ADRIANNA FRANSZ, University of Southern California Undergraduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Warren Techentin, Adjunct Professor
Fransz’s passion for public space shines in a social justice center in Los Angeles, where she prevented the ten-story tower from casting shade on the surrounding neighborhood.
AIRENE DIZON, Cal Poly Pomona
Undergraduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Sarah Lorenzen, Professor
When it comes to representation, Dizon’s portfolio showcases a range of styles, including colorful collage perspectives that illustrate the experience of a college campus and diagrammatic vignettes highlighting the social interactions that can occur in each program.
ARIEL LORENZI, New York Institute of Technology
Undergraduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Giovanni Santamaria, Architecture Department Chair, Associate Professor
Crochet Wood demonstrates Lorenzi’s passion for creating community through the built environment, as the structure offers refuge and activities for both aquatic and terrestrial species.
BELLE CARROLL, Rice University
Undergraduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Nonya Grenader, Professor in Practice
Carroll challenges traditional archetypes with concepts that emphasize flexibility and inclusivity. Her senior dwelling project demonstrates that quality of life and quality of care are not mutually exclusive.
CARLA DE HARO, Cornell University
Undergraduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Henry Richardson, Academic Advisor, Core Design Studio Professor
In Carla De Haro’s portfolio, buildings don’t exist by themselves but instead respond boldly to their contexts. Her High Line Oasis project gives New York’s High Line users a view of the Hudson River by lifting and pulling apart a building, while an Ithaca concert hall displays a chameleonlike ability to transform its facade.
CHRISTINA SHIN, University of Southern California
Undergraduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Yo-Ichiro Hakomori, Associate Professor of Practice
Shin’s 99 Laps concept for a public pool housed under a long-span cantilevered structure exemplifies her playful approach while demonstrating an affinity for building technology.
DAN ROTHBART, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Undergraduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Michael Oatman, Associate Professor of Architecture
Rothbart’s portfolio reflects an interest in institutional and infrastructural design, explored through models and material studies. A design for Troy, New York, conceives a single communal space that combines transportation, coworking, and leisure functions.
ERIC KYLE CHEUNG, Rice University
Undergraduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Andrew Colopy, Assistant Professor
With an interest in building technologies, Cheung often evaluates how digital technologies such as parametricism and numerically controlled fabrication “give merit to form.
GABRIELLA FEUILLET, Rice University
Undergraduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Viola Ago, Wortham Fellow
Simple shapes are merged, stacked, and warped in Feuillet’s design for a farmers’ market, including green space, seating, and covered zones. Feuillet also designs at the product scale, experimenting with textiles, jewelry, and graphics.
GUY LAFÔRET, University of Southern California
Undergraduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Luciana Varkulja, Lecturer
With a stark, eclectic style of representation, Lafôret focuses on some overlooked aspects of the urban environment, including transit stations and even a public pool. Many projects respond to social issues like homelessness and ableist development.
HENRY CHU, Cal Poly Pomona
Undergraduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Wendy Gilmartin, Lecturer
Chu’s writers’ retreat in the Mojave Desert is a secular interpretation of sacred space.
JACQUELINE PILEGGI, New York Institute of Technology
Undergraduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Manuel Garza, Adjunct
Instructor, Principal of Et Al. Collaborative
Pileggi advances an iterative style in devising mixed-use public spaces that combine ecological concerns and recreational needs. Waterfront designs demonstrate a desire to
Pileggi advances an iterative style in devising mixed-use public spaces that combine ecological concerns and recreational needs. Waterfront designs demonstrate a desire to
grapple with storm surges, recycling flows, and water filtration.
MARIA RAMIREZ, California College of the Arts
Undergraduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Antje Steinmuller, Associate Professor, Chair of Undergraduate Architecture
Ramirez’s “work from home community” investigates how residential spaces can lessen the burden of childcare by facilitating communal parenting.
NAVYA SHARAD, California College of the Arts
Undergraduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Antje Steinmuller, Associate Professor
Chair Sharad’s work encompasses many scales, from product to neighborhood, all with an attention to the experience of light. A museum design maximizes light for different purposes, while several projects including a built parklet imagine a denser and more efficient San Francisco.
