MIT's Amanda Ugorji on Projects That Are Energizing and a More Just World
Amanda portrait by Leslie Herrera.
By Julia Gamolina
Amanda Ugorji is an architectural designer and artist interested in the potential for interdisciplinary design to act as a conduit for justice and equity. She recently graduated with an M.Arch from MIT and has worked in architecture and resiliency planning in the Boston area; film, urban planning, and community engagement in New York City; on a public installation in Seoul, and on an exhibition production in Romania. Her goal is to continue working with collaborators on projects that move toward a more just and joyful future.
JG: You just graduated with your architecture degree from MIT — congratulations! Tell me first, why architecture? What were you hoping to do with this degree?
AU: After college, I worked for two years in architecture, film, and community engagement. During that period, I affirmed my belief that people are deeply affected by design decisions at all scales and decided that I wanted to have a voice in a room full of architects and planners. I realized that for me, the fastest route to being heard in that room would be to pursue a master's degree in architecture and urban planning. Entering school a second time, I was hoping to graduate with the skills and resources to do “what I wanted”, which, while undefined, definitely had to do with the architecture of creating a more just environment. When I got accepted into school in the spring of 2020, my resolve was reinforced as I saw so much of our collective social and physical infrastructure fail as we experienced the pandemic as a nation. I knew it was possible to do better, and that doing better had a relationship to designing transport, public amenities, streets, and housing to be safe and comfortable for all bodies.
Coming out of school, I feel a bit differently. In addition to inadvertently choosing a school where learning how to make buildings is not the main goal of the pedagogy, my relationship and understanding of architectural labor and the field have changed a lot. I am still interested in working toward a more just spatial environment, but I think, now, it’s crucial to come at it from an interdisciplinary perspective. I want to be on a team that values the labor of an architect, but also a lawyer, a public policy researcher, and a nutritionist, for example.
Thesis Reflection, MIT March Thesis Proposal. PC Chenyue “xdd44” Dai.
What are some of the initiatives you’ve focused on in school, and why?
I was a part of the National Organization of Minority Architects students and gave a solid try at the department radio station. I got involved in these groups mostly for the sake of community building. Starting school in 2020, by my second year, so much of the social infrastructure and intergenerational memory within the students had depleted significantly. I wanted to be active in fostering a sense of place and a space where peers could openly communicate their experiences and advocate for themselves.
I also worked for a few years at Urban Risk Lab (URL), a lab run by a professor in urbanism and architecture who works on resiliency planning. The research assistantship work I did at URL was super influential for me; I got a great look into how cities prepare for disaster housing and how necessary, multi-layered, and frankly not yet done the work is. Sophie Weston-Chien and I also started a collective practice, just practice, and launched our first project Soft City.
When searching for internships and jobs in general, what are you looking for?
I don’t have a dream position, per se, but I am looking for a role that would get me energized. I want to work in an office where women and people of color are not the minority. In the best-case scenario, I would be working on a team that has a wide range of projects and is rooted in intersectionality. The types of work could be rebuilding resilient post-disaster housing, designing playspaces for all bodies, working with local communities to build a community land trust, redesigning women's clinics in response to a restrictive law change, working with or on urban farms, or throwing events that have nothing, in particular, to do with design. I am interested in alternative practice models that push for and build financial structures to maintain their values over winning projects. A little further down the road, I hope to build a practice that starts to do some of this work.
“It’s important to me that young architects starting in the field find a way to break the current compensation structure and valuation for architectural labor and find ways to stay excited and present as we enter the workforce.”
What’s important to you? What inspires you?
It’s important to me that young architects starting in the field find a way to break the current compensation structure and valuation for architectural labor and find ways to stay excited and present as we enter the workforce.
I have been talking to many young professionals in the last few weeks, trying to figure out my next career steps, and I am encountering two positions. One group of people is working on what is exciting to them, whether that’s a more critical architectural practice, building their own firm, or working on projects that they resonate with — but they can’t get money to do the work they want. So instead, they work a second job to fund the passion work even though the “passion work” is actually very productive for society. The other group of people I speak with are working more conventional, stable jobs in existing practices and, over time, describe feeling depleted by the work they are doing. I think it's so important that people trained as architects find avenues to maintain our energy because we have a lot to provide to the world around us and a really dynamic skillset to do it with.
I feel inspired by people who are able to be themselves and don’t feel the need to mitigate or adjust how they present themselves to be accepted or rewarded by others. It’s definitely something I struggled with in academia and the workplace, and I am really grateful to those around me who stay grounded through it all.
