Student no. 459671 Liam Patterson The School of Architecture and Planning WITS Motivational Letter I am a self-disciplined, purpose driven individual with a passion for architecture and design. Design, technology and innovation inspires me. I have strong leadership skills, I am a dynamic thinking and have excellent interpersonal skills. Architecture requires a lot of team work, like brainstorming with other individuals, and I find that I work productively in a team and naturally tend to fall into the leadership position. I am excellent at planning as well as integrating mine and other people’s ideas into a working concept. I work well under pressure and have always completed deadlines within adequate required time. My personal lifestyle has trained me to prioritise the most important aspects of my life and this developed while studying, participating in university sports and holding up a part time job, all at the same time. Time management is one of my robust characteristic traits as it has always been a requisite throughout my university career. It was often required of me to work ahead of schedule in order to complete academic tasks so that I could attend other commitments such as my sporting activities and after hour’s job. I always do tasks to the best of my ability and take academic learning seriously, while having fun. When I was younger I had dreams of becoming a successful architect. I have always had a passion for buildings and at a young age I exhibited curiosity for spacial planning. Even today I find myself subconsciously questioning where service ducts and fire exits are located within the buildings. One of my earliest memories of ‘design and construction’ occurred with my childhood Lego® set. I would sit for hours on end building the next brilliant design that came to mind. Following that, I would modify through redesign and improve my creation. In high school, I selected Art and Design as an elective. This was one of my favourite subjects as it allowed me to express my creative mind and explore the endless realms of my wild imagination. I found that I enjoyed this subject so much that marks did not make a difference but rather the process of seeing something develop from a mere inkling into a creation. This is where I found my love for design and creation. I first applied to the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in 2009 with the hope to be accepted into Architecture. In early January 2010, I received a letter of acceptance and at commence of the first semester of 2010 I began in full swing to achieve my undergraduate degree. As the years flew by I realised that this was definitely the future for me. After an exciting year of knowledge-filling work experience (2014), in both Randburg (SA) and Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe) I had a taste of what my future as an architect could hold. I had the opportunity to experience two different working environments. In Randburg, an upmarket office environment specialising in high-end residential design. I was promoted to design with the company’s recognised modern architectural building style. This gave me worthy experience as it taught me a certain way of how to approach design. In Zimbabwe, I was allowed to express more of my creative side and pitched my ideas directly to my boss as we worked hand-in-hand. With a lot of scrutiny about furthering my education, I am more than positive that I would like to obtain a postgraduate degree and ultimately become a professional architect. I dream to one day own an architectural practice where I can turn other people’s dreams into reality as well as improve public infrastructure, and this will be my next step. I have a lust for architecture as it comes across as non-conforming and is open to wide interpretation by many individuals. To me, architecture will never be seen as work because there is always a personal connection to myself and my design. Architecture allows me to express my inner creative side, which I find is one of my greatest talents. Architecture is a part of my daily life… I constantly
Student no. 459671 Liam Patterson ponder the thought process and design of architecture in my immediate surroundings. At night I lie in bed, not dreaming of adventure but rather relooking at my current design projects, resolving and improving them so that I can better them the very next day. I daydream of the day that I can walk past my personally designed building and have the utter sense of bliss to leave my personal trademark on society. The University of Witwatersrand would ultimately be my first choice to do my postgraduate degree as it promotes individuals to push the boundaries of conceptual design, at the same time promotes vision and innovative thinking. I think it is a prerequisite to design appropriately according to your environment as it was constantly told to us during my undergraduate degree, that WITS believes surroundings play an important role in design. WITS is a profound educational facility and features top in International academic excellence, it would be an absolute privilege to have the opportunity to further my education there. I obtained my undergraduate degree and experienced the fantastic hands on approach of educating students. Classes where fellow students would present their work and ideas to the rest of the class were especially helpful as it sparked discussions between young innovative minds. WITS promotes group interactions during the academic sessions improving the understanding of infinite approaches and solutions for the present design. I found that the faculty of Architecture highly knowledgeable and willing to assist in learning more as postgraduate students and staff members were always available for guidance. I believe that my future lies in the field of architecture and development and given this opportunity, I am solemnly committed and motivated to work towards my success in this field.