This is the Icicle Creek Music Center. This small collection of buildings were built for the purpose of providing practice, as well as concert space. Located up in the mountains of Washington state, the buildings provide an intimate and private location. The rooms are built to help amplify the acoustics. The music center is full of individual rooms as well as large halls that cater to both students and instructors.

As it seems to be with many Jones and Jones projects there is a lot of use of wood and other natural materials. The buildings look like they belong out in the wilderness. The large windows also help to drive some of that outisde world in.  The project really blends functionality with the natural world.

Community

This is the Condor Ridge at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. The main purpose of this part of the park was to provide a sanctuary for the endangered species of the California Condor. The exhibit holds many other animals but as the name suggests it was built to accommodate the condor population. I have a personal connection to this building because I grew up and still live in San Diego and I have been to the Safari park on numerous occasions. The condor exhibit does a great job of making you feel like you are up in the air and flying around like the condor. It also has a very natural look and feel as it is made mostly of wood. My favorite part of Condor Ridge was the education boards they have up. One of them shows the wingspan of the condor and it was fun as a kid to compare how long my arms were in comparison.

https://www.sdzsafaripark.org/park-locations/condor-ridge

This is the Vancouver Land Bridge which was opened in 2008. It is a pedestrian crossing bridge that is surrounded by lush greenery. along the path, there are signs that educate the pedestrians about the native pants present. The bridge provides a continuation of the Greenland that is otherwise split in two by the highway that runs underneath it. This is another stunning example of a mix of nature and architecture, which seems to be a common element in Jones and Jones architecture projects. This bridge is built on land that both Native Americans, as well as early European explorers, have traveled over and set up communities in. The project is a reminder of those times and a symbol of the progress made. I believe it is a beautiful way to incorporate the landscape into a functional piece of art.

Vancouver Land Bridge

This is the Southern Ute Cultural Center and Museum in Ignacio Colorado. Opened in 1971, the museum sought to protect and showcase the culture of Native American tribes from the Colorado, Utah and New Mexico region.  The structure is certainly eye-catching, with its large center cone and building arms that reach out from there. The centerpiece is reminiscent of a teepee or woven basket, both iconic symbols of tribal culture.  There is also a large emphasis on nature. the building is surrounded by native plants and there is a lot of exposed wood beams on both the inside and the outside.  The entire building seems to blend in with its surroundings, like it was always meant to be there. It is not intrusive but rather part of the land it sits on. I think this is a beautiful mesh of nature and architecture.

Home

Couch Center is one fo the freshmen dorm buildings at OU. I spent my first two semesters at OU living in a dorm on the ninth floor of the couch center. Overall, I had a positive experience in the dorms, though it was very different than how I lived in the past. I had never had to share a room growing up so freshman year at college I had my first ever roommate. Luckily we got along very well. However, it was certainly an adjustment getting used to living in the same room with someone else.

Though the most memorable parts of living in the dorms are the friends I have made. My current roommate and many of my closest friends are people I met on my floor or somewhere else in Couch. For all its faults, the dorms is certainly a college-must experience. I am glad that I experienced living in the dorms as it gave me many good memories, but I am also certainly glad to no longer be living in those conditions.

This is a picture of the main Lifeguard tower at Del Mar Beach in San Diego, CA. If I was not at school or at home during my last two years of high school I was spending it here at the beach. There’s nowhere else in the world I love more than the beach. I tried to spend as much time as I could hanging out here with friends or alone. Luckily I didn’t actually spend much time inside the lifeguard tower, but I spent countless hours underneath its silhouette. I walked by this building probably three or four times a week for more than a year, and way more over the entire time I lived in San Diego.

The thing I miss most about now living in Oklahoma is being able to drive down to the beach and hang out for a few hours with friends. The beach is a special place for me because it is somewhere where the rest of the outside world seem to melt away. It is a very calming and chill place to be. When I come home during breaks, I try to spend as much of my time as possible at the beach because it is very representative of where I come from.

This is a picture of my high school (library in pic). Unlike many of the high schools I’ve seen while here in Oklahoma/Texas, mine was not one large building but rather a collection of many. Growing up in San Diego, the weather is fairly temperate year-round so you can walk outside. We had no inside hallways, and our cafeteria/eating area was semi-covered, but completely outside. Though no one was really complaining, because who doesn’t love spending time in the sun. The school was certainly a reflection of the student body; outdoor-loving and with a southern California type of lifestyle. The campus is filled with palm trees and grassy areas and is overall very green.

I would actually say I had a great high school experience. It was on this campus that I met many lifelong friends, made friends with some of my favorite teachers, and made many lasting memories. I was relatively involved on campus, so I spent a lot of time here. Whether with sports, clubs, school or just hanging out with friends. I have gone back a few times now to say hi to people from schools and meet back up with my teachers. I am proud of my time in high school and my high school in general.

This is my childhood home. I many of my fondest memories from growing up happened in or around this house. I have lived in the same house my entire life. Though it has changed greatly during my tenure there. My home has gotten two additions to it, first when I was four adding two bedrooms and a bathroom, and next when I was eleven that made the kitchen and master bedroom larger. However, the work is never done at the Payne residence as the backyard is currently under construction with no official end date in sight. There is always something going on at home with a family of six and a dog. my house was never all that quiet.

I am really appreciative of where I was able to grow up and the experiences I had in my home. I always enjoy coming back during school breaks. it will always be what I consider to be my home. Directly behind my house is a nature preserve, but I often treated it as my second backyard. I spend much of my time when I was younger playing back there and it was always a favorite of mine and my friends. My home was probably the most influential building of my childhood, and I am appreciative of it.