I’ve been to AT&T Stadium a couple of times. One was for the 2014 NCAA Basketball National Championship. It was my first time at the stadium. UCONN beat Kentucky in an entertaining showdown. In 2018, my senior prom was held there.  The ambiance is very nice and versatile. It can be transformed from a significant sporting event to a nice dinner and party venue in a matter of a day. I loved the stadium. It also is home to one of the biggest jumbotrons in America and is perfect for concerts as well.

Growing up in the outskirts of Houston, I played lots of baseball and enjoyed watching the game as well. Being a fan of baseball made me become an Astros fan since I am from Houston. Throughout my life I have been to many games with my family, friends, and many others and have countless memories of watching the Astros from a casual afternoon summer game to watching them win in the playoffs with my friends. It holds my most favorite live sporting event I have ever been to and brings back great memories. Also it is home to the 2017 world series champions besides what anybody says. Minute Maid is also a really cool looking stadium that was finished in 2000, it has a retractable roof, was updated in 2016 with a new centerfield and many upscale and tasty restaurants.

Prague Castle was one of the most amazing and mysterious buildings I have ever been in. After a month studying abroad in Italy freshman year I went to Prague to get on my flight home. I was waiting there for three days so I decided I would walk around the city. The castle was amazing it was a sprawling expanse of connected  buildings that all shared in the classic Chech style and in the center of the palace is this church. you walk through this small corridor (I assume to make you feel constricted) then it opens right in front of the two big towers on the right of the photo above. I hope you can see it in this attached video ED3D38A5-EAB6-4542-9CDB-DD7BEDAD144E. The mystery comes from me being alone, because of that I didn’t know anything about the building or its history I could really only take in the architecture itself. which was very different than Italy where I was where we were walked around these buildings and told the significance of every little thing.

I have already touched on how much I truly loved Paris as a little girl in my last post, but I forgot to mention that I literally had my bedroom Paris themed for a while so being there and seeing the architecture and buildings for myself truly was a dream come true. For this blog I will be talking about the Palace of Versailles. I have watched a few tv shows that have depicted the palace of Versailles in a way earlier time period and I never though for one second that it would look the same still today. The building has been preserved so nicely and the art and furniture that is still held inside is exquisite and truly tell a story and takes one back in time. The picture I have above was taken in the Hall of Mirrors and I felt like I was in the Beauty and the Beast movie or at least something royal. Most of what was built in the Palace of Versailles was to be dedicated to the king and to glorify him. The outside of the building is massive and made me gasp at how massive the estate was. I was honestly thinking to myself how many miles will I be walking??? Well, the walking was worth it. Once inside I felt like I went through a time machine and I felt so regal. Everything inside screamed expensive and luxury and I was just imagining the cost of everything. The palace was truly fit for a king! The Hall of Mirrors made me feel like a kid again but at the same time very grown up. I felt like I was in the worlds most luxurious fun house. The chandleries, mirrors, artwork and architecture made me feel like I was in a painting or in an illusion myself. The room went on and on and on and it was gorgeous every step I took. Being in the palace made me wish I could actually travel back in time to see people dancing in gowns and attending balls thrown by the king, what a luxurious life some lived there. I think the Palace of Versailles is a building that will always draw in tourists and will always be an exquisite piece of architecture. (I took this picture myself!)

This is the Adams Center and the first place I lived away from home. I remember when I first saw the Adams Center I noticed how it was different from the other dorms in that it had no center that it had a strange look with white things jutting out above and below each level. When I was first entering the building I remember feeling nervous, anxious and excited all at the same time at the prospect of living on my own in a new place. When I walked into Adams the first thing I saw was Raising Canes and I just knew it would be a great year with good food. When I finally got to my room on the 8th floor I was able to see the stadium and I was able to meet my roommate and at this point, I finally felt that I was ready to take on college.

While studying abroad in Japan, I had the opportunity to visit Hiroshima. One of my favorite pieces of work there is the Children’s Peace Monument. It was originally created because Sadako Sasaki,  a child that had Leukemia and decided to pass the time by folding origami cranes. A Japanese legend says that whoever folds 1000 origami cranes will have their wish granted by the gods. Sadako’s wish was to have a world without nuclear weapons. This girl’s story became popular and she ended up passing away due to her leukemia. Children from across the nation held rallies and fundraisers to try and build a monument dedicated to all children lost from the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. On top of the monument stands Sadako Sasaki with a giant origami crane. Students from Hiroshima had a field trip to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial and were able to visit the Children’s Peace Monument and hold a moment of silence and pray for all those affected by the Hiroshima bombing. I enjoy this monument because I think that this monument displays hope in achieving a world without nuclear weapons.

