I am a senior studying Architecture at UC Berkeley. Studying Architecture has shaped my way of looking at things and shifted my interests in architecture. I have started to care more about the human aspect of architectural design. A more community-focused, practical approach to the practice. I question if design is for the front cover of a publication or really for the people. I prefer the less theoretic and drive around for-profit aspects of architecture.

I am currently working on smaller projects, including being an Admissions Ambassadors. Admissions Ambassadors is an internship I have been apart of since my second year at CAL. It seeks to reach out to local, national, and international communities interested in design through a variety of outreach events. The goal of the program is to target prospective middle and high school students who may or may not be considering going into the design field. As a group, we also provide ways for interested students to reach out and talk to currently enrolled students. Hopefully, this direct connection can bridge the gap between one's ideas of what college is and the reality.

Also in my program I work closely with a group of UC Berkeley design students in Dezino, a student-run design collective. Together we hope to generate design solutions that are user-centered, environmentally considerate, and universally accessible! One of the current projects we are working on is a kinetic wind sculpture that is currently under consideration for a Black Rock City Honorarium Grant. Hopefully the project, titled Windcatcher, will be chosen for construction and displayed during the 2020 Burning Man Festival.

It is fun to see the projects taking the next step from theoretical, abstract design to practical, design is like a conversation and a wild ride.

This opportunity is a faculty nomination undergraduate scholarship. Faculty solicited impromptu student interviews with design students and made a collective decision on the scholarship recipient.

Access to machines, printing, and other production resources is not included in tuition. The Howard Friedman scholarship provided me a financial cushion to try out more ideas and take more risks with my work. For example in the studio I had the opportunity to work on fire prevention and mitigation in Berkeley. I  did more initial studies on material responses and was able to propose more project ideas. If I didn't have this scholarship I would not have taken may risks or tests.

Through my time studying architecture, I have realized that there is an additional financial cost of attending a design program. This can come in the form of model making materials, fabrications shop access, printing, etc. I want to be sure to mention that great design is great not because of the materials and fabrication process, but because of the time and thought that went into it.

You should not be wary of going to design school because of the additional financial burden it may have. If this is a concern, I would reach out to individuals working in admissions and talk to them about financial aid, fee waivers, and scholarship opportunities to help pay for some of the hidden costs of attending a design school.

The people around me, friends, and family. The passions and motivations of others inspire me. As well as the chance to take a position change in the way we move through the world (i.e. a bench in the park or a community center).

I am interested in trying design in other parts of the world and seeing what design means to others outside of the US. I would like to bring that back to my practice in the US. I would be part of a team that sees design as making a positive impact on others.

Take advantage of how a design degree shapes the way you perceive the world! The benefit of having a design background is that it opens your mind to not just finding problems, but addressing them. Even if you don’t know what your future may have in store, know that you are learning a new way to think and address problems big and small! The great thing about design or schooling around design-thinking is that yes, it is daunting initially but, having a background in design really opens up the way you see the world. I value now how I see problems and tackle them with a new perception and understanding.

I currently work as an Architectural Designer. My projects range from tenant to master planning projects.

For my Masters's Architectural thesis project, I had no idea at the beginning of the thesis what direction I wanted to go in. I know the importance of design and to delve into the design itself is something that was important to me. I sat down with thesis advisors to look at five words to address a project. The words were community, ex-pat, immigrant, remit, and I can't remember the last word! I wanted my thesis to have a personal side to it. One thing I learned was not to be afraid to tell a personal story. To integrate heritage and culture with technical and design was my goal. I received a grant to do research in the Philipines. On-site research is really important and was so fundamental to the project. The project research explored a timeline of Filipino immigration and my parents' experience. The word “remit” captured this aspect of the project. I explored remittance in cemeteries and expanded to looking at infrastructures. I was inspired by Sara J. Lopez who wrote a book that looked at migrants funding families and places abroad.

Thesis Project

Remit: (verb) to send money to another person or place.

Expatriate laborers often send remittances back to their home country to remediate their absence. The gap between these migrants and those left behind creates a disconnect between being here and there - a gap that is also felt in the impact and relevance of the remittance resources. Goods, infrastructures, and buildings supported through these remittances often remain unused, incomplete, or abandoned. Manila North Cemetery is home to thousands of interred Overseas Filipinx Workers returning home in death after dedicating their lives to working abroad. Thousands of poor squatters, here re-anointed as “stewards” of the landscape, are currently destabilizing the power dynamics of both the cemetery and the city through their occupation alone. What if a new form of architecture could build a bridge between the typical forms of remittance architecture and the actual needs of everyday life, between the global desire to give back to one’s homeland and the local needs, between the living and the dead? This thesis hypothesizes a reallocation of individual - and incremental - remittances into a new form of more collective and meaningful infrastructure. The work proposes that the impact of remittance resources can be exponentially amplified to meet the quotidian demands of a living cemetery.