Meet the New Students of SCI-Arc: Orientation Street Style
SCI-Arc's student body represents an incredibly rich and diverse array of origins, perspectives, and interests, from over 50 different countries. New student orientation took place last week and welcomed to the school SCI-Arc's incoming undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate classes of 2019-20. We spoke to several new students to learn more about their ideas regarding architecture, studying at SCI-Arc, and personal style.
What's your name?
Angie Otieno
Where are you from?
I’m from Kenya.
What are you wearing?
I'm wearing these pants that I bought from Goodwill, a shirt that I also got from Goodwill, and these shoes that I got on the side of the road in Puerto Rico.
Who or what are your style influences?
I would say that street style inspires me the most—it’s all in the little details!
What brought you to SCI-Arc?
The M.Arch 1 program. I’m out here trying to create sustainable buildings for the world.
What excites you about architecture and design?
It's always changing and it affects so many different parts of our lives that we don't even think about.
What are you most looking forward to about studying here at SCI-Arc?
I just want to learn. I'm like a sponge; I just love to just absorb all the knowledge that I can possibly get.
What's your name?
Yunbin Wang
Where are you from?
I was born in Kuwait, but I'm Chinese.
What are you wearing?
I'm wearing a shirt by Raf Simons when he was at Calvin Klein—the 205 collection. And my pants are Random Identities, from Dover Street Market. My boots are Guidis. They're an Italian brand that does a lot leatherwear and footwear.
Who or what are your style influences?
For me currently, it could be a lot from Rockstar Y. Designer-wise, I like Hader Ackerman and Ann Demeulemeester; sometimes Yohji Yamamoto, and Raf Simons is a huge inspiration. Sometimes trends, sometimes not—just depends on my feeling. I like fluidity and something more soft, very lux.
What brought you here to SCI-Arc?
What brought me here was the school itself; the B.Arch program, the beautiful work, and the whole culture of architecture and the community here. I also really love the work and am hugely inspired by certain SCI-Arc teachers, such as Jenny Wu, Thom Mayne, Eric Owen Moss, Tom Wiscombe, and others.
What excites you about architecture and design?
I think what excites me is that architecture relates to other design fields such as fashion, graphic design, etc. But mainly it hugely influences people because there’s buildings everywhere, which are a symbol to this vocation that people can walk through, in the more macro perspective. The more micro perspective is the spatial experience that people get, which triggers their emotions in a psychological way that really interests me.
What are you most looking forward to about studying at SCI-Arc?
I think the experimentation on software that I will learn. Also, I feel like SCI-Arc will teach me so much more about philosophy and theory.
What's your name?
Mesk Ebraheem
Where are you from?
Kuwait.
What are you wearing?
Pants and a shirt. The pants are from Zara.
Who or what are your style influences?
I go on Instagram and I see what I like. I like haute couture.
What brought you here to SCI-Arc?
SCI-Arc is different than any other architecture school—it's more focused on architecture, it has amazing facilities. It's nice, because between the faculty and the student, it's concentrated on you. You can be passionate about your work and there's freedom. It’s also the only university/institute that focuses on their Instagram a lot. The other architecture schools I scroll through, I don't get the vibe of good architecture. Then I see the quality of SCI-Arc's and I'm like, "Wow, I want to do this. I want to go to that school because it's the top."
What excites you about architecture and design?
That there's many designs in the world, there's many that we don't see in the street, and design is the beauty of the streets.
What are you looking forward to most about studying at SCI-Arc?
To learn how to make the amazing work [SCI-Arc] puts on Instagram.
What is your name?
Wenhao Huang
Where are you from?
From China, originally. In Chengdu. I'm a [B.Arch] transfer student right now, from Baltimore, Maryland.
What are you wearing?
Today I have a t-shirt of Tom and Jerry and also a shirt by Visvim—it's a Japanese brand. They’re trying to follow the trend of American vintage, so they have a lot of garments [that reflect] motorcycle culture and vintage culture, especially in California. They incorporate Japanese culture as well. The pants are just skate pants. Shoes are [Nike] Max 270, from their Bauhaus collection.
