Graduate Statement of Purpose
Below are my Statement of Purpose and Personal History Statement used for graduate admissions, outlining my priorities and ambitions for my architecture journey.
Statement of Purpose:
Buildings tell stories of protection, joy, and growth, but they implicitly recite journeys of oppression, injustice, and exploitation. In light of systemic inequities in cityscapes and the urgent action for countering exploitative design and spotlighting minority culture, architecture has the power to repair stigmatized relationships and buoy minority cultures. The activist architect embodies compassion and curious intuition as guiding principles; this is my ambition in design.
I dedicated my last year of undergraduate studies researching segregation and systemic inequity through urban vegetation. Today, the promotion of urban nature dilutes sustainable development and community revitalization. The installation of high-maintenance vegetated infrastructure measures biophilia with price, insinuating that healthy environments must be owned, controlled, and economically prosperous. As green-washing, building, and gentrification obscure the lens of environmental justice, an urban ecosystem is fundamental to a revolution of green responsibility, a way to disrupt social segregation between controlled and uncontrolled vegetative infrastructure. The urban ecosystem embraces uncontrolled plant growth in the urban city, envisioning symbiotic relationships between humans and nature, further dissolving the elitist perception of green building. This is the emergence of a larger narrative about green responsibility— holding neoliberal green movements’ social and environmental taints accountable.
My social criticisms extend past my academic ambitions through the founding of NOMAS at Berkeley. Alongside a small team of peers, we accomplished our mission to emphasize minority representation in the architectural curriculum, empower underrepresented youth through design, and provide a safe, supportive, and productive environment for students, faculty, and staff. We hosted a monthly Seminar Series, in which we invited local architects and activists to share their perspectives on minority identity in practice and design, the architect’s responsibility in local communities, and decolonization of the built environment. Insights gained from this series are critical to how students view studio work, inspire purpose and decision-making early in design education. We volunteered at high schools with low college admission rates and dense minority communities, hosting community-based design workshops to introduce architecture as a method of space-changing and advocacy. As a result, we’re currently mentoring a few workshop attendees who are motivated to pursue architecture-related studies; this achievement prepares future designer generations with minority representation, with the goal to eliminate the label “minority.” For the College of Environmental Design, we’ve hosted regular wellness check-in meetings, faculty microaggression conversations, and cultural awareness discussions to supply support and safety— critical issues, trends, and feedback are then reported to the Dean.
From mixing cement with clay and water beads to joining the Dean’s Zoom link; from watching grass grow from cement to guiding high school juniors through their campus renovation drawings; from drafting my research thesis to sharing stories as minorities in design with NOMA guest speakers; each interaction with my work is a single step towards understanding my place as an activist. As for the next chapter in my personal narrative, I seek to break down the wall between my activist and designer selves and explore the challenges, revelations, and truths that come.
Personal History Statement:
My architectural education began during my junior year of high school, in which I pursued an architecture associates program at a community college. There, for two years, I nurtured an adolescent design mindset and assuredly committed my creative curiosity towards architecture. I spent my freshman year at Georgia Tech; there, studio work taught me to believe in my creative capabilities, while a year-long graduate workshop reminded me that I could work hard towards my interests, regardless of my identity and lack of experience. Georgia Tech defined my design methodology and prepared me for my transfer as a third-year at UC Berkeley, arming me with the desire to develop my design language and work ethic.
However, at Berkeley, my trajectory for architectural design halted. I was distracted from self-development, instead of focusing on design purpose. I realized there was no point in becoming the best designer without understanding the motivation behind design. Surrounded by courses and students that question and criticize architectural pedagogy and canon, I needed to evaluate my principles and motivations in my design process. During my time at Berkeley, I fought for my priorities in community analysis and social commentary in studio work. I extrapolated my material research work into a thesis on systemic inequity through the built environment. And lastly, I founded a NOMAS chapter, engulfing myself in a flood of persuasive communication, all aimed to: emphasize minority representation in architectural curriculum, empower underrepresented youth through design, and provide a safe, supportive, and productive environment for students. My venture through NOMAS unveiled numerous opportunities beyond the scope of my degree. Each interaction with local professionals, the Dean’s Office, and high school students fueled my desire to practice architecture.
My past, and ongoing, internships are overseen by small firms. Through hours of drafting, designing, and learning, I concluded the importance of client advocacy. I watched my principals invest extra hours into meetings and drawing iterations, proposing multiple solutions to contractors and developers, all to protect the client. Many of the projects I worked on may not be the most beautiful or innovative. Still, they are incredibly worthy and meaningful to people as owners, tenants, or visitors. Social activists fight for the unheard, oppressed voices-- this service is no different to architects. I am committed to improve my creative development through a graduate studio in this connection between practice and service.