This is Union High School College and Career Center, located in Tulsa, OK. Union High School is the reason I am in Oklahoma and went to college at OU. My father received a director position at Union about 7 years ago and it changed my life. Going to Union created many opportunities from gaining college credit to jobs with the Tulsa Drillers. High school was pretty chill I learned a decent amount about myself and fell in love with school here. I graduated with 1200 students in my class, so I kind of went to a small college in away. Union was the start of my legacy and I hope to continue the success.

I went to the same high school all four years, and as with many others, I have a lot of memories here and a sentimental connection. I am very sentimental, and tend to put a lot of emphasis on symbols that remind me of memories. The funny thing though is that my high school’s building itself is not sentimental to me at all. I think a large part of the lack of attachment I have to the building stems from the fact that it was under construction when I began going to the school freshman year. One of the main areas that was under construction was the front of our school so the façade is different. I remember having to go to the assistant principal’s office freshman year, and the entire front office section no longer exists because it was torn down and replaced with a completely different layout that had more space. There were also classrooms that were added onto the back of the second floor on the back of the school and there was also an entire wing added to the back. Because of this construction, the building I went to high school in has changed immensely since I first attended.

I am from Tulsa and the BOK Center is one of the buildings that I have always been interested in since the time that it has been built.  Recently, Tulsa has been working on some more modern projects like The Gathering Place and One Technology Center but before these projects, much of downtown Tulsa is built in the Art Deco style.  The BOK Center was different than anything that I had ever seen at that point and actually made me interested in architecture. The most interesting feature to me was the shape of the exterior of the building that uses stainless steel and glass to create a circular swirling shape.  It is also important to me because I have good memories of the times that I have visited the BOK Center. Some of my favorite memories from visiting this building include the march madness and OKC Thunder basketball games that I would go see with my dad when I was younger. While I have good memories at this building the main reason it is important to me is because of the influence it had on me towards architecture.

No, don’t click away, I need this grade.

Notre Dame de Paris is a building that needs little introduction. It is a Gothic cathedral located at the center of Paris (physically and culturally, depending on the time period), that has seen its share of abuse and praise throughout the centuries. It’s original “meaning” or purpose was strictly the same of any other cathedral at the time: it was built as a place of worship, a symbol of the power of the Church and the French monarchy, and a center for education, as education in medieval times was centered around the church, rather than specialized campuses. Since then, it has become a cultural icon in Western Europe, symbolizing to many the virtues of tradition and maintaining a cultural history.

Notre Dame has been in the public eye since its construction, and especially since Victor Hugo’s novel of the same name was released, but more recently, since the fire that burned the majority of the roof, toppled the spire, and poked many a hole into the ceiling, it seems that everyone has an opinion on the building, whether positive or negative, and that everyone has voiced said opinion.

So, why write about it? First of all, because I want to. Second, because I think I have a moderating opinion on the building that’s supported with knowledge of the context of the history of the building and of Gothic architecture in general.

So, a bit of personal context: I visited Notre Dame de Paris as part of a 17 day trip around Western Europe in June 2018. This was my first time visiting any foreign country, and it’s when I was introduced to Gothic architecture. The first Gothic building I visited was Westminster Abbey, but for whatever reason (maybe actually being allowed to take pictures), Notre Dame was the one that stuck with me. It could also be that I got some time to just sit down and take a good look, rather than rushing around trying to see everything. One of my friends wanted to pray, so I went with him to one of the pews and sat down. Cameras weren’t allowed in the pews, and I’m not much of the praying type, so I just took a long look at the vaulted ceiling and the stained glass forming a stone cocoon around us. I knew very little of the history of the building, or of the mechanics of how its support structures work, so all I could recognize at the time was that it was a very pretty building.

Since then, I’ve learned a thing or two about Gothic architecture and about the history of Notre Dame in particular, and, as is usually the case when I’ve researched a topic well-enough, I take the kind of moderate perspective that pisses off both sides of the fence.

Let me be clear: I don’t think Notre Dame de Paris, the building, is more important than any one life, or that it is more important, in any objective way, than any other cultural icon from around the world. Even in French history, I’d point to Saint Denis as an equal to Notre Dame in significance.  I also don’t pretend to believe that the French billionaires that promised to donate millions of Euros to help rebuild the cathedral did so out of the goodness of their hearts, instead of out of trying to boast about their money. However, I also don’t think that the irritation people express towards Notre Dame is justified. I think that the rebuilding of Notre Dame does not in any way take away from whatever cause people want to support. In fact, I’d argue that rebuilding it helps to keep the tourism that drives the Parisian economy coming, and that not rebuilding it would be a greater waste in the long run.

As for the rebuilding, I hope that people don’t forget that the process of rebuilding hasn’t even begun. Notre Dame is still being reinforced, and the melted support structures around the crossing still have to be removed (risking further damage to the building) before architects can even begin to think about rebuilding Notre Dame. However, I do think that Notre Dame will be rebuilt and that once it is, the fire will just be another part of its history, just like the desecration of the building during the French Revolution.