Hard work is John David Moore’s forte.
Hours after strapping on pads and paving the way for sophomore running back Leonard Fournette at practice, the 6-foot-4 starting fullback switches gears when he analyzes the structure of a skyscraper and theorizes how to improve it for class the next morning.
Balancing football and his workload as an architecture student is challenging, but Moore embraced it head on and triumphed, earning a football scholarship and excelling in architecture classes.
“It’s definitely been a balancing act,” Moore said. “A lot of times, especially when I have a studio, which is the core curriculum of architecture, it takes a lot of time management. For me, I know [architecture is] what I want to do, so it’s not hard to dedicate the right amount of time to each.”
Although he liked putting things together from an early age, Moore’s interest in architecture emerged his sophomore year of high school as a combination of his love for design and art.
For his mother, Melinda Moore, John David’s artistic talent first showed itself when he was frustrated with an early elementary art project.
Although Melinda was concerned, his teacher, who was an artist, told her it wasn’t a problem, but rather a mark of his inherent creativity.
When looking for colleges, the quality of the architecture program and its willingness to work with his needs as an athlete played a crucial role in Moore’s decision.
From the start, LSU School of Architecture director Jordi Erdman was determined to work with Moore’s football practice schedule because of his talent and his dedication to architecture.
“He gave an interview before he came to LSU,” Erdman said. “He’s a very high performing student. At that point, he was somebody I would have been recruiting for architecture if he wasn’t already trying to get on the football team. I was happy to have him, and [I] wanted to make it work for him.”
During his freshman year in 2013, Moore was able to participate in his freshman studio, a four-hour course meeting three times a week and forming the architecture program basis because it didn’t interfere with practice.
Moore has spent the last two summers in studio alternatives since studios during the past two seasons have conflicted with practice.
After Moore spent the summer of 2014 studying with a graduate studio, Erdman offered him a condensed version of the junior studio this summer, highlighted by a trip to Chicago.
Although he will not be able to visit Chicago during the fall with his classmates, Moore made the same trip in May with his family. The trip included architectural tours and a meeting with LSU alumnus Percy Roberts III, Erdman said.
For the rest of the summer, Moore designed a hypothetical residential college for Roosevelt University in Chicago.
“It was my first real tall building,” Moore said. “Chicago is a lot of skyscrapers. It was my first holistic building design, the whole program of it. In Chicago, it’s different than building in Baton Rouge, or anywhere else really. It’s got its own set of variables you’ve got to deal with.”
Despite the challenges presented by each design, Moore said the more he advances within the program, the more he realizes this is what he wants to do.
At first glance, architecture and football don’t seem to relate, but Moore has learned through both to accept and respond to criticism.
“Having a background in football, where we watch film in football every day that is critiqued, set me up to successfully intake that critique and help me move forward as a designer,” Moore said.