Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa, Oklahoma is where I experienced my very first, and many subsequent, concerts. In high school, I loved music and going to concerts more than pretty much anything else, and Cain’s was easily the best place for it. Because it was built as a ballroom, it has a spring-loaded dance floor. This is what makes it so special, at least to me. During the concert, I could feel the beat underneath my feet and pulsing up through my body. I could feet the crowd around me jumping up and down. This building creates such a unique and amazing concert experience, and I highly recommend that you go to a concert here if you are given the chance.

It is also a special building to me because my junior prom was held at Cain’s Ballroom. I did not originally want to go to prom that year, but changed my mind when I heard where it was being held. I ended up having a good time and have Cain’s Ballroom to thank for that.

My childhood home is easily one of the most impactful building in my life. My parents moved into the home in midtown Tulsa not long after getting married, and we stayed there for 25 years before moving to a new home. My brother and I were brought home from the hospital to that house, took our first steps there, and had so many other firsts and important moments within those walls.
Unfortunately, when my parents decided to sell the house, it was bought by builders and torn down not too long after. Of course we still have photographs and memories, but I am a little disappointed that I won’t be able to show my future children my childhood home. Moving out of that house was very emotional, and is a day I will remember forever. They are currently building a new house on the property, but in my heart that will always be the place where I grew up.

Redfish Lake Lodge in Isolalated Stanley Idaho was where my family and our friends from Boise spent most of our breaks from school when I was growing up. It sits on Redfish Lake, is surrounded by hiking trails, and doesn’t get any cell service or WiFi. Usually my family camped instead of staying in the lodge or cabins, but every so often we would eat breakfast there and it was one of the high points of going to Redfish for me. The food was much better than whatever we cooked over the campfire for the rest of the week. The adults spent a lot of time at the bar inside but that wasn’t one of my experiences. I did buy a lot of worms for fishing from the convenience store next to the lodge though. Sometimes there would be live music on the lawn and we would hang out there, but most of the time my friends and I met up at the chairs in front of the lodge before we went out on the lake. Hopefully i’ll get another chance to go to Redfish Lake when we’re all older but for now I can just look forward to it.

The Cloud Rock Wilderness Lodge designed by Peter Zumthor is located in Moab, Utah about three hours from where I grew up. Designed by one of the top hundred architects of the century you would think google images would have more than two pictures of the building. You would be wrong. The Cloud Rock Wilderness Lodge is the center of a lot of controversy about bringing consumerism and investors into one of America’s last really isolated wilderness areas. Design wise, the building has some interesting columns and window layout, but this is the only view I could find so that’s about it. I thought the controversy was interesting on its own and currently the building out of the lodge is on hold for the forseeable future. If you want to read more on it the website of a Grand County newspaper this is it. https://www.canyoncountryzephyr.com/oldzephyr/june-july2002/cloudrock-controversy-lchristie.htm

Everyone I’ve ever talked to about this building has said how ugly it is (even though the chem building is much worse on every front), however it has a lot of redeeming features alongside the bad. The bad is the fact that it doesn’t match the rest of campus, if they had taken the time to put a layer of brick it would blend in a lot better. Another, and much larger, negative is that all the classrooms on the first four floors lack any windows and have plain white walls, which aren’t enjoyable to be in for a semester or even a single class. The positives of the building are that it is well designed for its intended purpose and the classrooms above the fourth floor are great. It was originally designed to be riot proof and with only three doors over the first two floors, no windows on lower floors, and nothing to burn, it is very riot proof and probably one of the safest buildings on campus. The classrooms below the fourth floor don’t have windows and are cinderblocks painted white with basic linoleum floors, but after the fifth it becomes sheetrock and carpeted. The interior design after the fifth floor is fine, but the best part is the view of campus. I had a course on the 11th floor and could see for miles and this view was even better when it snowed. The Physical Sciences Center, aka the Blender, is an often hated building on OU’s campus, but the building definitely has some redeeming qualities.

While on a tour of downtown Stockholm Sweden, there were many buildings on the tour, but my favorite among them was the Stockholm Concert Hall. While many of the buildings were created with nice stone and ornate design, this building provided a nice contrast, with a dull blue color and very little ornamentation. The design was nice, but the most impressive feature was that every year it hosts the Nobel Prize award ceremony. My dream, as someone in the sciences, is to make a contribution worthy of this award, and the building represents what would likely be one of the greatest achievements of my life. What also amazed me about the building, was that when it isn’t hosting award ceremonies, the courtyard in front of the building is filled with vendors in pop-up tents selling fresh flowers and produce. It is nice that a building can be used for such a prestigious event, and still allow everyday people to build a connection to it through visiting or working in the marketplace.

When I was in middle school I visited Norman for the first time for the opening of the new tennis center. My mom played tennis at OU, so she was invited back and decided to bring the whole family along. It was my first time on a college campus, and it was absolutely gorgeous. However, when my mom showed me her sorority house, I was blown away at how beautiful it was. I immediately made it my screensaver on my hot pink Razor flip phone, and I would stare at it for what felt like hours, just imagining what it would be like to actually live there. I love the white brick and the massiveness of the building, but how it still looks so cozy, especially in the winter.

Flash forward to my Junior year of college and I finally had the chance to live in my dream house. I actually transferred from SMU in Dallas, so this was the first time I had been back on campus since middle school. I moved straight into the Theta house not knowing anyone. By the end of the first day, I already had a group of friends. This place is truly magical and I’m so lucky to say that I got to call it home for a year. Even though I’m graduating, I think in my heart I will always wish that I still live at 845 Chautauqua.

For eight summers I went to Camp Waldemar for girls in Hunt, Texas. All of the architecture there is absolutely breathtaking and is hand-built. The building that sticks out to me the most is the dining hall. It is built out of large boulders, rocks from the Guadalupe River, and small stones at the top. Eating three meals a day for a month in this gorgeous building was definitely a treat, as I was always kept entertained by the amazing structure around me.

The photo above shows the Junior Dining hall, where I sat from about ages nine to twelve. As you can see, there is a gorgeous fireplace and a banister leading up to the second story, where some of the counselors would stay.

This photo shows the Senior Dining hall. As you can see, it is often used for wedding receptions. Normally it has the same place settings as the Junior Dining hall. The walls are made of grey honeycomb and red fossil rock.

The time I spent at Camp Waldemar were some of the best memories I have. My grandmother went there, so it was already special to me before I attended, but the friends I made and the experiences I was lucky enough to have will stay with me forever. Looking at this Dining Hall makes me emotional because it brings back so many fond memories. It is such a beautiful camp hidden away in the Texas hill country, and I love that they have used the materials found in the Guadalupe River and in the hills to create this gorgeous escape for girls.