ROE DRAUS, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee
Undergraduate Architecture
Undergraduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Trudy Watt, Assistant Professor
Draus approaches his design for Spatial Portrait with clarity and creativity. His desire to address broader societal challenges with solutions that meet the needs of vulnerable populations is evident in his person-centered approach.
SOPHIA LE, Cal Poly Pomona
Undergraduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Achille Michelizzi, Professor at the University of Florence, Founder of Achille Michelizzi Architects
Le uses a mix of meticulous drawings, blocky renderings, and models to represent projects focusing on preserving structures and framing views. The Alley examines the potential of Hollywood’s back alleys as a means of expanding density and connectivity and showcasing art.
VALERIYA VELYKA, California College of the Arts
Undergraduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Antje Steinmuller, Associate Professor, Chair
Velyka focuses on exploring the possibilities of warping, scaling up, and serializing simple geometric shapes, an emphasis that courses through furniture design to public space design. Simple design conceits produce novel castings of structures.
WING MAN CHAN, NewSchool of Architecture & Design Undergraduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Daniela Deutsch, Associate Professor, Fourth-Year-Level Coordinator
From master plans to multifamily housing, Chan’s portfolio betrays a focus on questions of how we live relative to one another in the contemporary city. Model making, mass timber, and sight lines are other significant themes.
YUEER NIU, Cornell University
Undergraduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Naomi Frangos, Professor, Internship Adviser
Niu’s process includes painting, site studies, and clear-eyed renderings to explore the uses of buildings. Projects such as the Roman Floating Citywalk aim to help pedestrians discover and use underutilized space within a dense urban context.
ALESSANDRA SHORTEN, Virginia Tech
Undergraduate Interior Design
NOMINATOR: Lisa Tucker, Interior Design Program Chair
Many of Shorten’s designs are based in a single point of inspiration that guides the entire project. Comprehensively developed projects include an attention to site and fine-grained consideration of materials, furnishings, and circulation.
AMANDA WYMAN, Ferris State University
Undergraduate Interior Design
NOMINATOR: Lee Davis, Professor
With workplace, restaurant, and retail interiors, Wyman demonstrates a knack for material and product specification in addition to COVID-19 modifications.
AMY YAN, Ryerson University
Undergraduate Interior Design
NOMINATOR: Jonathon Anderson, Associate Professor, Director of FCAD Creative Technology Lab
Yan’s work operates at “the intersection of design and storytelling.” She has applied her narrative approach to spatial problems in projects such as an ethnocultural investigation into Toronto’s Chinatowns. The Not Love Seat was awarded first place in Wilsonart’s Annual Student Chair Design Competition.
ANGÉLICA LEBRÓN, Iowa State University
Undergraduate Interior Design
NOMINATOR: Julie Irish, Assistant Professor
Sustainability is at the heart of Lebrón’s approach. Her design for a retirement facility prioritizes the health of building occupants while emphasizing green building practices.
ASHLEY SCHWARTZ, Kent State University
Undergraduate Interior Design
NOMINATOR: Tina Patel, Assistant Professor
With a focus and exploration of graphics Schwartz's rendering styles within her portfolio demonstrate a range from realistic to illustrative. The pictured Food Hall was a social justice and community focused design that used the building program as a tool to promote small businesses in Woodlawn Chicago.
BETHANY JOHNSON, Auburn University
Undergraduate Interior Design
NOMINATOR: Anna Ruth Gatlin, Assistant Professor
Johnson’s designs are rendered in careful detail showing an attention to materiality and atmosphere.
CAITLIN TURNER, University of Tennessee
Undergraduate Interior Architecture
NOMINATOR: Tim Dolan, Lecturer, Adjunct Assistant Professor
Passionate about the integration of design with human psychology, Turner thoughtfully considers the impact of projects on the physical and mental well-being of occupants, whether designing workplaces or retail spaces like the tea shop at The Nook.
CAROLINE GRESH, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
Undergraduate Interior Architecture and Design
NOMINATOR: Stephanie McGoldrick, Full-time Lecturer
Gresh’s portfolio showcases her background as an artist. The Edge Restaurant and Bar reflects her painterly approach to interiors: Sherbet hues saturate chairs, walls, and ceiling baffles.
CHINNE OKORONKWO, Texas Tech University
Undergraduate Interior Design
NOMINATOR: Erin Hamilton, Assistant Professor
Okoronkwo’s addition to Turning Point Community Church makes room for dining and recreation areas.
