(Admissions Essay for the RAIC Syllabus Program, 2025)

I was not born an architect, designer, or engineer. I was born a human being.

I was born to feel the connection of human touch, to enjoy the warmth of a shot of vodka after a cold
swim, to immerse myself in the peaceful joy of playing the bamboo flute, to be gripped to the core as I
listen to a poignant story, to smile with delight over tender plants flourishing under my care, to wander
barefoot through forests and sing with birds, to look over cityscapes from the top of skyscrapers and be
filled with wonder, to follow my instincts and develop them with a compassionate, rational, and
educated mind.

And one of those instincts, I have discovered, is to create. To dream. To build.

Through studying architecture, I shall gain the knowledge and ability to breathe life into inanimate
objects. I will learn to turn raw materials into structures of artistic and economic value, held together by
the laws of physics and upheld by the integrity of the minds and souls of those who have brought them
into existence.

I could write down many reasons why I desire to study architecture – because I simply love buildings;
because the eternal dance between light and shadows fascinates me; because I feel an inexplicable
connection to certain angles, textures, and juxtapositions of materials; because of a climber’s joyous
laughter when they see spectacular structures to be scaled and conquered and befriended; because of
how homes and schools can be crafted with bamboo and rammed earth, giving life to the same
environment that had gifted it with its raw materials; because there are multitudes of deserted, decrepit
houses and buildings that deserve a second chance through thoughtful, honest, and beautiful
renovations; because I have walked into buildings that made me feel small and others that spoke to a
higher standard of being; because I want more people to live in houses that are nothing less than
“frozen music,” as von Goethe once described; because I want to enter churches that uplift and exalt
worshippers and empower them in their pursuit of greatness and truth.

Architecture is a blend of physics and philosophy – the two great loves of my life. Once we shape
them, buildings shape us, and that is what makes architecture meaningful. Through the buildings I
design (as with everything else I create), I want to leave behind me, when I am no more, the physical
reality of a better world.

I am human without apology – a woman, a dreamer, a rational being. I desire to be the best self I can
be, a person of integrity, love, and power. As such, I ask nothing less of the buildings I design and
create. Let each of them stand for something – as a reflection of all that is good and beautiful in the
human mind and spirit, as a testimony to the beauty and grandeur of existence.

This is my anthem.

And that is why I want to study architecture.