Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.

- Robert Frost-

Have you ever taken the road less traveled? When you drive home from work, do you ever explore? Sure, it might take longer than usual, and there may be unpleasant stops along the way, but occasionally you will find an unexpected surprise. By casting aside strict conventions and routines and by taking risks, we can achieve things we never considered or thought possible.

I find that many people in our religiously capitalist society only seek the fastest, cheapest, and most efficient route. While some industries hire to increase diversity and thereby innovation, many dare not attempt anything new. In particular, many established architects and developers fear taking chances and fear the risk of failure inherent in untested methods. I, on the other hand, believe that architects must not feel constrained by the past but must follow-up on promising possibilities.

Exploring undiscovered methods and paths requires self-criticism, self-assurance, and courage. In my junior year in college, I doubted the teaching style of my instructor in my first design studio class. I felt as if he pushed his own rigid ideas into the students’ creations and did not allow the students the opportunity to pursue their own original designs. Fearing my intellectual growth might be stunted by his lectures and dissatisfied with his teaching, I basically taught myself design by researching and combing through hundreds of architecture books. Through my own studies, I came to realize that architecture should be learned, not preached. That semester, I further challenged myself by working on a design of my own creation, a design not assigned by my instructor. While it would have been easier to accept the instructor’ s lessons and just follow his ideas, I realized that I could never take the easy way again now that I discovered that the beauty of architecture lies in learning it myself. That semester helped formulate my approach towards architecture and influence my design decisions to this day.

Although self-motivation is extremely important, seeking the guidance and critique of others is essential to good design since others can find what I may have overlooked. One critic who has been particularly crucial to the development of my work is Craig Scott, a Progressive Architecture Awards Winner in 1996,who worked together with Homa Fardjadi and Sima Fardjadi. Craig was my studio critic during the spring term of 1997. His instruction helped me achieve a level of design that I could not have attained from books alone. Of greatest importance, he taught me a combination of methodology and theory to the process of creating designs. He taught me to begin with a simple conceptual spatial model, then add site context and programmatic concerns to create an integrated building. The application of a methodology to the design process made my work more structured and rigorous than before.

In Craig’ s studio, I designed a furniture workshop for downtown Ann Arbor that was chosen as an exhibit in the 1997 Summer Student Exhibition in the University of Michigan. Professors chose the most outstanding projects in their studio and put them in the exhibition. Although this was certainly not a major trophy, the exhibition represented my first accomplishment in the studio and was a milestone in my architectural career. When I saw my work in the exhibition room, all the failures and difficulties I had experienced seemed worth it. Later, I designed urban housing in downtown Ann Arbor for the fall studio 1997,which was also chosen as an exhibit in the 1998 Annual Student Exhibition. For that exhibition, entitled 'Taking Aim, ' each professor chose the best three projects from his/her studio. In the exhibition, the alumni of previous years and students from other architecture schools were invited to share our success. These exhibitions were important to me not only because my designs were chosen, but also because they gave me the opportunity to display my work before the most important critics of all -- the general public, which included the students and teachers from different years and different schools.

I plan to continue my studies at the graduate school level to have the opportunity to interact and share knowledge with students who are as focused and excited about architecture as I am. I have visited Harvard Graduate School of Design several times, and each time I left impressed and enlightened by the variety and complexity of the students' work. The work I saw at GSD had that same element of innovation and freshness that I strive for, the one that goes beyond the ordinary path. I want to be an explorer and to face challenges that I can solve with sheer will and creativity.

點評：

這篇文章之所以能吸引人的眼球，既由于內容豐富真實，也由于脈絡清晰明了。作者不僅通過自己的成就，而且還通過與身邊人作比較，充分地塑造了自己創新、不走尋常路、不拘泥于常規思維這一鮮明人物個性。

文章的特色主要表現在以下幾個方面：

● 以小見大：作者用了前三段來舉事例說明自己是與眾不同的。當別人選擇一條最快速、最經濟和最有效率的常規之路時，作者寧愿花多點時間和汗水去走一條別人未曾問津的路；當別的同學都按照老師所指定的題目做課程設計的時候，作者卻另辟新路按照自己的思路去設計去創造。這兩個事例雖小但足以證明作者為求創新所作出的努力和自己在創作上的鮮明個性－自我批評、有自信和有勇氣；

● 文章結構合理：作者并沒有一味的展示自己與眾不同的個性特征，而是花更多的筆墨在自己的專業背景和學術成就上。他作品兩次參展的經歷無形中為自己增色不少，同樣也提高了自己的競爭力，作者把自己的學術經歷作為文章的核心，充分地體現了作者他對于建筑學不是光有一份熱愛，而更多的是說明自己在建筑學是有所建樹的。

● 畫龍點睛：文章的收尾起到畫龍點睛的作用。作者結合學校的特點和自己所要追求的設計元素，巧妙地向讀者預示自己和學校將會是一個good match。而作者在文章前部分所做的鋪墊工作也能讓讀者相信這將會是一個事實。

