My Kid Architect Story: Andrew Adegbamigbe
What experiences led you to think about becoming an architect?
As a child, I loved to draw, and I loved listening to music. Like most children, I explore my creativity through the stories I would draw. At the age of 9, my parents decided to move from Lagos Nigeria, where I was born, to the United States, in hopes of finding more opportunities in life. As a result, I discovered a whole new
environment with several different things and places to spark my creativity. Unfortunately, the new experiences came at the cost of missing a lot of the family and friends I left behind. Once again, I did as most children did and tried to find a creative solution to bridge the gap between myself and my family in Nigeria.
What I came up with was exactly that, a bridge. I decided I would find out who and what it took to design a bridge across the Atlantic and I would work towards achieving that goal as an adult. So, I did some research at my middle school library, and for the first time, I read about the field of Architecture & Engineering.
Did you know an architect growing up?
Growing up, the only architect I knew was my Godfather. However, I was too young to understand what an architect was or what they did at the time when I was around him before leaving Nigeria.
How did you further develop your interest in architecture?
I spent most of my middle school years developing my drawing skills after I moved to the United States. It was not until High School that I started expanding my creative muscles to think about the house I hoped to live in someday. I started drawing floor plans and exterior ideas of what I wanted the house to look like. After
taking my first hand-drafting class during my sophomore year of high school, I was sure it was something I could do for a living.
At what point did you decide you wanted to be an architect?
After spending most of my high school career developing my creative artistic skills, I decided I wanted to study art in college. Naturally, my parents were concerned about the potential lack of future job prospects as an artist. After several discussions with my parents, I decided architecture would be the most suitable option that would satisfy both my need to have a creative outlet and having a profession that provided relatively stable job security. After attending 4 years studying architecture at Ball State University, I was sure that I had made
the right decision and I continued my path to become an architect.