The nature complex field of Architecture is both an interdisciplinary and life long journey. It is tough even for architects to stay in this full-time and more consuming discipline; because it requires extensive and continuing efforts, skills, practices, and creativity. I didn’t know architecture was this dynamic and challenging when enrolled and joined the course for five years of study full of hardships, memories, and unique learning. A very close friend of my father by the name Belete Tilahun who used to usually come to our place to visit my father and the whole family was my pioneer inspiration. He used to simply draw interesting sketches of buildings, cityscapes, and portraits. I remember that he loved to sketch Johnny Walker, the Texas man as he referred him. He later even developed his own simplified ways to sketch his favorite Texas man and more pieces. Most of the time, he gave me the sketches he randomly did on newspapers, magazines, journals, and white pocket-sized papers. I was extremely inspired and motivated to have and nurture such kinds of creative skills of visualizations and artful documentation. This was when I became more geared up and interested in joining the design college to study architecture which was basically my first choice to further study and better capacitate myself with the skills and creativities of visualization and physical documentation. After I flourishingly completed my preparatory studies, I have registered for an architecture enrollment exam along with like-minded other one thousand and more candidates at Addis Ababa Science and Technology University. Unfortunately, the allotted capacity of the architecture department in this university for the field architecture was only limited to 50 successful candidates. I have taken the exam and finally made it to join the architecture college for studying architecture.
Architecture
But architecture was more than I expected it to be. It was really time and resource-demanding. I was confused and struggled. I used to chat and discuss it with my classmates. Everyone was almost the same. Confused. I started to actively participate in personal and group assignments by organizing and curating. I became close with lectures of different field-specific and common courses. I also started to read a lot on the internet about what architecture is, space, form, famous architects, and their landmark works mainly found in Europe, Africa, and the US. The freshman studies and courses were very technical and I was lucky enough to get significantly crucial learning about technical drawing, sketching, descriptive skills, architecture basics, theories, and some local and global histories. All were vitally eye-opening and truly deep if excavated. This time, I realized that architecture was not only about my earlier thoughts, visualization, and documentation but far more. It touches different layers of human life and societies from almost enormous angles. I really liked it and felt like I am on the right track towards my ambitions. I then started to know more about knowing how to know architecture from diverse perspectives. It was truly an exploration-based study. Everyday new things, everyday new designs, everyday new theories, everyday new drawings, etc…for me it was like an everyday new beginning and ending everyday new life.
Architorture
These excitements were good in helping me face the hardships in learning and in knowing how to know architecture. I sometimes did design studio projects with both optimist and pessimist hopes which were fortunately mered by uncertainties. This led me to better bridge my knowledge gap on abstractly implementing concepts to a building, urban, interior, and landscape designs. I remember there were many sleepless nights with two and more mags per hour intake of coffees. No sleep. No rest. Just design. Doing so, I was enabled to think in different ways and distinct layers. The societal, economic, political, environmental, and historic aspects of communal lives were further detailed, analyzed, and redeveloped when conceptualizing design projects. Designing building and urban spaces became a continuous and passionate trial and relentlessly strives towards providing better solutions for environmental quests and challenges accompanied by well-researched root context appraisals. My architecture started to approach a relative fullness, boldness, and thoughtfulness at least for me. I became more conscious about happenings and events in the world regarding architecture and famous architects.
Archifuture
I started to believe in architecture. I saw humanity prevail in and by it. It has helped generations being a clue full window to look back to uncovered histories of communities, civilizations, and origins. It brought meaning, pride, and honor to the up to date life. It became something that I can put to transform the daily hustle and bustle active routine of humanity. Architecture, a mother of all arts, was the past, is the present, and truly will be the future, an ultimate solution to the hinders of this world. Long live architecture!