Soft City, just practice (Co-Founder), Co-Artist with Sophie Weston Chien. PC Sir Sahil Mohan.
What have been some of the biggest challenges for you so far? How did you manage through?
I struggled a lot with my time in graduate school. I really didn’t like how people treated one another. At some point, I reached a point of very low mental health and didn’t believe it was worth it to stay. After my fourth semester, I almost quit, but my friends and family convinced me it would be worse not to stick it out. I managed through it with the support of my friendships and by trying to create for myself what I needed. To be honest, I don't think I really managed through it very well. For years, I held a deep bitterness in myself and hid my feelings and thoughts for fear of losing peer support and academic success. I definitely lost a lot. I think I still have a lot to heal and unlearn from my time at MIT.
I’m so sorry Amanda.
My biggest challenge right now is figuring out how to get into spaces to do the work. I have always had trouble finding advisors or mentors who have taken the same path as me, so I feel like my career path so far has been mostly the phone-a-friend option. However, phone-a-friend is not a good lifeline at the moment when none of us know what to do! Most recently, I have reached out to women who are further along in their careers to seek advice. I was initially hesitant to ask for their time, but I am glad I did because people have been so generous, and I have learned things I could have taken years to understand. At the moment, I am very optimistic. I think it’s possible.
There’s something wonderful in figuring things out together. What do you hope to do in your career?
I hope to contribute to the betterment of the spatial environments around me and simultaneously enjoy my day-to-day life. One day, I hope to have a space where friends and community members can gather to create ideas, do work, rest, and celebrate. I aspire to make physical spaces more resilient to climate change and oppressive policy and communal spaces that foster radicality and sew seeds toward collective liberation. I hope to make things that are exciting and delightful to other people and to me.
“I would encourage high schoolers to try and create something of their own before committing to a field of study...it’s so empowering to see that we have some agency over our environment.”
Who do you look up to? Both in terms of women in architecture, and in general.
I look up to my mom a lot. She is seemingly unaffected by things that other people would describe as barriers. No one could have predicted her life, and it’s really cool to see her thriving. I also just recently worked with Oana Stanescu. She has been a really inspirational person to be around. To me, it seems like she has done a lot of deep reflection and operates in a way that is genuinely respectful of the dignity of others, no matter their relationship to her authority. She has also found a way to follow the work that moves her, and I would love to operate with the grace she does. Also, Rosalyne Shieh. She has found a way to do her own thing at her own pace in a world that isn't working in the same way as her.
I look up to a lot of my friends. I love the way my friend Mariana Medrano knows what is light and what is heavy. I appreciate how my friend Azania Umoja can control the pacing in a room, no matter how big or small. I respect how my friend Sophie Weston Chien actively surrounds herself with people who have qualities she admires. It’s really cool how my friend Justin Brazier can communicate with anyone from any space and make them feel comfortable. I love that my friend Anh Vo is committed to deep reflection and being in critical conversation. It’s so inspiring that my friend Anna Pelavin worked in urban planning and community engagement for years and then transitioned to become an urban farmer in NYC. I could really go on and on.
Urbibox, Mobile Urban Intervention with PRAUD, Principle Designer. PC PRAUD.
What advice would you give to those in high school now, choosing their field of study?
I am a Zillenial, so I was born during the year the Millenial generation transitioned into Gen Z, and it has killed me that every speech at every graduation I have ever attended has been a person currently in a position of power telling my peers and me that it is going to be our job to fix the world they built and run. I imagine that message has continued to be passed onto the current generation of Gen Z high school students. I find that Gen Z have a better understanding of a lot of the big systems that shape our world than previous generations. In addition to the benefits of that knowledge, I imagine many high schoolers are really concerned about climate change, structural injustices, the state of our democracy, and how it doesn’t seem like much is changing. As a means to combat these pressures–
I would encourage high schoolers to try and create something of their own before committing to a field of study. That could be hosting an event, starting a club, physically making art, creating music, building a website, or coding something they need. I think it’s so empowering to see that we have some agency over our environment, and it’s hard to make good choices without feeling empowered. It’s really hard for me to imagine the world that high schoolers will exit their education into, but generally, I would suggest a liberal arts degree or some sort of education that allows them to learn more about the systems and context of the world they will enter. Exposure is super important. I know that college isn’t for everyone, especially economically, but I think if everyone had equal opportunity to explore, that would be what I would want for kids nowadays.