“Les Espaces d’Abraxes” – This stunning building was conceived by Ricardo Bofill in 1982. The building is separated into three parts, The Theatre, The Arc and The Palace. The Theatres is a gigantic arch, which holds 130 apartments. The arc is a smaller building that only holds 20 apartments. The Palace is made up of three separate buildings in a U-shaped formation. The buildings incredible appearance has caused it to be used for various films, such as The Hunger Games and Brazil.
“Meritxell Sanctuary” – Bofill and his firm were tasked with rebuilding the old Romanesque chapel of the Virgin of Meritxell in Andorra. The chapel had burnt down in a horrific fire. Rather than rebuild the sanctuary identically, Bofill decided to fuse old roman and modern styles to make something completely unique. He remained respectful of the original builidng, while still embarking on his own vision.
“Walden 7” – This very unconventional building was designed by Ricardo Bofill. This was his attempt at what a social housing utopia would look like. The building is based off of B.F. Skinner’s science fiction novel, Walden Two, which depicts a utopian community. The building itself is actually made up of 18 different towers, collectively containing 446 rooms. Bofill attempted to tackle housing and spacing issues, with shops, pools and bars all being made part of the housing.
“La Fabrica” – This incredible building was designed by Ricardo Bofill. This building was actually a remodeling of an unused cement factory, for which Bofill found his inspiration. What I find most fascinating is that most of the original structure is intact, and simply built around or remodeled. This building is now utilized as both the head office of his architecture firm, as well as his home. The building is surrounded and covered by vegetation, which helps it look far more appealing.
I spent the entirety of my freshmen year living in Walker Tower, room 712. Although it was a great year in my life, living in the dorms was far from ideal. Looking back on it makes me appreciate my current living situation far more. From sharing a bathroom between four people, to constantly getting locked out of my own room, there is a lot of room for improvement with the OU dorms. The appearance is also very ugly and boxed in.
The Oklahoma City Thunder are our only top-level professional team, and when they came to the city everything changed. I spent a lot of time in this arena throughout the years. Some time were good and others were terrible, but I will never stop attending. I would go to games with my father exclusively during the Thunder’s early years, and these are memories that I most often think about when pondering thunder games. I will never forget the excitement of first walking into this beautiful arena and being able to call the team our own.
Delta Tau Delta is the location of most of my college life through freshmen and sophomore year. My time acclimating to college coincided with me getting to know the other freshmen members of my fraternity. This led to them being some of my best friends, and many memories I will never forget. Its funny how time affects our perception of things, because during my time living in Delta Tau Delta, all I wanted to do was get my own house and be away from everything. Now however, I look back to those days with a fondness I never would have expected. This building still serves some function for me, with the library here often being the easier decision rather than Bizzell.
Throughout my time at the University of Oklahoma, I have spent countless hours at Bizzell Memorial Library. Although they have rarely been the most pleasant of times, I have always left with the feeling that I improved in some capacity. I will always be thankful for the time spent in this building. The appearance of the building is probably my favorite part, with its gothic design being very pleasing on the eye. The Bizzell Library is a place that makes you feel at home as soon as you enter.