CONOR DALY, California College of the Arts
Undergraduate Interior Design
NOMINATOR: Katherine Lambert, Professor of Architecture and Interior Design
A curiosity about pattern and geometric form is present throughout Daly’s portfolio, from a community hub imagined for San Francisco’s Civic Center to light fixtures and 3D-printed textiles.
ELIZABETH KOENIG, Kent State University
Undergraduate Interior Design
NOMINATOR: Tina Patel, Assistant Professor
In her Shinto shrine for Vancouver’s Japanese population, Koenig creates natural serenity
HANNAH KOCH, University of Minnesota
Undergraduate Interior Design
NOMINATOR: Meghan Hendrickson, Professional Instructor
A finalist in the University Hall of Innovation’s By Design Single Sheet Plywood Challenge, Koch’s fixture Sun on the Ridge references the way light cascades down a mountain. With a passion for hospitality and
sustainable design, Koch’s portfolio encompasses a diverse set of projects including a veteran living community and an adaptive reuse hotel.
HEATHER KELLY, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
Undergraduate Interior Architecture and Design
NOMINATOR: Stephanie McGoldrick, Full-time Lecturer
Kelly’s projects include an octopus-inspired hotel restaurant, among retail and residential designs with ample plantings and micro-agriculture.
IELYZAVETA IGNATYEVA, Fashion Institute of Technology
Undergraduate Interior Design
NOMINATOR: Mark Bradin, Adjunct Assistant Professor
Be it a concept for a conference center or a design for a luxury hotel suite, Ignatyeva’s work is driven by the end user. By focusing on the journey throughout each project, she designs moments for unique, individual experiences.
JOANA SOTOMAYOR, Fashion Institute of Technology
Undergraduate Interior Design
NOMINATOR: Joseph Goldstein, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Interior Design
Sotomayor’s Zoroastrian fire temple creates a contemporary space for an ancient religion.
JULIA SORENSON, Virginia Tech
Undergraduate Interior Design
NOMINATOR: Lisa M. Tucker, Program Chair
Inspired by Atlanta’s High Museum of Art, Sorenson’s NEXT Tech Satellite office uses a gallery-like atmosphere to engage visitors.
KARIZMA WOODS, Radford University
Undergraduate Interior Design
NOMINATOR: Joan Dickinson, Professor, MFA in Design Thinking Coordinator
Woods injects delight regardless of context: Prison Cell of the Future conceives uplifting finishes and furnishings as “a cell for rehabilitation and rejuvenation.”
KELLI McGRATH, Pratt Institute
Undergraduate Interior Design
NOMINATOR: Keena Suh, Associate Professor
Two projects by McGrath aim to revitalize bits of New York’s dense and unrelenting built environment: The Tool Shed transforms a closed park structure into a hub for material and information sharing, while a redesign of the Brooklyn Public Library’s Pacific Branch includes a textile recycling drop-off.
MADELYN ORCUTT, Kent State University
Undergraduate Interior Design
NOMINATOR: Ronn Daniel, Associate Professor
In addition to designs for food halls and museums, Orcutt demonstrates an interest in the roots of interior design with an investigation into the legacy of Elsie de Wolfe.
MEGAN BROWN, Rochester Institute of Technology
Undergraduate Interior Design
NOMINATOR: Mary Golden, Assistant Professor, Undergraduate Program Director
Brown’s passion for interdisciplinary design is apparent in Aperture, a restaurant themed for The Eastman Kodak Company.
MICHAELA COOK, University of Wisconsin–Stout
Undergraduate Interior Design
NOMINATOR: Shelley Pecha, Interior Design Program Director, Professor
As the events chair for the Student Interior Design Organization at the University of Wisconsin–Stout, Cook aims to create emotional experiences through commercial design. Her surrealist retail project Extraño goteo is sure to leave an impression.
MONICA BECKETT, Ryerson University
Undergraduate Interior Design
NOMINATOR: Jonathan Anderson, Associate Professor
Beckett’s portfolio includes fully realized furniture, exhibition booths, public space for socializing outdoors, and a store that facilitates socially distanced shopping.
