Lauren Jian
University of Southern California
School of Architecture
Sun Studios is a co-op featuring affordable housing in South Central, Los Angeles. Climate analyses on the sun path, shading, and heat gain reinforced the necessity of mitigating the heat island effect, accomplished through several strategies. SunSTU includes a green courtyard, a climate-responsive facade, and an elevated green terrace. © Lauren Jian.
Jury
Debbie Ahmari
Joseph Kunkel
Ann Lui
Dawveed Scully
Robert L. Wesley (Chair)
As an undergraduate student, I balance a full course load with community engagement on top of a part-time job. The Robert L. Wesley Award enables me to focus on my advocacy work for equitable design and education.
Sun Studios is a co-op featuring affordable housing in South Central, Los Angeles. Climate analyses on the sun path, shading, and heat gain reinforced the necessity of mitigating the heat island effect, accomplished through several strategies. SunSTU includes a green courtyard, a climate-responsive facade, and an elevated green terrace. © Lauren Jian.
I believe Lauren Jian’s nonprofit work and social activism approach will be very beneficial to the future generation of architectural designers. Lauren is very engaged to produce work that challenges the future of socially engaged and impactful architecture.
Wendy W Fok, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Architecture, University of Southern California
SunSTU features a responsive shading device that expands and contracts as necessary to allow light to pass through. Residents within the studio are able to adjust their individual shading devices, enabling them to have autonomy over their space. © Lauren Jian.
SunSTU features a responsive shading device that expands and contracts as necessary to allow light to pass through. Residents within the studio are able to adjust their individual shading devices, enabling them to have autonomy over their space. © Lauren Jian.
Function along with creativity spill from Lauren Jian’s work.
Debra Ahmari, Juror
The italy fic is a collection of plein-air, in-situ studies. Where do you stop within a city? Where do you take a breath? What do you see when you pause? Explores architecture of Rome, Florence, and Venice from moments of peace. Ink pen on sketchbook paper. © Lauren Jian.
Fellow Experience
The SOM Foundation’s mentorship through the Robert L. Wesley Award has been an incredible support network. As a designer and activist, I was able to engage with others passionate in similar veins who shared methods of inclusive design practice. I greatly appreciated learning from others’ BIPOC practices, including hearing how Robert Wesley built his career, Joyce Hwang’s inter-species design, Germane Barnes’ work-life balance, and Dawveed Scully’s community projects (and many others!). The SOM Foundation connected us not only with industry professionals as mentors, but with one another as fellows. It was wonderful to converse with Emme, Antonia, Noelle, and Will, and to stay connected. Our discussions brought together shared experiences as well as diverse perspectives.
Furthermore, the financial award supports the building of my design career, enabling me to focus on building Architecture + Advocacy, a student-run nonprofit that engages high school and middle school students in architectural design equity workshops in South Los Angeles and New York City, as well as works with local community partners in design/builds. The award supported me in balancing my undergraduate career while developing A+A workshops and builds. I appreciate the Robert L. Wesley Award’s continued and direct support of equity and inclusion in design practice.
Lauren Jian
University of Southern California
School of Architecture
Lauren Jian
is a LEED AP BD+C certified designer in the Bachelor of Architecture program at the University of Southern California. She served as the President of USC American Institute of Architecture Students in 2022–2023. Currently, Jian is the Freedom by Design Director for USC’s AIAS chapter. Additionally, she is the Director of Programming at Architecture + Advocacy, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Within A+A, she collaborates with local community partners to create workshops that engage high school students in community design. Jian is an artist who has work set to be featured at the 2024 Venice Biennale. In her spare time, she plays tennis, wheel throws, and hand-builds ceramic sculptures.