Recent graduate from Catholic University, Patrick Maning, will be joining us on the Helsinki Spirit of Place adventure. Patrick originally joined SOP in 2008 with the building of the James Hoban memorial in Ireland. He walked away from the first experience "with a deep understanding for not only a new culture but the knowledge and know how to take an architectural design from start to finish." After discovering the location this year and the potential to architecturally represent the Kalevala he couldn't resist being involved again especially after competing against the country in high school in 2003.
Patrick became familiar with the Kalevala while playing hockey though it wasn't until SOP that he became "extremely familiar with how deeply rooted these epic poems were to the national identity of the Finnish culture....My understanding became deeper as I became more familiar with Vainamoinen, a hero that controlled magical powers through his music. In the book you travel through each journey /poem to later discover moral implications embedded beneath each word. However, what I found extremely personal is that each individual who hears or reads the poems can have their own interpretation of the moral, making it special for each Individual regardless of faith, culture, or race." Well said, Patrick.
Since graduating, Patrick has committed himself to the LEED exam, GRE, and a number of humanitarian projects like Habitat for Humanity and Architecture for Humanity. So glad to have his experience on the trip!
Hi Patrick
ReplyDeleteI am following the blog and watching the progress on Seurasaari Island. It looks beautiful there. It is wonderful to be able to read about the construction of the project as it is happening. Very different from when you were last in Finland playing ice hockey!
Mom