NICOLE ROBERTS, Auburn University
Undergraduate Interior Design
NOMINATOR: Anna Ruth Gatlin, Assistant Professor
Pivoting between industrial and interior design, Roberts’s Raffles Hotel in Singapore and Higher Ground restaurant demonstrate her agility in playing with scale.
NICOLE WOLERT, New York Institute of Technology
Undergraduate Interior Design
NOMINATOR: Gertrudis Brens, Director of Interior Design
Inspired by the natural world, Wolert often incorporates organic forms in works such as The Orchid Collection, which includes a lamp, settee, stool, chair, and table. Her proposal for a three-story headquarters for Teavana is an abstracted section of an old-growth tree from root to crown.
NORA ALKEYAT, Ryerson University
Undergraduate Interior Design
NOMINATOR: Jonathon Anderson, Associate Professor, Director of FCAD Creative Technology Lab
Chrysalis, a project designed with classmate Paul Lee, is a lighting fixture designed to
emulate the natural process of cocoon building. Using digital fabrication techniques, Alkeyat’s biophilic design mimics the layered, meshlike forms produced by insect larvae.
PAUL CHAROWSKY, Kwantlen Polytechnic University
Undergraduate Interior Design
NOMINATOR: Paola Gavilanez, Faculty of Interior Design
Charowsky provides unconventional design, injecting personality with unexpected details. His concept for a hallway in a dementia care home connects the building with streetlike “stops” or doorways, a nod to the Vancouver metro system.
SARAH BUTT, Sheridan College
Undergraduate Interior Design
NOMINATOR: Brad Culver, Program Coordinator
Butt’s interiors range from an African restaurant in Toronto called The Coast of Namibia to a Chanel-branded retail space complete with a perfume bar.
TINGXIN ZHENG, Savannah College of Art and Design
Undergraduate Interior Design
NOMINATOR: Sybil Barrido, Associate Chair of Interior Design
Whether it’s a structure for a religious pilgrimage or a co-working concept that incorporates childcare, Zheng shows an amazing capacity for designing user-led environments.
VICTORIA VATNE, Mount Royal University
Undergraduate Interior Design
NOMINATOR: Helen Warren, Interior Design Program Director, Professor
With a keen desire to create ambient atmosphere, Vatne’s portfolio showcases fluency in a wide range of projects including retail, hospitality, entertainment, and workplace design.
XIE MAGGIE HILL, The University of Texas at Austin
Undergraduate Interior Design
NOMINATOR: Tamie Glass, Associate Professor, Faculty Director of Design in Health
Two educational designs—a kindergarten and a Boys and Girls Club, both in Austin, Texas—aim to instill a sense of confidence, empowerment, and exploration among kids and teens. Hill’s Caldera Bath House uses ash and tiling as building blocks of a “volcanic, otherworldly experience.”
ADAM MOQRANE, Harvard University
Graduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Eric Höweler, Associate Professor, Academic Adviser, Cofounder of Höweler + Yoon
Moqrane proposes three stations for a new Tube line in multicultural suburban London, which harness community context as well as local forms such as the roundabout. Other projects explore the unique housing settings and challenges in California, Japan, and Massachusetts.
ALEK TOMICH, Columbia University
Graduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Daisy Ames, Adjunct Assistant Professor
Tomich’s interests lie in materials, equity, and the environment. His portfolio addresses topics such as waste cycles, indoor air pollutants, and public green space.
ALEKSANDRA ZATORSKA, New York Institute of Technology
Graduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: David Diamond, Director, Master of Architecture Program
Whether it’s an aquatic center or a mountain cabin, Zatorska displays a curious, creative mind. From hand-drawn studies to sophisticated virtual reality projects, numerous building designs display striking patterns through structure.
ALFRED XUANYU WEI, Rice University
Graduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Andrew Colopy, Assistant Professor
Wei’s design sensitivity is apparent in Life in the Facade, in which a linear concept makes everyday life a highly visual and integral aspect of the micro-housing development’s exterior.
BRAYTON GREGORY, Harvard University
Graduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Toshiko Mori, Robert P. Hubbard Professor in the Practice of Architecture
Physical model-making is one skill reflected in Gregory’s portfolio, whether it be a section model of an addition to a parking garage or a geometric study that evaluates the spatial possibilities of a hyperbolic parabola.
