“I have, in my place, books about English history. I like the bloodiness of it. I have one set of eight volumes. I read only the first volume, and of that only the first chapter, in which each time I see something else. But really, I am interested only in reading Volume Zero, which has not been written… History could not have started in the places they speak of. History preceded this; it just is not recorded. The beauty of architecture is that it deals with the recessions of the mind, from which comes that which is not yet said and not yet made.” – Louie Kahn Architect

Louie Kahn’s analogy of volume zero is expressed by the quote above, and as my first post, I’d like to fill my own “volume zero” by sharing what lies in the recessions of my mind with the world. My name is Zain Elwakil. I am twenty years old and currently studying Architecture at Syracuse University in New York. The ZULU ECHO Lifestyle Initiative is an idea that arose through my experience and interpretation of my first year of university. That is, post graduating high school, going separate ways as my childhood friends, and seeing where each of us has begun to put our own name into the world in whatever way intrigues us. Up until then, we had all been products on a production line that is the education system, but now we have reached an age where I have noticed a phenomenon that fascinated me, and ultimately led to what I’m calling the ZULU ECHO Lifestyle Initiative. 

It is a critical time of any person’s life, as it is the time of our lives where our minds are most fertile to the ideas, inspirations, and ideologies that our individual experiences present to us. It is the age where many people become who they always wanted to become. It is the blossoming of the flower that up until now had the same looking stem as every other flower. Where people formulate their own ideas, design their first clothing line, start a fitness page, or write a book. This is the phenomenon that I was fascinated by. From there I came up with the idea for this blog. A place where I can archive and advertise my own work in Architecture, blog about my own style and Fashion, as well as celebrate and continue to encourage young people to become who they’ve always wanted to become; to distinguish themselves by expressing their own ideas to the world, because seeing how people grow and how they begin to define their own experience rather than fall into one prescribed to them, is truly a beautiful thing to see.