My home is another building that is filled with meaning and memories. The house I live in now is the first house that my family and I have lived in that was not military housing. My dad served in the United States Navy all throughout my childhood so I was used to picking up my things and moving every two to three years. I remember my mom would always say “home is where your stuff is”. I never really attached myself to a house we lived in when I was younger and that saying from my mom seemed to encourage that detachment. It just made things easier when it was time to move. All of the houses looked the same inside and out. They were the types of houses that Richard Mckown would call “everywhere” buildings. They served a purpose but never truly made me feel anything. My home is the first building that I can recall that made me feel something. I can still remember the first time I saw my home. I remember having a feeling of awe when I walked through the house. There were these magnificent floor to ceiling windows that lined almost every room in the house. They let in so much light and the house felt as though it was filled with warmth and hope. You see, when my family and I first moved to Oklahoma we’d moved here from Spain; it was the middle of winter and everything here seemed so cold and unwelcoming to me. Everything but my house. The windows in my house reminded my family and me of a bed a breakfast that we’d stayed in from time to time in Sintra, Portugal. The house had a sense of familiarity to it that really won my family over. My sister and I thought it was magical. I still remember our first week in the house. My parents didn’t like for us to stay in our rooms because they were nervous about us being so far away. It’s funny to me now to think of how grand it all seemed at the time. Throughout the years my family and I have made so many memories here. It has been here that I learned that home is NOT just where your stuff is, it is where you create memories. My house represents so many things to me. This building represents safety, stability, growth, love, and my family.  I didn’t know a building could be these things until I moved here. Now this all may seem cliché, but it really is all true.

My house is without a doubt the building that has had the most significant impact on my life. Each and every room holds a memory that can bring a tear to my eye or a smile to my face and for that, I will always be thankful that my family and I were blessed with this home.

Corina Aguirre

The University of Oklahoma is one of the most beautiful schools in the nation. The campus is filled with wonderful buildings with great history and meaning. Dale Hall is one of those buildings that has been very meaningful and memorable to me and I have selected this building because of that reason. During my first semester at OU, most of my classes were in Dale Hall. On my first day of class, I remember walking up the front steps and through the doors and being overwhelmed with excitement and happiness because I was embarking on the next step of my life. Many students at OU think that Dale Hall is ugly but I remember really loving the building that I spent so much of my time in. The stairs in the center of the building seemed grand to me and I thought it was really interesting how they seemed to be the center of a cross that was created by the hallways that led to the classrooms. The building was so much different than those in the community college I had attended before coming to OU. I get really nostalgic when I think of the building because it was such a great place to me. Dale Hall is where I met one of my very best friends, Austin. It is where I had my very first class at OU. It is where I took shelter from the rain, snow, and wind during that cold spring semester. It is where I have learned, grown, and laughed and it will always hold a very special place in my heart.

Dale Hall has influenced my view of architecture and honestly just life greatly. It has shown me that beauty is so subjective. Everyone else’s opinions about the building doesn’t lessen or alter the beauty and meaning that I see in it. I think that that is a really amazing thing. If I can understand that idea when it is focused on a building, then I should be able to understand that on a grander scale as well, which isn’t always easy to do.

Corina Aguirre

P.S. this assignment is crazy profound. I had no idea that this would stir up so many different emotions. Are any of the rest of you guys feeling the same way?