Jaelen Chamberlain: Senior Jaelen Chamberlain’s long-lasting passion for exploring new types of architecture prompted him to attend Vrije University in Amsterdam, Netherlands

“That one’s a Corinthian column.” 

Creamy white pillars ornamented with leaf carvings at the top — easy. Then-sixth-grader Jaelen Chamberlain directed his grandma’s eyes to the New York Stock Exchange Building, playing a game his grandma invented during their New York City trip: identify the type of columns on the buildings.

After watching him constantly build airplane, car and building models, Jaelen’s grandma taught him about the three main types of columns, expanding his love for architecture. Jaelen marveled at the circular design of the Guggenheim Museum and the large scale of the World Trade Center, a passion he’ll further pursue as he enters the architecture study program at Vrije University in Amsterdam, Netherlands this fall.

“It’s something that allows me to be creative, but still apply logic,” Jaelen said. “So, I can still create and think and bring an artistic aspect to something that’s also technical.”

Jaelen’s a creator. As a kid, he was consumed by the art of LEGO. But it was when he abandoned the instructions and constructed houses of his own with leftover pieces that he truly fell in love with architectural design.

On YouTube, Jaelen has binge-watched videos on different building style techniques. Netflix’s “The World’s Most Extraordinary Homes,” a show that explores unique homes from Spain, India and other countries, is a permanent resident in his “continue watching” section. Now, Jaelen gets to pursue another culture’s architecture himself — beyond the screen.

As a junior, he enrolled in the IB diploma program to expand his potential college options to schools abroad. Frequently Googling “top 100 schools for architecture,” Vrije’s program stood out, not just amongst the American schools, but those in other countries like Italy, Ireland and Australia.

“Compared to all of the schools I’ve looked at, outside of the U.S. even, most schools have a pretty technical degree where you spend time in an architecture studio building models,” Jaelen said. “[Vrije] is a three-year bachelor’s degree, but then it teaches you to look at architecture from a theoretical view to explore what it means and how it fits in with the world.”

Jaelen’s observant. When he sees new buildings, he doesn’t dwell on what it’s for, but why and how it was created — the story behind the building. One of Jaelen’s favorite features about the program is how students get to explore other cities and surrounding countries to see the strategic artistic methods architects used and how styles vary on location. 

Moving to another country doesn’t make Jaelen nervous, even though he’s never been to Amsterdam before. According to Jaelen, the school provides him with his own apartment just off campus, and he’ll start his Visa application process for a residence permit at the end of May.

“This school is really good about integrating foreign students into the culture,” Jaelen said. “There’s a lot of support within the institution for foreign students. There’s really not very many U.S. students, [they’re from] all over the world.”

As far as what he wants to create during his career, Jaelen doesn’t know yet — he could see himself starting work at a small firm and maybe one day establishing one of his own. It’s something he plans to further look into at Vrije.

“[The buildings I see] usually stay with me,” Jaelen said. “They inspire me and stick with me, it’s always like a base that I can go back to like, ‘I like this and this looks cool,’ but I build off of that building. That helps me visualize in my head what I want.”