This is Wagner Hall on OU’s campus right next to Price. Wagner Hall brings back not so fond memories because it is the freshman building for advising, and my first semester of school the advisors completely screwed me. Knowing my major prior to starting school I declared my first day. Well the advisors (2 or them) advised me completely wrong causing me to get off track of my graduation date by 12 credit hours in my first semester of college, so seeing this building reminds me of that and the money I have to and have had to spend to catch back up.

This is the El Paso Event Center in El Paso, TX. This is where the downfall of my hockey career began because it kicked off my concussion prone season. I got my first concussion of the 4 I received that season here. By the end of the year (my fourth that season) it put me in the teens for how many concussions I had over my career and I had to retire. Also the fans in El Paso suck and I can’t count the amount of beer I had dumped on me.

I pass this house everyday on my way to class and getting around Norman. This house is probably one of my favorite houses I have seen in person. The shear beauty of it with all the columns and pillars and the different levels in the bricks really intrigues me. There has been a lot of times between school and work that I’m just drained but then seeing this house just keeps me motivated to keep working at it. It keeps me driven so to get to my end goal hopefully later in life.

The Scotland Street School Museum was Charles Rennie Mackintosh last big build. The Museum was finished in 1906. This building goes back to embodying how I always envisioned Scottish Architecture. Has the big pillars, lots of windows, and beautiful stone, much like Mackintosh’s School of Art. I like all the windows he did in the project, between that and the light tan colored brick it really softens up the building inside and out. You can tell that when given the freedom that he really liked to tie the buildings back to his roots.

Queens Cross Church was the only church that Mackintosh designed and built. The first service was held in 1899. For this building they kept it pretty simplistic, no tall pillars. They didn’t fill the windows with magnificent mosaic windows like you see in a lot of the grand churches built in this time frame. The just wanted to create a environment for people to come worship.

Built in 1904, for a publisher named Walter Blackie. He hired Mackintosh to build him a house but he didn’t want it to look anything like the traditional Scottish architecture. Blackie wanted grey cast walls, other than that he gave Mackintosh freedom to design it. I actually really like this house to me (minus the color) it looks like how all the modern mansions look. The two Switzer mansions south of campus are two that come to mind. I like the squareness with the pillars dividing it. The house has since been donated to National Trust of Scotland and tours are available.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh, a Scottish architecture built the Glasgow School of Art finished in 1909. When I think of Scotland and buildings there I tend to think of these majestic castles with medieval accents. When I first pulled up pictures of the school I thought exactly that, a building that looks like a castle with all the stone, contours (for being a square building, and levels. Whenever he created the school he wanted it to embody the architecture of his homeland and I think for the most part with how I envision Scottish buildings that he captured it very well. The building has caught fire twice but they have rebuilt those parts to keep the building as original as possible.

This is Blazers Ice Centre and it has impacted my life to make me the person I am today. This building is just a big block of bricks and steal beams running across the ceiling. The building itself is actually falling apart. But I started skating here at 3 years old, my fondest memories are growing up in this ice rink. This ice rink is where I developed my work ethic, drive, and competitive nature. Hockey made me into the person I am today and I owe a lot of my success to this ice rink.