Shawul Gulilat, the top-scorer from Architecture and Urban Planning articulates his vision and goal in absolute terms. He is wary of his potential and professional arena; he would be taking the plunge into.
Shawul hails from Addis Ababa and got his schooling done in the capital city. His father is a grain merchant, mother a housewife; of his four brothers two are assisting father in his trade.
On how he could achieve the highest grade, he said, ‘‘I scored 3.96 GPA, as I was working very intensely; day and night I used to study. Right from the morning I would work till 9 pm and after two hours of sleep I would get up at 11 pm and sometime would read whole night.’’
‘‘Architecture has 75% of practical that requires one to be hard-working. Of total 60 courses I studied, construction management has been dear to me; technology and management aspect of architecture inspires me a lot,’’ he informed.
Shedding lights on personal attributes, he said, ‘‘Basically, I have an innate managerial skill saddled with rational mindset that pushes me to management aspect of the trade.’’
He is likely to go for second degree from Netherlands to study construction management by assimilating theoretical and practical aspects.
‘‘After my return to Ethiopia, I am passionate to change lot of things. The construction aspect of architecture has to be integrated with the built environment. Realization of project is the critical aspect that is often not implemented as designs are only on the paper, and I want to teach a lot in that regard in Ethiopia.’’
‘‘I want to change the wrong notion that architecture is an art, while it’s a science, people must know. We lack managerial skills, only studio work is emphasized and integrated approach is missing. There is a beam technology which isn’t implemented in Ethiopia. We lack contractor managing project in a professional way. I would like to bring beam technology in Ethiopia.’’
‘‘I attribute the full credit of my success to field students, family and university teachers had contributed a lot in my success.’’
Giving piece of advice to upcoming graduates, he said, persistence, integrity, continuous work and adequate reading shape up future in right way. He takes pleasure in travelling across the country, reading and sketching whatever comes to his mind.
(By Corporate Communication Directorate: Philips Joseph)