Syracuse University's Julia Chou on Shifting Perspectives, Creating Opportunities, and the Complexities of Spatial Experiences
By Julia Gamolina
Julia Chou is a thesis student pursuing a Bachelor of Architecture at Syracuse University with a major in architecture and a minor in women’s and gender studies. She has worked as an architectural intern at HKS Inc. in Washington, DC and GTM Architects in Bethesda, Maryland. She is a 2021-2022 Remembrance Scholar, a University Scholar Candidate, and an elected member of the School of Architecture’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee.
Julia’s interests lie at the intersections of disability and design justice. She received three consecutive undergraduate research grants to conduct research on architecture, spatial belonging, and feminist solidarities in design. Working with her faculty mentor Professor Lori Brown, she created a podcast titled “Constructing Differences” to create dialogue and build upon networks of solidarity between academics, activists, architects, artists, and students working around topics of disability and design justice. She also continues to conduct sustainability-based research with Professor Nina Sharifi to retrofit multi-family housing, striving for the net-zero goals established by New York state.
JG: Why did you decide to study architecture?
JC: I decided to study architecture because I believed it would be a combination of things I liked to do when I was younger—drawing, painting, paper folding, and hand building. I spent countless hours with my brother’s Legos, making houses out of the disassembled pieces of a spacecraft. When I was in high school, I had the privilege of attending an architecture summer intensive at the University of Oregon, where I was introduced to studio culture and architecture studies. Having a desk space in a studio allowed me to be creative and experimental with materials, mediums, and styles. And like so many others, I also wanted to design my own house one day, so here I am, studying architecture!
Projective Ambiguities: Drawn in a workshop with Professor Iman Fayyad, presents a way of working with flat planes in both drawing and modeling to understand the pictorial ambiguity in producing spatial multiplicity.
Constructing Justice: Redesigned courthouse in Providence, Rhode Island.
What are some of the initiatives you’ve focused on in school, and why?
I focused on initiatives that shift perspectives of those around me and create opportunities for learning in unexpected ways. As a student representative of the School of Architecture Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, I worked to organize dialogue circles with faculty and staff on the diversity of course content. Over the summer of 2020, I became a trained facilitator to lead dialogue circles on race and ethnicity, and worked with my peers to contextualize them within the challenges of architecture and studio culture. This experience taught me the importance of acknowledging and working through power dynamics and hierarchies within academia and collaborating with my peers.
“I focused on initiatives that shift perspectives of those around me and create opportunities for learning in unexpected ways.”
What was the favorite project you worked on in school? Favorite paper you wrote? Favorite extracurricular?
My favorite project was from a landscape studio I completed in my second year, where I was able to conceive of my own project program and location. Inspiration from a podcast I enjoyed led me to design a rest stop along Interstate 87 in Central New York near Saratoga Springs. I was intrigued by the automobile culture in the United States, and what the highway landscape really looked like for truck drivers—people whose lives revolved around this infrastructure. I designed specific spaces for truck drivers to rest and relax and incorporated the natural resources from Saratoga Springs to incorporate a spa, creating an unconventional American rest stop.
My favorite paper is one that I wrote for a Global Feminisms course on the violence of mainstream militarism. I was specifically interested in demonstrating the gender inequalities perpetuated by the US military, perpetuating the hypermasculine and heteronormative force of its infrastructure. I ultimately analyzed the militarization in Myanmar as a comparative tool to reveal the abuse of power by the US military system which resulted in sexual violence and human rights abuses.
Finally, my favorite extracurricular is The Women’s Network (TWN)—at least it started as an extracurricular. At the time, TWN brought in professionals within the Syracuse Alumni network to talk about their varying paths to success, giving advice to women in college on how to navigate careers in male dominated fields. I was approached by Jamie Vinick, the founder of the organization, and I joined the e-board as a graphic designer. This led me to join the expansion team, which worked to expand to over 20 campuses over the summer of 2020. As an architecture student, I used my design background to establish the branding and graphic standards for the organization. Today, the Women’s Network is on nearly 150 campuses, and hosts a podcast, “Redefining Ambition,” highlighting the unconventional career paths of professional women.
Consuming Landscapes: Rest stop spa tower sectional model, which spans seven feet long with all its parts.
Alternative Wall Access: Accessible library addition to the Architecture school in Florence, Italy.
When searching for internships and jobs, what are you looking for?
I am always looking for a work environment that fosters intellectual growth and supports the well-being of its employees. I love to find opportunities that excite me about architecture, design, space, and people—whether that be the project that I get to work on or the people I get to work with. I have always looked for a healthy studio culture in the internships I pursue—prioritizing rest, sleep, and wellness. I am also looking for a job where I can find mentors and people to look up to. In past internships, I have found many people who were invested in helping me grow in the directions I wanted. I hope that I can continue to discover new routes to progress down while gaining the right kind of support.
“There exist so many moments when the built environment perpetuates the marginalization of bodies. Because of this, I am invested in a complicated, intersectional, and messy kind of architecture...I believe the complexities of spatial experiences are what make architecture so beautiful to us.”
What’s important to you? What inspires you?
I am inspired by my mother, a two-time cancer survivor who re-learned to write with her left hand after losing her right arm to bone cancer and then continuing on to finish her PhD. I have never known my mother with two arms but am familiar with the miniature retrofits for her utility such as custom sewn undershirts and the wheel spinner knob on the car steering wheel.
I began to relate these experiences to design after studying architecture alongside disability studies. There exist so many moments when the built environment perpetuates the marginalization of bodies. Because of this, I am invested in a complicated, intersectional, and messy kind of architecture. It is important to me that the users of architecture are not idealized as a sort of binary with men and women or able-bodied and disabled. I believe the complexities of spatial experiences are what make architecture so beautiful to us.
What do you hope to do in your career?
I hope to find opportunities to connect and collaborate with others. In my undergraduate education. I would love to find more like-minded people who are invested in design and disability justice, and share the process of designing collaboratively. I also intend to use my education in architecture to expose and remove the barriers that have made so many people feel invisible or excluded. By practicing architecture and eventually obtaining my license, I want to bring awareness to clients and fellow practitioners of the necessity for equitable design.
Drawing at the Villa Giulia: Studying abroad experience which was cut short in March 2020.
Who do you look up to? Both in terms of women in architecture, and in general.
I look up to my mentors and professors who have provided me endless feedback and guidance that has brought me to where I am today. My research mentor Lori Brown has guided me through two undergraduate research grants and advised me and many others in the SoA DEI committee. My women’s and gender studies professor, Eunjung Kim who taught “Intersectional Feminist Disability Studies,” influenced me to declare my minor and pursue research at the intersections of design and disability.
I also look up to feminist thinkers and writers like Linda Alcoff, Audre Lorde, Kimberle Crenshaw, and Lakshmi-Piepzna Samarasinha who inspire me to design with and for different groups and identities. I recently took a course on feminist solidarities which made me think about how architects could work in solidarity with other movements and efforts.
I will always look up to my parents who are Taiwanese immigrants and the hardest working people I know. They have taught me the importance of finding joy in the work that you do—because when you love what you do, it no longer is considered work.
What advice would you give to those in high school now, choosing their field of study?
Choose to study something you are genuinely interested in—don’t settle for a field just because you think you should. And know that you can always change your mind. Give yourself time to explore, and don’t compare yourself to the path everyone else is taking. Find people in the fields you are interested in—most people are happy to talk about themselves and their work, and the internet connects us all. Form your own opinions based on what you learn from others and never limit yourself to new opportunities for learning—you will always surprise yourself.