Who are what are your style influences?
I think Japan mostly— just generally because I love that everything is clean.
What brought you here to SCI-Arc?
I think the students’ portfolios actually. I checked into different schools, and SCI-Arc’s portfolios are what stood out to me.
What excites you about architecture and design?
I think it's the ability that we're given once we become architects, to shape things that people will be seeing most of the time. And people actually having habitat there for most of their time.
What are you most looking forward to about studying at SCI-Arc?
I think it’ll be the student culture because I’ll be the salty one... not that salty, like funny salty.
What is your name?
Mariana Pires Curti
Where are you from?
I'm Brazilian. I was born in Sao Paulo, but I moved a lot to a lot of cities, and basically grew up in Rio.
What are you wearing?
I'm wearing jeans with stripes and a black T-shirt.
Who or what are your style influences?
Here at SCI-Arc I wear more basic stuff, but I usually wear something more colorful, and more “pop”—like Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, kind of 90s.
What brought you here to SCI-Arc?
I wanted to do something different than just architecture [in EDGE Fiction and Entertainment]. I wanted to transition into the entertainment industry.
What excites you about architecture and design?
It's intense, and you get deep into everything you do. It’s very interesting to do something and see it getting done.
What are you most looking forward to about studying at SCI-Arc?
It's amazing here. I just did the IDD workshop, which was really cool. We learned a new program—Maya. I thought it was awesome. The people are great, the vibes are good. Everyone's really positive and really nice.
What is your name?
Nico Govan
Where are you from?
I'm from New York.
What are you wearing?
I don't know where this shirt is from, but it's thrifted. My shoes are Adidas, I got them from Barney's. My socks are Calvin Klein, and my shorts are from Zara.
Who or what are your style influences?
I love Tom Ford, and Tom Ford majored in architecture, which is one of the reasons I majored in architecture. People I look up to, like Rihanna, because she does not care about what she wears. It's very effortless. I also love Bella Hadid—I like her street style.
What brought you to SCI-Arc?
Architecture, but I guess I want to do fashion, also like Tom Ford.
What excites you about architecture and design?
That literally you can do anything with it. I think with architecture, it's a gateway to do so many other things. You can do so many other art forms with it—whether it's painting or sculpting or drawing or fashion design; you can do it all.
What are you most looking forward to about studying here at SCI-Arc?
I'm looking forward to developing technology, and learning how to use it more.
What is your name?
Murphy Li
Where are you from?
China, Shengjin. It's in Hong Kong.
What are you wearing?
Jeans, yellow shirt—my favorite color.
Who or what are your style influences?
Just comfortable.
What brought you here to SCI-Arc?
Los Angeles. I love this city. And I feel free to do a lot of things—like the creativity part. Nobody cares what you're thinking or doing.
What excites you about architecture and design?
It's a little bit about family. My family, my father, my Grandpa are doing this career. I was influenced by them, so I studied architecture at my university. After five years this is what I really want to do.
What are you most looking forward to about studying here at SCI-Arc?
Actually, the first impression I had of SCI-Arc was the presentation part; the marketing part. The way you as an architect can show what you're doing to other people so they know what you're thinking about. I think that's very important.
What is your name?
Gage Bantiles
Where are you from?
I'm from Long Beach.
What are you wearing?
I'm wearing Engineered Garments, Carhartt WIP, and some Clarks.
Who or what are your style influences?
I love Japanese and European menswear. My favorite brands are Engineered Garments, Capital, Carhartt WIP— stuff of that sort.
What brought you here to SCI-Arc?
I'm learning to be an architect. I shoot architecture photography, so that's what led me here.
What excites you about architecture and design?
I just love how you could influence the world; that you could create your own vision and bring it to life.
What are you most looking forward to about studying at SCI-Arc?
Meeting new people and building a network, as well as seeing what I can do with architecture. Who knows what the future holds?
