About the Author

ucla.edu

Los Angeles, CA

+1.xxx.xxx.xxxx

I am currently a third year student in the University of California Los Angeles’ college of Architecture and Urban Design. Within this program I enjoy broadening my interests while becoming evermore adept in subjects architecture inclusive and adjacent. When I graduate I will be receiving the Accredited Masters of Architecture with the Urban Humanities Initiative (UHI) certificate. In my time here I’ll have completed work that ranges from research papers and podcasts, to graphic design and VFX narratives. I thoroughly enjoy the process of making and inparticular storytelling. If you’re interested in my CV/ Resume you can find that in the tab below this one as the rest of this will include a bit of information for you to get to know me.

   I began my career in architecture with no intent to go to architecture school. Rather a fascination with making things with my hands in highschool led me to desire a job in woodworking. Unfortunately colleges rarely offer such a degree these days and I found myself applying for an undergraduate degree in industrial design on the east coast. Unfortunately for me industrial designers and schools (rightfully) pride themselves on their artistic and hand drawing abilities. As someone who (while a musician) had never taken a proper art class in their schooling I was far outmatched by the competition entering undergrad. Luckily for me my portfolio that I had built of poorly taken photos, a toy Formula 1 Car, aguitar made of corks, and a foam boat caught the attention of a school I didn’t want to apply to in the first place, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. A school I originally thought had industrial design and when I learned they didn’t I pushed my applicable application to the architecture department. After a 6 hour drive south for an interview with the faculty I was awarded a position in the 2014-2015 Architecture Class. I accepted my place as I had been rejected at every other college or university and looked forward to transferring my abilities to product design after graduation.

      Once at Charlotte however my thoughts surrounding what the architectural discipline encapsulated changed. They were not merely designers of homes or buildings but spaces and stories, people who worked for films, video games, city planning departments, theaters, they were artists and makers, and they had the chance to learn so much more than I ever imagined. Through socially conscious work regarding gentrification in South Korea and Urban inequalities in Rome I found drive in designing with human histories in mind, telling the stories of how these situations had developed through representation.

           Now at UCLA I’m finishing out my masters with many projects focusing on these same topics. UHI and IDEAS campus technical electives have provided me with new storytelling and narrative crafting skills, while UCLA core and topics studios have allowed me to work on both social issues and representational queeries. My next goal is to work towards licensure and gain experience in the building project delivery while continuing to hone my craft as someone who thinks the stories of the people and world we live in are essential to the world we design in the future.

About the Author

Morgan Jacobs