Katie Chuh
Day in the Life
“Go crazy…don't be afraid to explore, especially in architecture and art. That's what you should do. That’s where the genius comes from – breaking the rules and bending the boundaries.” – Katie Chuh, M.Arch I Candidate, Architecture and Urban Design
After completing her bachelor’s degree in structural engineering with a minor in fine art, Katie Chuh sought out an architecture program that was as equally technical as it was creative. From its faculty and curriculum, to its access to equipment and professional development opportunities, the UCLA Department of Architecture and Urban Design offered just that. “I think here at UCLA there is a very rare balance between the urban scale, the theoretical practice, and real life experience,” she says.
A model of a hotel with automated parking designed by Katie Chuh.
Throughout her time at UCLA, Katie has had the opportunity to gain professional experience working during the summer with fabricators on the façade of the new San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, which is the largest architectural use of fiberglass in the U.S. and considered a major piece of public art in the city. “It was amazing to see people interacting with something that I had a part designing,” she says. Through her graduate fellowship with cityLAB, a think tank in the School of the Arts and Architecture that brings design and research together to forge experimental proposals for architecture in the 21st century metropolis, Katie had another chance to realize built work. In the spring of 2015, a full-scale prototype of cityLAB’s BI(H)OME, was constructed on campus.
cityLAB's Backyard BI(H)OME. Photo credit: Nico Marques/Photekt.
Katie is grateful to the donors who have supported the department and the several fellowships that have helped alleviate the financial burden that comes with a graduate education. Making the decision to pursue her dream of a career in architecture after earning an engineering degree, was not an easy choice given the many employment opportunities available to engineers, but the encouragement and financial support that has come from these donors has made Katie all the more confident in her decision.
What’s next for Katie after graduation? She is looking forward to getting her architecture license, pursuing a position at an architectural firm, and continuing to build more work. “Walking under what we built, touching it and being inside of it really impacted me…to design something and to see it full scale is so rare and so amazing [for a graduate student],” she says. “I'm hooked.”
Please consider supporting students like Katie with a gift to the department or to the Dean’s Fund for Excellence, which supports students across the entire School of the Arts and Architecture. Your generosity will count towards UCLA’s ambitious Centennial Campaign to support the next 100 years of excellence.