they are my favorite subjects you will see on my notebooks when I was on my primary years. I love seeing them come to life using my pencils and coloring pens. I sometimes imagine myself as one of the characters on sketches. Who would have thought that the passion sketching those cartoon characters during my younger years would lead me to what I consider my life now?
Architecture was actually not my first choice in college. I was about to take up Fine Arts as I love doing sketches, drawings and other things related to arts. It was then shifted to BS Architecture when my father asked why would I take Fine Arts if my older sister already took it up. I was advised to take up another course related to arts if I want to. That's when Architecture came to the picture.
Early years in Architecture, was not a breeze. It was actually a struggle for a student who never had a basic drafting background in secondary school. Architecture is both interesting and challenging. Artistic ability, creativity and drawing skills are essential for someone aiming to finish the course. A lot of extensive drawings and model making in details will require a lot of time and patience. Production of plates and presentation materials requires a lot of hard work. Numerical proficiency for estimation, structural computations, surveying and other mathematical computations are one of the most challenging part for me. Architecture is not just a science, but also an art, one must need to be really passionate to be able to overcome those challenges and enjoy Architecture.
I have never had any regrets choosing to be in this field. The thought of dealing different variety of problems every project, using imagination and tools that I really love like CAD and Revit until its completion is really amazing. Another thing I love about Architecture is the union of old and new architecture. Whenever I travel, there are great examples of heritage and new buildings experience and be inspired by. Being an Architect demands a lot of your time, it is a very demanding profession, but allows every Architect to constantly grow and gives awesome satisfaction.
How is it reflected in my work and daily life?
Architecture helped develop my inner strength as a person. Equilibrium, symmetry, steadiness, evenness and stability are some of them. Design is about finding a balance between a lot of things. Same thing goes with our everyday life. We need to balance everything for us to achieve things we want to achieve. Design wise, balance is the key. Our design would not be feasible if cost is too high. It should be a win-win situation for the stakeholders, which are the designer, the user and the company.
Most Architects finds satisfaction and achievement in the profession not for the money alone but for the love and passion for their work. All the sacrifices and the sleepless nights vanish once you start witnessing your plans and drawings being built to reality. It gives a lot of fulfillment and makes everything else worthwhile and meaningful. Same goes with our everyday lives, our family matters a lot. That's why we often hear about "work-life balance". Life is not all about work. We need a family to share with the fruit of our labors, our achievements. If not for our family, all our achievements are all meaningless and that is where complete satisfaction sets in.
How is it reflected in my life's journey?
My passion for Architecture has always been present in my life's journey. As I equate my passion to almost everything I do, it served as a guide for me surpass life's challenges. Architects were trained to learn to visualize the overall picture or outcome of a certain project before its completion. Same thing goes with my life. Below are some more:
Love for travel. Learning history in college made me want to travel the world. Seeing book pictures to reality always give me goose bumps and the craving to see more of the world. Seeing the Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Burj Al Arab and Burj Khalifa in Dubai, seeing the Petronas in Kuala Lumpur, boating the Mekong River in Vietnam, walking thru the 9000 kilometer expansive Great Wall of China in Beijing, swimming with the fishes and feeding a deadly stingray in the paradise of Maldives, eating beef rendang with the locals of Indonesia, back ride in a single motorcycle in Pattaya and exploring the street foods of Bangkok and Phuket, shopping in Hong Kong, experiencing white Christmas in Hangzhou and celebrating Chinese New Year in Shanghai, exploring Korean architectural details in Seoul Korea, are some of the travels that I did not only enjoy but learned a lot from it.
Still wanting to travel in mostly European countries like Athens, Greece for the Greek architecture, the Doric, Ionic and Corinthian orders designed by Ancient Greek architects proved to be timeless, the Parthenon, Temple of Olympian Zeus, the Colloseum in Rome, Italy, Basilica in Barcelona Spain, Taj Mahal of India, Palace of Versailles and The Louvre in France, St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, St. Paul's Cathedral in London England, Stonehenge in the UK, see the Apartment designs in New York, the great pyramids of Egypt and a lot more. I want to see these places soon for me to feel whole as an advocate of Architecture and arts.
Good problem solving skills. At work, I constantly encounter challenges that arise during the course of the project. I must know how to react instantly when the need arises. We must know how to resolve problems successfully whatever comes our way.
Same as planning, before doing anything personal or at work, I make it point to list down all needed materials, to do's, advantages and disadvantages, budget analysis etc for a better understanding of the problem.
Sound business sense. For an Architect to provide realistic design solutions, we need to be able to keep ourselves within the budget. Architects should be able to make incisive monetary decisions and should know what it takes to sustain a project's viability.
I learned to do things according to budget, do value engineering to meet the requirements. Same as when I need to do small business like dealing with personal clients and the like.
Ability to connect. Architects as well as other professions do not work alone. We learn to continually interact with peers, clients, sub-contractors and contractors and other project consultants involved in the project.
Since most of the time, we work closely with site people and other subcontractors, I learned to deal with any kinds of people. Coordination and communication with anyone seems easier.
Hunger for Learning. Life is a continuous process. We should never stop yearning for knowledge. Its funny that when I was younger, I felt like I knew a lot, as if I knew everything. But as I grew older, I feel the desire to learn more, as if I have a lot more to know. Same with Architecture, with the emergence of new technology today, the need for continuous learning is a must. Study beyond architecture that's why I enrolled in this MBA program.
Let me end this reflection with Buddha's wisdom on Passion:
"If anything is worth doing, do it with all your heart."
Once again, thank you for taking time to read.
MM Leadership
Leader Anna Choco 3
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