My backyard - Wes Jones

This is the view of the church that is over the back fence of my house. They have done extensive remodeling in the past few years to expand this building. I really admire the entrance.

My Home - Laurel Lamb

This is the house I've lived in all my life.  My parents had it built around thirty years ago.  The house is located about five minutes outside the city of Lawton and five minutes outside of the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge.  So, it really is the best of both worlds for me; it's not far from the city, but not far from the outdoors when the city gets tiresome.  Facing toward the Wildlife Refuge, the house has a wonderful view of the mountains, especially Mt. Scott.  I just recently moved back into this house temporarily and I've experienced quite a few old memories.  Living here brings back a lot of childhood memories, as well as reminds me of the comfort I always felt coming home.  In casual conversation I tend to call any place I'm living "home," whether it's this house or the two places I lived in Norman for a couple of years.  However, so far in my life, this is the only place I think I truly mean it when I say "home."  The house is not physically the most memorable or unique building by any means, but it is a place that holds very significant meaning to me.

Early Americana by Jared Zettl

This wonderful little filling station is located in Miami Ok. My fiance and I came across it when we’re looking for a good fishing spot. Which unfortunately we didn’t find until late in the weekend. Filling stations are a thing of the past and are becoming fewer and fewer. When we saw this one it stuck out, literally stuck out of the back of the building behind it. I’m not sure of the true history of it but it seems pretty legitimate. It holds the iconic shape and size of filling stations and it has a few of the old artifacts from the era that it originated from. I know this building doesn’t look like much but it was a preamble to the way we live today. There was a lot to the era that filling stations spawned from, like a deep common courtesy throughout the nation. Life back then moved at a slower rate but because of the slower rate the people had deeper connections to their environments. When I see these old stations I can just imagine what it would have been like to live back then. I have a fascination with antique structures, from one side of the world to the other and that vary in all ages and sizes. I know that as technology develops that people must adapt with it no matter how large or small. Just look at gas stations now days, same general principle but on a much larger platform, with lots of merchandise. 

Neustadt Wing - Nathan Ferraro

Neustadt Wing:


This is the Doris W. Neustadt Wing of Bizzell Memorial Library. It was constructed in in 1982 to expand the library and accommodate the study needs of thousands of students. I walk into this building nearly everyday to study and do homework. I use it as designed. I get into my homework mindset when I enter so I associate the building with hard work. What I like about the building is the space to work. That is the only compliment I have for this building. Other than that, I think this building is a complete and utter atrocity. Let me explain why. This building was literally glued to Bizzell Memorial Library, which is a U.S. National Historic Landmark. Bizzell was built in 1929 as an elegant and grand compliment to Evan's Hall. Bizzell is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful buildings in the United States.

Bizzell Library


I get physically angered when I walk through this masterpiece and cross into the Neustadt addition. That wing has no business being there. Look at how out of context it is.

Gorgeous Gothic architecture lies to the north and south of it. But for some reason they decide to add on this monstrosity. The most frustrating part is in the original write-up of the building found here, the architects had the audacity to say that the structure is "architecturally harmonious with and faithful to the style of Bizzell Memorial Library as well as Evans Hall." You can make that judgement for yourself from the picture above. In my opinion, this is absolute nonsense. It is nearly sickening. Whoever had the idea to attach this to Bizzell should be ashamed. It does not fit there, it should have never happened. Neustadt would make an attractive stand-alone structure; unfortunately, they did not do that. Another depressing thing is the original design of Bizzell called for it to be attached to Evan's Hall to create a giant square beautiful superbuilding. Sadly, this did not happen. Here is the original sketch

 

Why they did not do this instead of that terrible Neustadt wing is beyond me. The University of Oklahoma could have possessed this gorgeous mega library if they hadn't blown it in the 80s.

Chris Hemken - Location, Location, Location

This is my home. I lived here with my parents from '98 to '08, then after 3 years in an apartment, my parents moved back to Kansas and now my wife and I rent it from them. The structure itself is fairly average. Just a standard 70's suburban house, much the same as any other in the neighborhood. What really sets it apart is the location. Its only 1/4 mile from I-40 and maybe 2 miles from the main shopping area of Yukon, but it feels very rural. It sits right on the corner of a cul de sac with only 3 other houses. It is surrounded by nature. There is a small field in front of it with an old barn that is all that remains of the farm that this neighborhood used to be. It looks beautiful with the setting sun shining through towards the house. To the side, across a street, is a wooded creek that splits the neighborhood and blocks the rest of the houses from view and the backyard slopes down to a neighborhood pond full of ducks and geese. I liked living here before but now that I'm older and can appreciate the beauty of the surroundings, I love it even more.

Simon Ott - Your home affects more than just you...

We live in an older neighborhood in town in Shawnee.  The house was built in the 1920’s by a gentleman who wasn’t able to finish it.  It was purchased from him by the then city manager of Shawnee who finished its construction.  One of his pet projects during his time in office was the installation of a trolley system.  The main elite residential thoroughfare at the time was heading North from Main St. on Broadway.  The trolley system was installed along Broadway and since the City Manager’s new house was only a block off Broadway towards the end of the proposed route, he persuaded the city to continue the route past his home so he could ride it to work every day.  The current day result, since the days of the trolley car are long gone, is a wider than usual road through a residential area.  It’s commonly used as a cut through to one of the heavier traffic arteries through town and is typically driven above the posted speed limit.  When we purchased the house the lot had minimal landscaping.  Lots of pristine lawn with a couple of strategically placed shrubs.  Being a family that loves the beauty of nature, we changed that.  We put in wire fencing and a lavish garden that not only provided a buffer from the high speed traffic, it offered some minor seclusion in town life and beauty to the home.  The beauty of the garden also had a pleasant side effect, the traffic slowed considerably due to people slowing to gaze at the multitude of plants and flowers as they drove by.  The neighbors are no longer seeking to petition for a stop sign or speed bumps to be installed and the instances of people running the stop signs that are there have slowed due to the decreased sight lines.  We have become a culture that spends most of our time shut into our homes watching TV and tend to forget how much our homes can affect the area and lives around us.  It's remarkable what a few well placed flowers can do to remind you of that fact. 

Gabriel enjoying the spring flowers

Angel watching over the corner