CALE AMBUEHL, Drury University
Graduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Robert Weddle, Dean
Along with his Acropolis of Play, Ambuehl’s CommunityMake community and exhibition center in Chicago follows a modular, tectonic approach that draws on LEGO pieces. Both projects are represented with plans, sections, and maps that communicate a rich sense of spatial context.
CHENYANG YU, University of Pennsylvania
Graduate Architecture
Graduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Andrew Saunders, Associate Professor, M.Arch Program Director
Yu’s portfolio derives inspiration from the natural world. In a design for an urban moss garden, Yu addresses the problem of illegal moss harvesting. In a proposal for a residential co-op and farm, she uses the lens of food to “explore the interdependence between nature and man.”
CHRISTOPHER SWEENEY, University at Buffalo
Graduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Elaine Chow, Studio Instructor, Professional Development Coordinator
Many of Sweeney’s projects reflect an attention to immediate context and circulation, evinced in a handful of installations and the open-ended community center Big Porch. Other projects rely on research to respond to broader economic issues, such as a three-tower housing prototype to address affordability.
EDWARD HAN MYO OO, Harvard University
Graduate Architecture
NOMINATORS: Lyndon Neri & Rossana Hu, Partners, Neri&Hu, John C. Portman Design Critic in Architecture
Myo Oo’s A Hotel To Be Alone flips the script on what we expect from a hotel.
EMMA SCOTT, Rice University
Graduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Troy Schaum, Associate Professor, Partner at Schaum/Shieh
Scott embraces complexity and dualities in her projects, exploring how difference can coexist within a single structure. Other projects delve into the potentialities of small-scale architecture, such as rooftop water tanks and bicycle parking systems.
GUILLERMO HEVIA, Columbia University
Graduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Bernard Tschumi, Professor of Architecture, Dean Emeritus at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation
Guillermo Hevia practiced architecture at his eponymous Chile-based firm prior to studying at Columbia, where he has continued his research into bioclimatic technologies and development.
GWYNETH HARRIS, University at Buffalo
Graduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Annette LeCuyer, Professor of Architecture
Engaging concepts such as openness and porosity, Harris developed a facade that would introduce a spectrum of daylighting conditions to the galleries of a contemporary arts center in downtown Buffalo, New York.
HANQING YAO, University of Pennsylvania
Graduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Andrew Saunders, Associate Professor, M. Arch Program Director
Across a variety of typologies, Yao creates playful geometries that express a curiosity about how to translate organic forms into buildings that serve people.
KEUNHYUK “JAMES” JUNG, Savannah College of Art and Design
Graduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Anthony Cissell, Chair of Architecture and Urban Design
Schools play an outsize role in Jung’s portfolio, be it a Copenhagen institution with a rotating bridge or a Duluth middle school with operable glass walls. Yet Jung is equally captivated with high-density neighborhood buildings, restored natural landscapes, and even futuristic transit including a hyperloop and passenger drones.
JINGYI ZHOU, University of Pennsylvania
Graduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Andrew Saunders, Associate Professor, M.Arch Program Director
In the facade for Slanting Threshold, Jingyi Zhou used a polycarbonate screen with a cymatic water pattern to form “an analogy between informational data and running water.”
KATHRYN PLATT, Northeastern University
Graduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: David Fannon, Associate Professor
The designs in Platt’s portfolio demonstrate an interest in structure and building materials. Her signature project, designed with no single program in mind, is an exercise in flexibility and durability over time, combining steel and timber framing.
LETÍCIA ÁVILA, University at Buffalo
Graduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Miquel Guitart, Assistant Professor
Ávila’s public institutional work translates ideals and themes into buildings, as in Poetry Square and Chimneys, which thoroughly conceive accessible institutions by exploring the ground level. Reciprocal Walls creates new commons in in-between spaces.
LIUDMILA SERGEEVA, University of Southern California
Graduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Selwyn Ting, Associate Director, Graduate Architecture Programs, and National Architectural Accrediting Board Coordinator
Design for public good underscores Sergeeva’s portfolio, including a communal coworking space that grows food for the neighborhood on-site, a reimagined parking garage with room to gather on top, and a K–12 youth center.
MARÍA JOSÉ FUENTES, University of Pennsylvania
Graduate Architecture
Graduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Andrew Saunders, Associate Professor, M.Arch Program Director
Fuentes’s portfolio expresses an interest in textile design at the scales of both the body and the city. Discrete Drip reimagines three historical clothing techniques, while Queering Textiles is a design for a textile reuse plant and flea market.
