I would love to study and practice architectural engineering in order to design my dream buildings.

Description

Dream

Despite this dream being a bit too far fetched, yet I do have it within me, the love for architecture and the building of structures. I would love to study architectural engineering and actually design buildings myself. Even if I never realized the dream in this form, I can perhaps realize the heart of it and the essence of my desire for it through a slightly modified version of it at some point in time.

Love

My love for architecture stems from my love for creating things and using my imagination to build new worlds that are artistic. I also love 3D structures. Building something whole from my imagination would provide me with a long lasting feeling of satisfaction as I look at and absorb with my eyes the creation I have built out from my imagination after shaping my ‘molten’ creativity in such an art form. The representation of my imagination in a built structure represents me. I would love to design buildings and structures that would provide a sense of harmony.

Learning

Learning architectural engineering might be hard. Yet I can just start by learning the basics and do not have to aim at reaching the full thing, at least I can start studying while keeping this idea in mind. Perhaps if I do so this would encourage me to take the first steps and start studying. Who knows, perhaps when I take such initial steps and start studying architectural engineering I might later on go deeper and study it more fully.

SketchUp

As for now, I can start by using SketchUp to design some simple building structures. I may also learn the basics of architectural engineering through reading about it online. I may attend some initial course in architectural engineering to grasp the fundamentals and start me going. Using SketchUp, I can then design simple structures based on what I have learnt.

Professional Architects

An additional way for me to learn more about architectural engineering would be to talk with experienced architectural engineers. This would provide me with a wealth of information and give me the sense of the field in a balanced and deep way. Perhaps I can apprentice at some professional architectural engineer creating 3D models and animation demos for him or her suing Google SketchUp. That way I would be absorbing more about the science and art of architectural engineering by interacting directly with professional architects while they create real architectural designs.

Hassan Fathy

In particular, I would love to study the architectural school of Hassan Fathy whose belief was that architectural design at some place should stem from the place itself and its surrounding environment. His book about architecture for the poor is a must read for me I believe. This great Egyptian architect has influenced a good portion of architecture in Egypt. His domelike structures have resulted in houses that feel at 'home' in the Egyptian environment.

Biogeometry

It would be lovely to also integrate biogeometry into the design of the building structures. Based on soun architectural engineering principles, dome shaped designs inspired by Hassan Fathy’s school and biogeometric concepts, I can go ahead and let my imagination go wild designing my dream ecological housing structures and complete villages and cities.

Implementation

Obstacles

• It is not possible for me to study architectural engineering now and become a licensed architectural engineer.
  

First Step

• Convert a real architectural design into a 3D model using SketchUp.
  

Progress

• Learnt SketchUp and taught it to others.
  
• Considering joining the Design It: Shelter Competition.