Before this week, I thought architecture was mostly about drawing buildings that looked impressive. After beginning Catholic University’s Experiences in Architecture program on July 6, I understand that architecture begins much earlier with observation, questions, human needs, materials, light, movement, and the way people experience a place.
The program is designed for high school students interested in architecture and related design fields. Some participants commute; others live on campus. For me, the residential experience has been part of the education. Eating in a university dining hall, walking to the studio in the morning, and talking with other students after the day’s work made college life feel less mysterious. By midweek, the campus map had stopped looking like a diagram and started looking like a place I could belong.
Washington is an ideal city for learning to see buildings. Even an ordinary trip becomes an exercise in noticing. Why does one entrance feel welcoming while another feels ceremonial? How does a public building guide a visitor? What happens when old and new structures share the same street? The program describes the city as a classroom, and that is exactly what it becomes. Monuments, museums, neighborhoods, transit stations, sacred spaces, and the Catholic University campus all offer different answers to the question of how design shapes human experience.
The most important change has been in my confidence. I arrived worried that everyone else would draw better than I could. Instead, I found that design is a process of trying, receiving feedback, revising, and trying again. A critique is not a declaration that an idea failed. It is a conversation about how the idea can become clearer. That lesson applies well beyond architecture.
I still have another week in the program, but college already feels more concrete. I can picture myself working in a studio, asking a professor a question, joining classmates for a meal, and exploring Washington with a sketchbook in my bag. I came to learn whether architecture might be the right field for me. I am leaving the first week with a better question: what kind of places do I hope to help create?