HOW IT STARTED It is a classic cliché to state that your architectural journey started around the time you started to express words and took on drawing. As clichés often tend to be true, my case is no different. My parents gave me a pen and a notebook during a restaurant dinner in Paris when I was around four years old, to keep me busy while the rest of my family enjoyed dinner. There is no doubt that this is the most influential parenting moment as drawing kept me busy for the following ten or so years (before drawing temporarily stopped being cool in the eyes of a teenager). I mostly drew imaginary cities, taking inspiration from my family's travels. Another early sign of architectural interest was my fascination for the fact that buildings, cars, boats and other structures were enterable, which I made evident through the frequent question: can I enter it? After brushing of the uncertainties of my teenage years and early twenties, after a detour to a local school of economy, I finally realised that I must follow a childhood calling and make my way into architecture school. It took me three attempts and an infiltration into Aalto University and the Department of Architecture as a landscape architecture student, before I finally got admitted in the summer of 2023. ​ HOW IT'S GOING I am currently conducting my master's studies in architecture at Aalto University. My main focus during my years of studying has been to develop a personal style and understanding of architecture as a way of shaping our surroundings and contributing to the quality of life. As much as I feel that some contemporary architecture has been on the wrong track for a while, through the deeds of politicians and investors, I believe that historicism and re-introducing former styles is a large threat to contemporary design. I believe in a design philosophy that reflects on the past, yet faces the future. Through the theory courses at Aalto University, I have recently developed a strong interest in writing, which has been an essential tool in understanding architecture through society.  When designing, I think from the inside out and spend most of my time developing room programs and spatial rules that I complement through materiality schemes and structural principle. In other words, my childhood fascination for the inner layers of the building still remains. ​ WHAT'S NEXT? I am currently applying for my first internship at a local office, to gain hands-on experience and an understanding of the Finnish architectural field and gain contacts in the field. I am also open to other related works for magazines, design outlets and all kinds of creative studios.  In the future I hope to gather experience abroad after gaining knowledge of the field domestically. My ultimate goal is to one day assemble a small group of friends to create a small office that would focus on small- and medium scale architectural work that would create both public and private purpose.