Craftsmanship, attention to detail, and innovation drove my desire to compete in woodworking, model making, and crafts throughout my ten years in 4-H. Creating with my hands gave me the ability to fully invest myself in building tangible objects that function wonderfully and have aesthetic beauty. Friendly competition motivated me to continually improve my craft and skill, and to excel beyond the rest. My desire for success developed from this competition and my interest in architecture budded from the excitement that I found in my 4-H projects. I discovered that architecture would allow me to use my creativity and passion, in the act of making, to produce finely crafted, beautiful spaces for people to thrive. My longing for this passion continues …show more content…
Beginning my third year in Ball State University’s architecture program, I chose visiting professor, Lucas Brown’s, design-build studio so that I could engage design with the intention to understand materiality and constructability. Brunelleschi’s solution to design and build the largest masonry dome of his time required him to realize new construction techniques, methods, and tools. Similarly, our need to structurally span overhead in order to maximize floor space required us to design new jigs and tools capable of bending #7 rebar into a gridshell canopy. The following spring semester I enrolled in research fellow, Andrew Wit’s, digital design and fabrication elective to utilize and learn more of the digital, precision based tools. 3-D printing and CNC milling tolerances permitted us to design and fabricate a new level of detail and craftsmanship unmatched by analogue tools. Now, as I move into my undergraduate thesis semester, I have chosen to work with Joshua Coggeshall, a master in materiality and construction, to identify analogue tooling methods and digital tooling methods to study the joinery of differing materials in furniture design. This thesis research will help me develop a deeper knowledge of how materiality and constructability can inform the design process and ultimately, the architecture