"Living means Leaving Traces"
-Walter Benjamin
I discovered this quote after traveling to Finland last year, while considering the relationship between people and architecture. It became the basis of my studio project that semester, and is something that continues to interest me. To feel a connection, we need to leave traces on our surroundings, and in turn they leave traces on us. It is the connections we form, the marks we leave, and those that are left on us, that make our lives meaningful. Through architecture, art, and design, I want to explore how these traces can better allow us to develop emotional connections to architecture and landscape. I believe our surroundings can hold memories, and we can access them to gain a better understanding of our past, and our future.
Teaching has also become a major interest of mine. It is not something I had ever considered prior to being given a position, but I found that I really enjoy it. It has helped me grow as a leader and a designer. I find that by helping my students work through their ideas, I am better able to think through my own ideas. The head professors that I work for have taught me about visual thinking, and the idea of consuming work, not just producing it. Everything we make, every iteration, is done, not for representation, but to gain a greater understanding of our work.