The Annual First-Year Survey

Home is…
Shenzhen
Connecticut
Jiangsu Province
Columbus, Ohio
The Pacific Northwest
Toronto
London
Shanghai
Quito, Ecuador
New York City
China
Royal Oak, Michigan
Los Angeles
Beijing
Cincinnati, Ohio
Mumbai, India
Lakewood, Ohio
Taiwan
South London
Santa Ana Pueblo, Jicarilla Apache Nation
Cos Cob, CT
Kuwait
British Columbia
Kitchener, Ontario

Architecture in 140 characters
Architecture is design with focus on the eye-level experience.  – Anonymous
Architects are people dancing in a narrow space.  – Xuefeng Du
Architecture is the continuation of art by other means.  – Ben Thompson
Architecture is the philosophy of the built environment and a mode of thinking analytically about spaces and their representation. – Shelby Wright
Architecture is my lens through which to understand the world.  – Smit Patel
Architecture is abused by all of us trying to make it save the world, but it can’t, it can only change parts of it. – Sara Al Ajmi

Why architecture?
I dream of designing special spaces.
Yikes, idk!
Because I like people.
It can be related to everything else, it’s flexible.
It’s inherently optimistic.
I would like to one day do a door schedule.
Just felt from early on that it’s what I am supposed to do.
Architecture can change people’s lifestyles, the way we think, and further change the world.
I love it, against my better judgement.

WhYSoA?
That damn building.
I wanted to attend an institution that would challenge my understanding of design.
Loved the community and its design and drawing focus.
The curriculum prepares students for broader social impact and encourages cross pollination with other fields.
Paul Rudolph is my zaddy.
The paprika carpet.
I loved the wider graduate school community and the class sizes within the program.
Because of the @shoes.of.YSoA insta page.

What are you currently fascinated with?
Cacti
Architectural tourism
Perception
The new pace of
life in America
Infectious diseases in cattle, yellow journalism, the Elon Musk/Grimes relationship, and the Oxford Comma
Settlers of Catan
Indigenous sovereignty
My new camera
Gut health and inflammation

What are you currently reading?
Invisible Cities
Brecht, but not really
The Handmaid’s Tale
The Power Broker
The Memoirs of General William Tecumseh Sherman
The Vegetarian
Design of Cities
Thinking Architecture
The Sacred Hoop
The IKEA catalog
The Stand
Bad Feminist
Magician
1984
Supercritical
The Lure of Technocracy
I Am a Cat
Horror in Architecture
Warlight

What was your most interesting summer job ever?
Büro Ole Scheeren
Social Media Influencer
Interning as film production intern at The Weinstein Company
Artist assistant in Karlsruhe, Germany
Art director for a pizza truck wannabe-franchise run by a crazy, fast-talking New Yorker
Selling fruit
Designed a house in the Himalayas this past summer
This summer, I had an internship at PriceWaterhouseCoopers
Barber’s apprentice
Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad
Facilities Assistant at the Knowlton School of Architecture
Conducting design workshops with rural artisans in the interior villages of India
Muralist assistant
Counselor at a jump rope camp
Stone masonry with an ex-architect from Germany
Close tie between Joeb Moore & Partners and Chipotle
Arctic diamond exploration, Great Bear Lake, Northwest Territories
Eurofood deli counter