MATTHEW MORGAN, The City College of New York
Graduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Shawn Rickenbacker, Associate Professor, Director of J. Max Bond Center for Urban Futures
An attention to the built forms of abstract assets such as knowledge and security pervades Morgan’s work. A tectonic or metabolic approach is evident in projects such as the Autonomous City waste cycle and a reimagining of the New York Public Library’s distribution system.
MEGAN YORK, University of Pennsylvania
Graduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Andrew Saunders, Associate Professor, M.Arch Program Director
For a housing design on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, York designed a facade by analyzing the site’s graffiti and extracting datum lines from the surrounding context.
MIRA SHAMI, University at Buffalo
Graduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Joyce Hwang, Associate Chair
Shami’s project for a flexible Black hair salon in Buffalo, New York, combines urban
infill, entrepreneurship, and cultural preservation: An existing house and adjacent purpose-built structure flex as the business grows. The project is conveyed with neat axonometrics, elevations, and playful yet clear renderings.
NGUYET HUYNH, University of Idaho
Graduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Bruce Haglund, Distinguished Professor
Huynh’s portfolio begins with a page of beautifully crafted physical models, then features a wide spectrum of design scales. Besides an individual apartment, restaurant, and bank, there’s also a responsive housing project in Idaho.
PAUL McCOY, University of Pennsylvania
Graduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Andrew Saunders, Associate Professor, M.Arch Program Director
In his portfolio, McCoy states that “drawings are the protagonists of architecture,” an emphasis that runs through his stark, future-oriented proposals. Living Continuity extends a circular housing development in Moscow, imagining new communal spaces and connections to its surroundings.
RUINA DU, University of Idaho
Graduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Bruce Haglund, Distinguished Professor
Du utilizes local Idaho wood for market and housing projects, a consideration of sustainable factors that also shows up in a light-filled, biophilic design for a round-the-clock fire station in Boise, Idaho.
SOPHIA CABRAL, Florida International University
Graduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Shahin Vassigh, Professor, Program Director of Technology Research Development, Director of Robotics and Digital Fabrication Lab
Cabral begins many of her projects by investigating a site’s historical and cultural context. For Overtown, Miami, she creates tele-tower structures that catalyze activity and dialogue.
SUSHMITA SHEKAR, Columbia University
Graduate Architecture and Urban Design
NOMINATOR: Geeta Mehta, President of Asia Initiatives New York, Founding Partner of Urbz:
User Generated Cities
With a research-driven approach, Shekar focuses on activating public space and enhancing livability and accessibility as a means of revitalizing areas from upstate New York to Scheveningen, the Netherlands.
TIAN LIU, Rice University
Graduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Carlos Jiménez, Professor
Liu’s drawings, collages, and renderings of museums and housing all contain a careful attention to the effects of light, shadow, and atmosphere. Through rigorous daylighting studies, the young designer speculates on the experience of each project according to the time of day and the season.
VEDYUN MISHRA, Syracuse University
Graduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Paul Crovella, Assistant Professor
Many of Mishra’s projects explore modularity as a way of addressing pressing social challenges, such as in Recondition, a veteran support facility, and Jan Connect, which amalgamates public functions in shipping containers for underserved districts.
YASMIN BEN LTAIFA, Columbia University
Graduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Richard Plunz, Professor of Architecture, Director of Urban Design Lab
Highly intricate, almost technical drawings accompanied by detailed site studies, iterative illustrations, and formal explorations help bring Ben Ltaifa’s projects and settings—from the Bronx to Beirut—to life. Model making, including by 3D printing, delves into projects’ context-informed patterns.
YAXUAN LIU, Harvard University
Graduate Architecture
NOMINATOR: Toshiko Mori, Robert P. Hubbard Professor in the Practice of Architecture
In addition to displaying a proficiency in both physical model-making and digital rendering skills, Yaxuan Liu’s portfolio makes use of graphic design, comic strips, and board game design to represent work of domestic and urban scale.
