Journal Entry 3: Tuesday July 14th, 2009

Is there a word to elaborate the meaning of inspirational? I do not know, but if there were to be a word please let me know, so I may begin to describe to you my day. I had the privilege of spending my day in Don Bosco, a Batey I had not visited yet. This is the village where I wanted to meet the many children whom wanted to become architects and engineers. Now the definition of these two career choices is somewhat different here in the Dominican Republic for specific reasons, as I will explain. Here in Barahona I find it hard to believe that an architect is in existence. I asked the children one by one to explain to me what their definition of an architect is to them. They responded with the description of someone I would call an architect. But when I say that I know that their definition is the new generation of architects, which I believe SCAD promotes and teaches us to be. We are not just someone who hands over a beautifully drawn building façade, but we are someone whom not only designs the aesthetic values of a building, but every inch of detail that goes into the conceptual study, design phase, and construction process. It is my responsibility as an architect to be that person who accomplishes that in every design that I take upon myself. The children explained to me that an architect here just draws and hands an aesthetic design over to the engineer who then figures the structure of the building. But I was also given the opinion that the construction manager is the person who does the most work and is not only responsible for just constructing the building, but for the design almost. As I have learnt, you cannot design a building if you do not know how it is going to be built. Structure will determine a lot of aspects within the primary design, and this is something that is so important here, but they seem lost because they do not know of the simplest, safest and most convenient ways to build strong and durable buildings. This is why we see the houses we do.

The children explained to me that they want to build houses for their families, so it becomes clear to me that even as young as they are they know that the residential housing of the Batey's is in desperate need of the slightest helping hand. The also said that they loved to draw and sketch, but although it was something they loved to do, it was not something they were able to do often as the basic resources, such as pencils and paper is not available to them. I asked the question if any famous architect or any famous building in the world influenced them, and all but one said no. These children do not know of any of the most beautiful example of architecture that we have in the world today. I introduced Villa Rotunda, by Andrea Palladio as an influential architect in my design. I explained that his work is an example of architecture that interacts with the land it is sat upon. I almost wish I had brought more books with me that I could share among them, so we could sit and look through pictures of buildings that would fascinate their eyes. Their desire to design is derived from their own houses, I can only imagine how their minds would expand and grow more passionate if they could only see more of the architectural world that surrounds them. One girl told me that there was a hotel on the beach that inspired her, which excited me to think of what these children could teach me about inspiration. I hope that I can be some form of hope and inspiration to them and I hope that they will be able to be apart of the design process to learn as much as they can from what I will be doing for my thesis. As I was sitting with these 6 children under a shaded tree, Jaime, a boy in his late teens had a question for me, I was very happy as they seemed shy to ask me questions. Jaime was certainly not shy, but confident in a sense that inspired me, and I could see the passion in his eyes for wanting to become an architect. He asked me if I could teach him to draw houses. I asked them if any of them knew how to do so, and not one of them did. I was immediately empowered and calling Professor Lorraine Montgomery’s name in my head! Where are you? Why did I not pack you in my suitcase? I never imagined that these children would want someone to teach them how to draw basic plan, sections, elevations of houses and buildings. So when I say I was empowered, I was also inspired to return home and plan my next trip here, which I would kindly persuade Professor Lorraine Montgomery (who is also my faculty advisor) to join me on my mission here in Barahona!!! So if you reading this then I guess I broke the news early! I thought of how amazing it would be to bring people here that can teach the children how to draw. They are the most dedicated and passionate children I have ever met, and I could not imagine how amazing it would be if that were at all possible with any of the professors whom I love dearly and appreciate for teaching me everything I know. I believe it would be a truly life-changing experience to witness passionate children interested in the architecture field whom may never have the opportunity to leave their Batey's to follow their educational goals and dreams in the larger cities. So moving forward, we began our activities!!

            First I handed out 5 disposable cameras, journals and pencils. Each child had the task handed to them, over the next 2 days to photo document their world of architecture. Things that have inspired them, methods of construction, their own homes and how they were construction, and their families. Family is very important here and through the handing out of some surveys also, I realized how important these children’s career goals are to their families, and every child must attend school. I do not know whether these boys and girls had ever been handed a camera of their own before, as we had to explain how they worked! In the pictures I will be posting with this journal entry are pictures of the children whom I met with, holding their names. They are all sponsor children of COTN. If you would like to know more about them you can go on the website and read their stories! J The next activity took place in the afternoon as we had to search for the children and Don Bosco is quite large! We sat in the outdoor classroom area of the escuela, and I handed out paper to each of them. The first thing I asked them draw was a picture of their house. I believe I worked their brains pretty hard today, as Kathy will agree!! The next thing was to teach them how to draw a site plan. I decided that I wanted them to show me if they could have a camp close to home, what would they like to have within those grounds. I explained to them how to draw a site plan, what a site plan is and asked them to list the most important activities to them. This activity was especially important, as we have been discussing plans to design a new camp in Barahona for COTN. So this could become the project instead of the initial idea of a school. I am excited for this idea, but will know more details on Thursday at 2pm!! I thought it would be beneficial to the children if I sat down with them and drew my own version site plan of their camp! They were very interested in looking as to what I had drawn, and of course I practiced my Spanish! In fact they told me how to spell some words such as baseball, basketball, classroom! The last things that we sat down to do were the surveys that I had prepared. It became a very interactive activity and I learned so much just from the 6 of them. Every question the “king of the camp” whose name is Rafael Pimentel would answer YES! It was very humorous, but overall was an amazing day of successful activities, which will prove to be very beneficial to my design process.

            So after sitting in this big comfy chair for maybe 4 hours now, I believe it time to say goodnight! My blogs are officially caught up and I will be posting tomorrow’s blog tomorrow night! If anyone would like to leave my feedback, words of advice, encouragement, or hope please do, they would be much appreciated. Thank You to the support of my family and friends, I know that with all of you in my life I can become who I am destined to be! And Thank You to my new family in the Casa, I love you all.

Goodnight!