In this blog post, I’ll show you how to write an architectural personal statement that goes beyond just listing your experience and specifications and incorporates your personal philosophy and values about architecture.
Growing up
Growing up in a large, bustling family, I was always aware of the beauty of belonging to a group and fitting in with the whole. I was taught that no one lives alone, and that one’s development is not solely the result of one’s individual endeavors and talents, but rather the result of the relationships with the many people who have helped raise you up and keep you on your feet. My childhood was one of abundance, living with my grandparents and having extended family close by, including aunts and uncles, who would often gather for family events. Even before I was a fully fledged adult, I was hanging out with my cousins and siblings, learning the etiquette of being an elder, and traveling from place to place in multiple cars when we went on road trips, so even though I was an only child, I was always on the go, with little time for my own personal time.
It was a common practice in my family to turn to the many adults who were around me for advice if I didn’t understand something, rather than relying on a teacher or a book, and we all enjoyed the time we spent brainstorming together. I remember secretly thinking that I wanted to be like them when I grew up because they were the center of the family and had so much wisdom. Even the closest relatives go through a lot, and they laid all the foundations for a harmonious relationship where everyone looks out for each other rather than their own interests. I was able to grow up with a stronger sense of being a part of the majority than my own individual position, and I was disciplined from an early age to not be selfish in my future relationships, whether it was in school or in my social life.
Academic life
Just like in a large family, where I was able to naturally exist with everyone from a young age, I was able to build a variety of friendships across the class and make an effort to fit in with everyone. Just as we helped and embraced each other because we were family, even if some members of the family were less capable or hadn’t quite gotten the hang of things yet, I tried to create harmonious relationships with my classmates because we were friends. I tried to value the people who stayed by my side and spent time with me, to value the connections, and to fully enjoy the sense of community where we all came together to have fun.
While some of my friends had personal lives that were affected by not seeing their relatives often, or by years of growing up alone without siblings, most of them enjoyed the hustle and bustle of the day and the time with everyone. The memories of the entire class pulling together to make sure that no one was left out of anything or anyone’s interests are still beautifully colored in my mind. Despite the fact that we were lined up in order of grades and encouraged to be competitive, we were more passionate about the friendships that enriched our adolescent selves than the studies that we were supposed to do, and that naturally nurtured the buds that would grow into caring and compassionate members of a community.
Personality Strengths and Weaknesses
I am the type of person who readily borrows help from others to solve my problems. This doesn’t mean that I’m a pushover, but it’s a result of my upbringing, where I grew up in a large family and looked up to elders who were much older and more knowledgeable than me, and sought and lived by their teachings. I am not at all ashamed of the act of seeking help to fill in the gaps, in fact, I take it for granted, knowing full well that I am far too immature and inadequate to be like the elders within the many groups I have looked up to and relied on. In a community of imperfect humans built to help and rely on each other, not to draw on the power of history, the wisdom and experience of time, is to take the shortest route around the longest circle.
Of course, I don’t rely solely on that community and the knowledge of others, but I do try to fully savor the truths illuminated by that history as I take them on as my own. Some might say that I shouldn’t have enough time to explore on my own, but for me, that’s like walking into a library full of very old texts, where the knowledge contained in them is a treasure trove of discourse that is not necessarily relevant to the modern world, and that needs to be filtered and embraced, but whose timeless core is relevant enough to the modern world.
Values
Let’s come together and recognize the beauty of living together. We’ve had a favorable reaction to Western individualism in recent years, with a tendency to value individual play – individual battles – over collaboration. It’s easy to say that we come into this world alone and leave it alone, and as long as we have our own personal space, that’s all we need, so why bother with so many other people, but I’m tempted to ask if we’re really living a life that allows us to come into this world alone and leave it alone. Because once we are born, we have a mother, we have a father who joined with that mother to make fertilization possible, we have people who moved quickly to help us with the task of giving birth, which is not without considerable risk, and we have countless friends and adult relationships that have influenced us to become a single, fully formed adult. We are a product of a time when it was impossible for us to survive individually without working together, when we knew that we had to put flesh on flesh to survive and not die, and modern society also requires the relationships and influences of countless people to keep life running smoothly. To pretend to be unaware of the benefits and maintain solitude, thinking that you are just going through the world on your own, is to go against the grain and make yourself lonely.
Motivations and Aspirations
To not just focus on the singularity of the building we are going to erect, but to create an even harmony with the whole background and the city in which it will be located. As someone who grew up fascinated by the bustling friendliness of a large family, I was fascinated by the architecture industry, which builds the foundation of people’s lives, and while searching for prospective companies, your company’s philosophy of finding the right place for each individual building, not just considering its appearance or environment, but also considering the background city and its characteristics, resonated deeply with me. It really resonated with me because even though we are creating a puzzle piece that will become part of a city, we are not just looking for individual beauty, we are looking for architecture that will fit in harmoniously with the whole.
As a member of a large family, I am no stranger to being part of many wholes, and I know from experience that individual charms and characteristics can make a significant difference when they become part of a whole. Naturally, things are different when you exist in the singular and when you are part of a plurality, and I believe that in order to make your mark in both the individual and the whole, you must strive to be as multifaceted as a chameleon. I am confident that this realization will be a sufficient foundation for your ideology and mine to work together.
