Columbia GSAPP's Charlotte Ziye Yu on Stories, Materials, and Interdisciplinarity

By Julia Gamolina

Charlotte is a rising third-year MArch student at GSAPP. She grew up in London, UK, and Shanghai, China, and studied Architecture and Environmental Studies at Wellesley College. Prior to GSAPP, she worked at artist Pedro Reyes’ studio in Mexico City, and in Planning and Urban Design at Sasaki, near Boston. Outside studio or work, Charlotte enjoys teaching, walking or biking around the city, learning martial arts, or enjoying a good book.

JG: Why did you decide to study architecture?

CY: As an introverted high schooler transitioning from a local Chinese school to an international school in Shanghai, I was lucky to have incredible art teachers, who guided me to use art as a tool for thinking and personal expression. Looking back at my art journals for the course, I was particularly drawn then to land art and buildings that blended seamlessly into landscape.

A few of us Roots and Shoots club members were given the responsibility of “designing” an unused courtyard, which we decided to make part vegetable patch, part Zen garden. I remember biking with my dad to the stone market to scout out rocks, making rudimentary measurements on the ground, digging the soil up in a circle with a friend to lay down waterproof tarp, all the while thinking, “Yes, this is strange, but this feels good.”

What was the favorite project you worked on in school? Favorite paper you wrote? Favorite extracurricular?

Last semester, my studio partner Spenser and I designed a Timber Living Lab that selectively harvests trees from forest owners in the Town of Newburgh, and produce hardwood CLT to refurbish idle properties in the community. I am personally invested in the topic of material life cycles, especially as it pertains to timber, so the studio felt especially relevant. I also really loved our studio critic Lindsey - while it was jarring to transition in the middle of the semester to working individually from home, Lindsey gave us much-needed perspective on our projects in the grander scheme of our career, and is someone I’m lucky enough to call my mentor.

For my second semester history paper at GSAPP, I wrote about two of my idols: Lin Huiyin (林徽因, 1904-1955) and Liang Sicheng (梁思成, 1901-1972), and the renaissance couple’s quest to understand and document Chinese architectural history against the backdrop of political reformist thinking, the Sino-Japanese war, and Communist China. I loved the research—with warlords and secret temples, any part of the couple’s lives reads like fantasy, and I admit being moved to tears at a few points. What resulted was a more complicated history than I had known before, and made me more aware of the underlying political currents in architectural form.

Finally, three days a week I join the Columbia Wushu - Chinese martial arts - team for practice. I love having this excuse to escape from studio to clear my head and recharge on endorphins. I also love my teammates—a friendly group of spirited, passionate students who love nothing more than helping each other improve.

Charlotte Yu: Equirectangular Perspective

What are some of the initiatives you’ve focused on in school, and why?

GSAPPXX+ came naturally - I went to Wellesley for undergrad, where there is a strong emphasis on women helping each other. I wanted to continue contributing to this intentional community, and was also curious myself about other perspectives on being a woman and a designer. My favourite event with the group was inviting you to moderate the panel “It’s Personal” at GSAPP! As Adina and I organized the event, I wrestled with imposter syndrome - I kept thinking I wasn’t feminist or woke enough for the role, so I’m glad that the experience made me more comfortable putting myself out there. True to its name, and owing to your moderator magic, the panel was indeed personal. It was inspiring to hear thoughtful designers speak their honest minds on work-life balance, navigating difficult conversations, and finding their career and personal identities.

“It’s the accumulation of choices that make us who we are.”

Charlotte, thank you! I’m really glad to hear this. When searching for internships and jobs, what are you looking for?

Company culture is very important to me. Specifically, I hope to work with people who enjoy teaching and learning, and who want to engage with each other beyond typical work hours. I want to believe in the work I do - for me, this means I’m more attracted to firms that emphasize sustainable design, resiliency design, material life cycles, and research. As someone who delights in interdisciplinarity, I also want to work at a company that has a more fluid discipline structure, and treasures employees with multiple skill sets.

What’s important to you? What inspires you?

I find myself easily inspired and moved by stories - they make other people’s experiences feel not so different from our own. For my second semester studio project, designing a library, I wandered about the site and bribed passers-by with chocolate in exchange for their stories. It was surprising that many people didn’t take the chocolate at all, but volunteered their stories anyway. The short exercise endeared me to the site. It’s easy to stereotype New Yorkers as rather aloof and distant, but in moments like these we’re reminded that everyone is full of stories to tell if presented with a listening ear.

Charlotte at a Fall 2019 Wushu competition

What do you hope to do in your career?

Right now, I aspire to contribute to lasting change in the way building materials are sourced, manufactured, and maintained.

Someday I’ll also want to teach. I’ve had the privilege of learning from so many inspiring critics, and I want to give back to this wonderful community.

Who do you look up to? Both in terms of women in architecture, and in general.

It’s difficult to pick favourites. I tend to look up to people who are more accessible - for instance, I look up to friends, studio mates, and colleagues my age who have remarkable personality traits, to critics who have such busy lives yet remain endlessly thoughtful and generous towards us petulant students. I look up to my parents a lot. Neither of them is familiar with architecture or design, but they always want to learn, and they encourage my brother and me to be more open-minded in our ways of thinking.

What advice would you give to those in high school now, choosing their field of study?

I remember being really bogged down by this question. I chose to attend a liberal arts college rather than architecture school, and then beat myself up for majoring in architecture anyway - at the time, it felt like the suboptimal path. The truth is, there are many paths and if I had taken the more direct one, I wouldn't be the designer I am today. It’s a big choice, but also not life-defining. It’s the accumulation of choices that make us who we are.