CoOp Collage. © Noelle Robinson.
The SOM Foundation is pleased to announce the winners of the 2023 SOM Foundation Robert L. Wesley Award. Three fellows, Lauren Jian (University of Southern California, School of Architecture), Noelle Robinson (North Carolina State University, College of Design), and Emmelea Schatz (University of Kansas, School of Architecture & Design) will each receive a $10,000 award in addition to a yearlong mentorship program that connects the students with leading BIPOC practitioners and educators. In addition to the three fellows, the jury decided to expand the number of fellows to include two $5,000 unrestricted awards to Antonia Pacheco (Texas Tech University, Huckabee College of Architecture) and William Pyle (Texas Tech University, Huckabee College of Architecture).
“Over the last three years, we have had the pleasure of getting to know and support thirteen brilliant students from across the US,” said Iker Gil, Executive Director of the SOM Foundation. “We are very happy that, in this fourth edition of the Robert L. Wesley Award, we can offer five fellowships to support Lauren, Antonia, William, Noelle, and Emmelea. The jurors were very impressed by their applications and we are looking forward to working closely with them over the next year.”
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.
“Pollinator Pavilion.” The Pollinator Pavilion is a collaborative design-build structure expanding the educational programming of the Kansas Children’s Discovery Center into new public outdoor learning sites. The shaded gateway acts as a meeting point for visiting groups and the entrance landmark to adjacent native prairie. The structure must also withstand proximity to an annual prairie burn for the upkeep of the prairie ecosystem. Its design comes from the textures, colors, and movement observed between the vital pollinator relationship to native plants, specifically drawing from the dramatic and ascending movements of the Western Meadowlark. This project was designed and constructed by Keith Van de Riet’s Studio 509 Design-Build course and with the support of multiple community partners. © Emmelea Schatz.
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.
Antonia Pacheco is a fourth-year undergraduate immersed in the pursuit of a Bachelor of Science in Architecture at Texas Tech University who embodies a profound connection between her nomadic upbringing and her passion for architectural design. Her initial foray into the realm of architecture commenced in childhood, fueled by a constant relocation that compelled her to scrutinize and question the placement of every element within her evolving living spaces. Pacheco's academic journey converges with her commitment as an intern at IN//BORDER, an organization dedicated to empowering architecture students in borderlands through valuable resources and mentorships. Beyond the confines of academia, she intertwines her love for poetry seamlessly with her artistic expressions, creating a unique synthesis of words and visuals. As Pacheco aspires to carve her niche as an architect and designer, her overarching objective is to unravel the complexities surrounding affordable housing design in Latin America. Her vision extends towards establishing a practice in the borderlands, contributing well-designed, affordable spaces to the locales she proudly calls home. Pacheco is not merely a student; she is an aspiring architect poised to construct a meaningful legacy at the intersection of innovation and social progress.
William Pyle is a fourth-year student at the Texas Tech University Huckabee College of Architecture in El Paso, Texas. Growing up on the borderland metroplex in the liminal space between El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Pyle dealt with the harsh reality of violent border hostile architecture and record-breaking crime rates in Juarez. Since then, he has pursued a design philosophy that revolves around equity for the environment and for the minoritized communities experiencing rapid urbanization such as El Paso and other borderland cities in Texas. Pyle was the winner of two citywide architecture competitions in two consecutive years as a high schooler and would begin his education at the local El Paso Community College. Upon transferring to the El Paso branch of the TTU HCOA, he was hired as an undergraduate research assistant for POST (Project for Operative Spatial Technologies) where he works under professors and architects Stephen Mueller and Ersela Kripa. In POST he learnt and worked within the realms of borderland and ultraviolet light exposures where he absorbed systems-based designing strategies for his own projects.
Noelle Robinson is a fourth-year architecture student at North Carolina State University pursuing a minor in Landscape Architecture. She has served as a NOMAS chapter board member and as the AIAS Freedom by Design™ chapter Media Coordinator. Her interest in architecture began with the exploration of her history and personal storytelling through sculpture. She is fascinated by the practice of architecture as a process of identifying unique intersections between dynamic elements such as region, climate, heritage, culture, and social politics. She believes that it is at this intersection that architects exercise their spatial and material vernacular to develop a response that reflects the identity of place and people. These past few years of practice as an Architectural Designer with RVSN Studios PLLC has allowed her to explore a personal intersection between the built environment and her family’s deep roots in Detroit. This has further motivated her to use architecture as a tool to craft space that reflects the spirit of a people and offer itself as a solution to address identified insufficiencies or the expressed needs and aspirations of a people. Robinson hopes to amplify the underrepresented voices of historically undervalued communities by advocating for reimagined processes by which architects serve to engage community stakeholders to facilitate the informed sculpting of their community’s space and to celebrate their stories that are tied to the land.
Emmelea Schatz is a fourth-year undergraduate student at the University of Kansas pursuing a Master of Architecture. She grew up in the north Chicago suburbs and first understood architecture as a means of making urban life safer. Her passion for architecture throughout university has developed while filling the gap between her current architectural work and her values in environmental equity by embracing her service and research projects in Lawrence and nationally. As well as pursuing a traditional architectural degree, Schatz is involved in undergraduate design research in environmentally protective seawall structures on the Florida coastline. In addition, she is leading the first KU student group travelling to Ecuador to participate in a design-build community project that instructs future design leaders on solutions addressing climate change and economic resiliency. Outside of design, Schatz enjoys gardening and experimenting with her cooking. She believes that food is a means of sustenance and sharing, and like architecture, invites both willing and unknowing users to appreciate the uniqueness and commonality of life around the world. Her goal is to lead a practice that integrates private practice and community service that builds local relationships and fosters a high performing partnership of public participation in the design world.
“Viento Oeste Research + Cooling Center.” Ⓒ Antonia Pacheco.
“GLULAM PLATFORM.” Car travel and traditional architectural materials such as concrete and steel contribute to a great deal of carbon emissions. Utilizing long spanning GLULAM mega-trusses and designing an urban mobility hub centered around ride sharing through carpooling and public transit allows the entire building to act as a carbon sink. The GLULAM PLATFORM is an urban mobility hub located in downtown El Paso. The building is meant to transport many of the towns transit users to various locations citywide in an effective manner while also reducing the amount of car-induced carbon emissions. © William Pyle.
This year’s jury was chaired by Robert L. Wesley (Retired Partner, SOM, Chicago) and included Debbie Ahmari (Retired architect, Sarasota), Joseph Kunkel (Principal and Director, MASS's Sustainable Native Communities Design Lab, Santa Fe), Ann Lui (Partner, Future Firm, Chicago), and Dawveed Scully (Managing Deputy Commissioner of Planning and Development, City of Chicago).