BIFENG LIN, Algonquin College
Graduate Interior Design
NOMINATOR: Tamara Phillips, Program Professor
Stylish renderings in Lin’s portfolio show the handiwork of a thoughtful designer whose work ranges from jewelry cases and custom lighting to interventions at the building scale.
CAROLINA CARDONA, Florida International University Graduate Interior Architecture
NOMINATOR: Janine King, Associate Professor
Chic collages and elegant material palettes lend Cardona’s projects a sense of serene luxury befitting designs for high-end spas and yacht interiors.
CHLOE CUDNEY, Kansas State University
Graduate Interior Architecture and Industrial Design
NOMINATOR: Michelle Wempe, Professor of Practice
Cudney’s Sacredness Among Scarcity honors those lost in the 2017 Las Vegas massacre.
CORRIE OSTRANDER, Florida State University
Graduate Interior Architecture and Design
NOMINATOR: Jill Pable, Professor, Department Chair
Ideas such as Bijou, a boutique hotel in Lisbon, and Holstein’s Market, a gourmet grocery, point to market shifts—and Ostrander’s interest in design at all scales.
HADIYA BYNOE-SEABRON, Drexel University
Graduate Interior Architecture and Design
NOMINATOR: William Mangold, Program Director
Bynoe-Seabron creates her eclectic interiors by layering a mix of organic and synthetic materials and bringing aspects of the natural world into built environments. Layered surfaces also appear in a design for Shapla Center, a community center for climate-displaced Bengali migrants.
FANGMING CAI, Pratt Institute
Graduate Interior Design
NOMINATOR: Jon Otis, Professor
Cai’s concepts are informed by free will. In her portfolio, the improvisational quality of jazz is abstracted to create a fluid workplace and children’s furnishings function as classroom manipulatives for truly independent learning.
JULIA SCHETTLER, Iowa State University
Graduate Interior Design
NOMINATOR: Jae Hwa Lee, Assistant Professor
Schettler believes the built environment can have a powerful effect on an individual’s life. She brings this perspective to her design for a hospice that uplifts patients by connecting them with nature.
JUYONG SONG, Savannah College of Art and Design
Graduate Interior Design
NOMINATOR: Challie Schafer, Professor
Song creates spaces that reflect occupants’ values. Through an expressive annual ring structure, the senior residence featured in her portfolio embodies revival.
HOA VO, University of Minnesota
Graduate Interior Design
NOMINATOR: Abimbola Asojo, Associate Dean for Research, Creative Scholarship and Engagement
Vo integrates creativity and analytics in her approach, presenting a range of work from a salon that merges industrial and vintage styles to an office that meaningfully captures the essence of its occupying brand.
KALIE BRETTMANN, Texas Tech University
Graduate Environmental Design
NOMINATOR: Erin Hamilton, Professor
Brettmann puts forward spaces that address human needs with research-based awareness. Her concept for a senior living center considers occupants’ mental and physical health, with a focus on community.
KAILEY CARTER, Florida State University
Graduate Interior Architecture and Design
NOMINATOR: Marlo Randsell, Associate Professor, Studio D: Design and Fabrication Lab Director
Carter’s design for ALL THAT! Gourmet Grocer is inspired by nostalgia for 1990s pop culture. Informed by the decade’s digital revolution, her project playfully embeds technologies such as take-home meal kits dispensed via vending machines.
KATS TAMANAHA, Pratt Institute
Graduate Interior Design
NOMINATOR: Jack Travis, Adjunct Professor
Tamanaha’s detailed studies and drawings communicate solutions to local problems, especially related to the food chain. Corridor transforms the urban grid into a patchwork of agricultural corridors, leisure paths, and gathering nodes as part of an accessible and efficient streetscape.
LAURA SHUE, Boston Architectural College
Graduate Interior Architecture
NOMINATOR: Diane Kitchell, Adjunct Faculty Member
A seasoned designer, Shue has led a handful of built and in-progress educational projects in the South. A project at Auburn University creates an informal learning space in a central atrium, while another for the University of Georgia in Athens includes dozens of labs, classrooms, and a large lecture hall.
MARIA ALEXANDRA LLERENA, The New School
Graduate Interior and Lighting Design
NOMINATOR: William Watson, Visiting Assistant Professor
Llerena intersperses shared functions with housing blocks in Perforated Solid, a mixed-use master plan. Celebrating Tradition takes advantage of a biodiverse Quito, Ecuador, neighborhood to elevate tradition, knowledge sharing, tourism, and economic development. Both projects reveal an attention to broader communal economic forces.
