Over the course of these past 15 weeks, I’ve learned a lot about creating spaces for people. It’s always been a long-standing goal of mine to get better at designing spaces dedicated to the people that keep their street, their city, their community running.

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I’ve learned to consult from a variety of different sources, about different aspects of research to help enhance my work. I’ve read books about the importance of play in human society, papers about the correlation between urban environments and increased levels of alienation, statistics about the ways urban and rural Malaysian children interact with nature; not only do I gain knowledge to be used in the development of this project, but it reshapes my understanding of the world as I know it.

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My self from last semester, let alone my self from when I first started this degree, likely would have never fathomed coming up with a design as bold as this. Even in the initial stages of this project, I was planning on returning to a more traditional, vernacular style that I had grown somewhat accustomed to. With the help of some crit feedback and a bit more reading, I learned how to break past my fear of doing something out of the ordinary.

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If these previous semesters had been about learning about how to respond to site conditions and by-laws and regulatory restrictions, (of course, I still have a lot to learn about the technical aspects of building design) I would say the bulk of my development this time would be in how I approach designing in a way that really speaks to the spirit of the place and its people.

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I look forward to seeing what I could bring to the world in my journey ahead.