Fourteen-year-old Jonah is amazed by the human ability to create — particularly modern buildings and skyscrapers like the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
I’m taking the Commercial Architecture course. I find architecture interesting and I really want to build something. You can make so many awesome things, like modern buildings and skyscrapers. My favorite building is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. It’s insanely tall; it has about 160 floors. I just find it amazing what people are able to create.
I’ve learned many great things during my architecture course, like how to build a model, create floor plans and draw elevations. We also learned about green buildings, which is a very interesting concept. Every building in a city gets a number of points for how good that building is for the environment. For example, if there wasn’t that much concrete used and instead more glass and wood was used, or if they used renewable energy, like solar panels, the building would get more points.
I’ve made a lot of good friends at EXPLO and they are from all over the world, like Estonia, Kuwait, and Venezuela. I’ve learned a lot about the Venezuelan government and all the crazy things that are happening there right now. There’s going to be an important event tomorrow; they are rewriting the constitution. And I’ve learned about the climate in Kuwait and that it’s one of the hottest countries in the world.
The best thing about EXPLO is the freedom they are giving us. I like that you are able to choose what you want to do and you meet people who are interested in the same things as you. I very much appreciate that and can’t wait to move up to EXPLO at Yale next summer.
Fidelia Randmäe