這篇文章之所以鶴立雞群，是由于作者展現了令人印象深刻的個性特征，使你想更深入地了解他。這是一個在你些自己文章時要牢記的成功組合。

譯文：

森林里有兩條分叉路，我選擇了一條平時比較少人經過的，正是因為這樣我所經歷的一切都變得不一樣了。

- Robert Frost-

你曾經選擇去走一些比較少人經過的路嗎？當你從上班的地方開車回家，你是否會選擇一些比較偏僻的不一樣的路呢？當然，這可能比你平常要花多一點的時間，也可能一路上你會因為一些障礙物而不斷地停車，但是有時候你卻會獲得一些意外的收獲。當我們拋開常規做法去冒險的時候，我們或許可以完成一些我們認為絕不可能的事情。

我發現很多處身于資本主義社會里的人無論何時都只尋求一條最快速、最經濟和最有效率的道路。當某些行業尋求多樣化和創新的時候，很多人卻害怕作出新的嘗試。特別是很多出名的建筑師和開發商害怕機遇所帶來的挑戰和新嘗試新方法所帶來的失敗。然而在另一方面我卻認為建筑師不應該局限于過去但應該盡量開拓各種可能。

開拓新方法和新道路是需要自我批評、自信和勇氣的。在我大學三年級的時候，當我第一次去上我的設計課的時候，我就對我的講師的教學方式表示懷疑。我感覺到他似乎想把自己一些比較死板的思想灌輸給我們，從而阻礙學生創新思維的發展和學生對自己最原始創造的追求。由于害怕自己的專業發展會受到這個講師的不良影響和自己對他的教學方式不是很滿意，于是我決定通過自學來加深自己對設計的理解。在自學過程中，我意識到設計學是要靠學習來掌握的，而不是靠鼓吹的。那一學期，我通過進行自己的設計來進一步鍛煉自己，而這個設計題目并不是老師所指定的。我知道沿用老師所指定的設計方法和理念是一條比較容易走的路，但我告訴自己我絕不會再走容易之路，同時我也發現了建筑之美在于自我學習和自我開拓。那個學期里我的設計方法得到了規范，這同時也影響了我今天在設計方法的選擇上。

雖然主動性在學習過程中是非常重要的，但尋求別人的指導和批評對于一個好的設計來說也是同樣重要的，因為別人能夠找出你所忽略了的細節。一位對于我的作品成長歷程起到及其關鍵作用的評論家是Craig Scott先生，他與Homa Fardjadi 、ima Fardjadi兩位先生共同完成的作品獲得了1996年的進步建筑大獎。Craig是1997年的我的一位作品評論家。他的指導讓我的設計上升了一個水平，這是我從書本上所無法獲得的。他教會了我在設計的過程中要將方法論和理論知識相結合，這對于一位建筑師來說是及其重要的。同時他還教會了在設計開始之前我應該在腦子里有一個概念模型，然后再一步步地往模型里面添加內容并注意一些設計規則以保證建筑工程的綜合完整。將方法論應用于設計過程當中使我的設計比以前更具結構性和穩固性。

在Craig的工作室，我設計了一個安阿伯市市區的家具倉庫，這一個設計被選中在密歇根州大學舉行的97界夏季學生展覽會里參展。教授們都挑選他們工作室里最滿意的作品并展示在這一展覽會里。雖然這個榮耀并不算什么，但是它足可以證明我在工作室里所取得的成績同時也是我建筑事業生涯中的一個里程碑。當我在展覽廳看到我的作品的時候，頓時覺得以前我所經歷過的失敗和困難都是值得的。后來，在97年秋季的時候我也設計了一個安阿伯市市區的住宅區，同樣的這個設計也被選中了在98年的年度學生展覽會上參展。那個展覽會的主題是“瞄準目標”。展覽會上每個教授都挑選他們工作室里最好的作品來參展。很多舊校友還有其他建筑學校的學生們都被邀請來分享我們的成功和喜悅。這些展覽會對于我來說是非常重要的，這并不是因為我的作品可以參展而是因為他們給了我機會在接受大眾批評之前把作品展示在大家面前，而這些大眾批評包括不同界不同學校的老師和學生所提出的批評意見。

于是我計劃繼續攻讀研究生課程以尋求更多與同樣專注和熱愛建筑學的學生交流的機會。我曾經幾度參觀哈佛大學的設計研究院，每一次學生們多樣化和及其復雜的作品都給我留下了深刻的印象，同時我也被啟發了。在設計研究院所看到的作品有著創新和新穎的元素，這些元素是我要追求的也是超越尋常之路之上的。我想成為一名開拓者，懷著堅定的意志和創新的精神，我可以去很好的面對挑戰和解決挑戰所帶來的困難。