Cold
So, my skin is very very dry and itchy. Why? Because the
weather has taken a turn for the drastic cold and dry here. The highs have been around 20 below zero and the lows have
been around 30 below. With the windchills, its been -50 to -60. Today, I stood in the freezing cold for 45 minutes
while two lovely lovely boys helped Annika and I dig her car out from under over a foot of snow, and then gave her car
a jumpstart so we could get to home depot to purchase a 36 by 36 inch piece of plexiglass and a utility knife. and
then she went on to purchase a container of dry gas and fill her tank the rest of the way with gas, vowing not to leave
her car sitting cold in a parking lot for a week again.
Statement Of Intent
As a child, one of my favorite books was Barbara Cooney's "Miss Rumphius". Set in my home state of Maine, it challenged the reader to do three things with their life: travel and see the world, come home and grow old by the sea, and, the most important, do something to make the world a more beautiful place. This book left an indelible impact on me, and my desire and dedication to historic preservation, and set me on the path to fulfilling Miss Rumphius'challenges--the
University of Oregon.s Historic Preservation program, is one of the many steps on that path.Through my experiences growing up and then throughout my undergraduate career, I have developed a passion for historic buildings
and their preservation. Our society has become focused on the present, with an intense focus on .throwaway. development, no longer thinking towards the future. As this mentality spreads through our society, specifically in building and design, we are rapidly losing a vast amount of the craftsmanship and material integrity that previous eras in history have upheld. This endangered way of building has created a strong societal and cultural impact on our population as the buildings, structures, and landscapes we inhabit leave a mark upon our hearts and minds strong enough to last for generations. This mark, a profound sense of the richness of our history, is one of the things that makes our world so beautiful and enriching experience. I have long held a passion for the field of ecological sustainability; and in study, I have felt much frustration over the complete separation of the fields of sustainable design and historic preservation. One of our duties to our field and profession is to preserve, transform, and redefine existing buildings.to bring them back into the beauty and functionality that they were designed to.and have held.for decades. Taking advantage of the interdepartmental connections at the University of Oregon I would like to focus my skills on historic preservation, concentrating my work and vision through the processes of green building practices and sustainable design. My passion for these to arts have come together to form the framework of my undergraduate design thesis, namely through the proposed adaptive reuse of a 1929 cold storage warehouse designed by prominent Fargo architect William F. Kurke. This building, which continues to serve its original purpose, is an
exquisite example of the art deco era of design, with an understated geometrically driven façade and integrity of structure and materials. The original building is largely unchanged, and allows for a great challenge as well as many great opportunities in its conversion.
Throughout my undergraduate career, I have been lucky to experience
the art and process of historic preservation. In my current project, there have been many hours spent scouring historic documents and blueprints in order to define the cultural and architectural significance of the building. I
have strived to develop reasonable as-built drawings with which to work from, using the original drawings and the existing building as a historic guides. I have had an opportunity to work in an urban planning studio; a cooperative
effort between the city of Minot, North Dakota and the fourth year faculty of the architecture program at NDSU; and was able to focus my attention in that project to the creation of guidelines for the historic redevelopment and infill of historic railroad neighborhoods within the city. Working on a community service project, I have also developed guidelines through text and sketch-analysis for the rehabilitation of the downtown of Valley City, North Dakota. I have personally witnessed how beneficial preservation can be to a community, both in my hometown of Belfast, Maine and in an area such as Fargo which is currently reviving its downtown. It is this type of growth and progress that stirs a community into a new sense of togetherness and worth. These emotions and feelings strengthen my resolve to commit myself to use my education, skills, and vision, for these necessary and crucial projections of preservation.this will be the nexus of my future career.
One component that excites me about this program is the amount of hands-on
experience that this it provides. I appreciate the real world work and experience that the program strives, as well as how it is structured to cultivate creativity individually, instead of expecting each student to repeat what the one before them had produced. The practical aspects of the program, such as instruction in preservation law and the National Register nomination forms fascinate me; post-scholastically, I intend to go on to practice as an architect, specializing in historic preservation. Working as an architect, these practical skills are going to be an absolute essential part of my duties. Already, these tenets of preservation exist on the forefront of my mind when I think of my future career.
A pillar of my goals as a student has been to experience the world.not just the lands, but also the buildings and the people.meeting Miss Rumphius.s requirement of traveling. The field experience component of the University of Oregon.s program appeals to my urge to experience the world. The University of Oregon is a larger school than I have attended as an undergraduate student; I look forward to making new networks and connections there. I have a great expectation to be able to work in an environment that is new and stimulating. I know that the Historic Preservation Program will be extremely beneficial for me as a student, professional, and a person. This program couples my passion and love for the study and preservation of architecture.s historic treasures. The faculty and
staff, as well as the unique perspective that the Pacific Northwest region provides makes this opportunity at the University of Oregon, a outstanding prospect for me to expand my knowledge and experience of architecture and historic preservation.and how I can use all of those to make the world a more beautiful place.
graphically, i understand my intentions
I'm
sitting here, trying to write my statement of intent for my graduate school application and all I can comprehend is
that I'm not entirely sure how to make someone else understand my intentions, at least within the context of the
program's entrance requirements. i could paint pictures of my future, of my intentions, they'd be painted in both warm
and cool tones, joy and sorrow, pride and fear, love and hope. and peace. they'd include images of impact, of making
a positive change, of working to create a place where environmentalism and preservation walk hand-in-hand happily,
without strife. there would be children, and learning, and teaching and growing. as i've grown older i am beginning
to comprehend my own inadequacies with words, i comprehend and yet i can not share. i lock things inside, due to my
lack of common vocabulary. i want so many things for my life. i've come so far from where i started, i will not give
up now. this is random and jumbled and babbled and i'm learning not to care. i'm learning to let things tumble and
fall into the pile that they will and let them take care of themselves sometimes. i am highly motivated. i love what
i do, and i can't imagine doing anything else. and yet i am hesitant, unsure of my skills and talents, holding myself
back, tethering myself to the image that others overlay onto me. if i could paint the pictures of my future and my
intentions, i would hope that people would be inspired by them, as abstract and inward seeming as they might paint
themselves to be. "i am nothing of a builder, but here i dreamt i was an architect and i built this balustrade to keep
you whole, to keep you safe"... but i am something of a builder, i take great pleasure in the manner in which tools and
raw materials combine to create objects and spaces and places and feelings of great beauty. i love the history of
buildings, not just the physical history, but the cultural history, because a building is more than just a sum of its
parts, its a living entity, composed of materials that should not hinder the land on which it sits, but which should
strive to uphold it. i wander, my mind wanders, my paintings will wander. they will take me where they will, i have
control, but prefer to let things run the course they're meant to take, instead of imposing a set of structures over
it. i don't like being forced into someone's little box and i won't have any of it. not today, not tomorrow, not ever
again. i live for myself and those i love, and those who love me in return (if only those two things meshed more
closely some days). i am thankful for the people that have made me who i am, both the positive impacts and the
negative, and i'm thankful for all of those people that forced me to realize that i could never live their life,
because it wasn't the way i wanted to make my world...i see these pictures, they flash before my eyes as i sit here and
type this and i'm at peace. great amounts of peace, and i force myself to remember that graphically, i understand my
intentions.