NICOLAS SWANER, Marymount University
Graduate Interior Design
NOMINATOR: Jihyun Song, Associate Professor
Swaner’s careful designs and conscious material choices for a day spa, medical clinic, and coworking space show appreciation for design’s potential to enhance wellness in everyday life.
SHISIRA NAMBIAR MADATHIL KUPPADAGATHIL, Savannah College of Art and Design
Graduate Interior Design
NOMINATOR: Challie Schafer, Professor
Kuppadagathil’s “inclusive” Netflix headquarters, Resto Bar in Chennai, India, and Soul Food Community Centre show that her vision straddles disciplines and continents.
SIYAO LI, University of Oklahoma
Graduate Interior Design
NOMINATOR: Mia Kile, Associate Professor
An impressive dexterity in illuminating surfaces marks Li’s portfolio from the chiaroscuro of carved wood models to edge-lit spaces that appear to float.
TIFFANY ENGLAND, Drexel University
Graduate Interior Architecture and Design
NOMINATOR: William Mangold, Program Director
Highlighting her grasp of interdisciplinary design and experimentation, England’s coworking concept Echo Memory incorporates sound-wave technology.
VIOLETTE CHARTOCK, New York School of Interior Design
Graduate Interior Design
NOMINATOR: Ellen Fisher, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dean
Chartock represents her retail designs by way of detailed 3D visualizations that illustrate an attention to materials. With her design for an Australian skin care store, she notes the importance of regional suppliers and ethical production standards.
YI-CHEN CHANG, George Washington University
Graduate Interior Design
NOMINATOR: Erin Speck, Assistant Professor of Interior Design
Careful consideration of user experience informs Chang’s designs for projects such as a high-end hotel in Florence and a biophilic workplace in response to the pandemic.
Auburn University is an R1 land, sea, and space grant institution with Carnegie Foundation Community Engagement Classication. The nationally ranked, CIDA accredited Interior Design program, housed in the College of Human Sciences, is a highly competitive program that prepares students to be holistic design practitioners professionally competent, globally aware, and socially engaged. Students can also pursue advanced study through our nationally ranked, interdisciplinary M.S. and Ph.D. programs. Assistantships are available.
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The Boston Architectural College is a recognized institution with a diverse student population representing 35 countries. Providing excellence in practice-integrated design education, the BAC offers bachelors and graduate degrees in architecture, interior architecture, landscape architecture, design studies, and continuing education. In 2005, the BAC became the first institution in the U.S. to offer an accredited online degree in architecture. The BAC upholds the importance of inclusive admission, diversity, innovation, dedicated faculty, and the intrinsic value of both academic and experiential education.
Congratulations to Nicolas Swaner for his selection in the Metropolis Future 100! Whether you are graduating high school, completing an associate degree, changing careers or advancing your industry knowledge, Marymount University can fit your needs offering undergraduate and graduate degrees in Interior Design. Located just outside Washington, D.C., our programs develop qualified professionals through an interdisciplinary approach to design that emphasizes critical thinking and lifelong learning.
New York School of Interior Design
Congratulations Violette Chartock for being selected as one of the Metropolis Future100! New York School of Interior Design’s mission is to provide the most innovative, immersive, and transformative interior design education in the world. With seven different programs including graduate programs for both career changers and experienced designers, as well as specialized degrees including our Master of Professional Studies in Sustainable Interior Environments, NYSID offers something for every interior designer.
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
Contemporary technology, service-learning experiences, and intern-ship opportunities make a BS in Interior Architecture + Design at UMass Dartmouth the ideal way to launch your professional design career. At the only public institution offering this degree in New England, this program within the College of Visual & Performing Arts (CVPA) provides the tools to cultivate your creative and technical design skills.
cvpainfo@umassd.edu | @umassdcvpa | umassd.edu/cvpa
The University of Wisconsin-Stout is a career focused, polytechnic university that offers 50 undergraduate and 21 graduate degrees in fields ranging from art and design to science and engineering, and everything in between. Unique degrees include Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Design and Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Interior Design, Industrial Design, Graphic Design & Interactive Media, Game Design & Development, Animation & Digital Media, Studio Art, and more.