Adrian-Florin Munteanu

Background

About Adrian-Florin Munteanu

When I was 12 I told my mother that I wanted to be a basketball player. The first thing she said was that few people are blessed with knowing what they want to do in life and that she was going to do her best to support my dreams. The second thing she said was that it would be a good idea to develop skills in other areas just in case my basketball career doesn't work out. Good advice considering that I was 1.45 meters tall at that time. That did not stop me from developing an insane work ethic. When homework was done, I would run to the little outdoor basketball court from my neighborhood and run drills by myself. Unfortunately, one summer day, as I was hurrying up to do some drills, I discovered that the basketball court had been demolished. I could not believe it. As my eyes welled up with tears I noticed a group of workers eating their lunches by the side of the now ruined court. I decided that I was going to let them know what a terrible thing they had done. All my courage disappeared as soon as I opened my mouth and all I could let out was "why?". One of the workers told me that they were going to build a better basketball court. One with a roof this time. I was skeptical of the idea at first but I told them that I would be back every day to check up on them to make sure that they weren't lying to me. At first, they dug big holes in the ground and all I remember thinking was "how am I going to play basketball underground?". Then, they poured the concrete and the columns. Two months had passed when they started building the walls. I even made friends with some of the workers and I liked watching them do their jobs. Being a curious kid, I sometimes drove them crazy with questions. It was fascinating to see my old court transform into the beautiful gymnasium with parquet flooring, spectator seats, new hoops and even locker rooms equipped with showers. I loved everything about that building. It inspired a little basketball nerd to form a new career path: civil engineering. This is what I now try to do for other people. I want to help engineer and design buildings that inspire those who use them or just walk by and stop to take a look.