Architecture Anonymous

While most girls in second grade were playing with their Barbies, I was designing homes. I was the little girl who dreamed of being an architect, who at the time was only concerned about the design of elaborate yet welcoming interiors and exteriors. Yet I was ignorant of the real meaning behind a home and the process of constructing one. Since I have matured and gained knowledge, I have realized how deeply architecture influences the way people live, eat, sleep and perform numerous other activities. My interest in architecture as a profession derives from the process in which an idea of space is transformed into more than a place to sleep, instead into a feeling of comfort and joy. A home is where loved ones can tolerate one’s crazy self and still come together at the end of the day and share a meal. The environment should be peaceful and give off positive energy. Sometimes all this may seem unrealistic because a family is not comfortable in its surroundings or cannot afford to make the definition of home come to life. The right architect, perhaps, can change that.

After growing up in a crammed urban environment, I personally know what it feels like to miss a true sense of home. As I walk up the stairs to my family's three...