SCI-Arc Awards Inaugural GAYA Scholarship to B.Arch Student David Aizenman

SCI-Arc has announced that the inaugural recipient of its new GAYA Scholarship, launched this past February, will be incoming B.Arch student David Aizenman. Initiated by Fernando Gutierrez, SCI-Arc trustee and General Director of Mexico City-based firm GAYA, the scholarship supports SCI-Arc student applicants who are Mexican citizens and who will be graduating secondary school in the summer of 2019.

The GAYA Scholarship contributes to tuition and fees for the full five-year duration of SCI-Arc’s undergraduate B.Arch program. SCI-Arc is excited to grant this opportunity to Aizenman, an outstanding student who is passionate about architecture and whose qualifications, portfolio, and overall performance meet SCI-Arc’s standards for academic excellence.

“To me, architects are agents for change in the world as they are always seeking ways to generate new forms in a changing world,” says Aizenman. “A B.Arch degree from SCI-Arc will give me the tools to join the world as a person wanting to make my contribution.”

“I chose to attend SCI-Arc because of its emphasis on technology and innovation; I aspire to learn state-of-the-art ways to create architecture from the amazing faculty that SCI-Arc offers,” Aizenman says, “and the GAYA Scholarship will allow me to do so.”

In keeping with SCI-Arc's commitment to diversity and extending opportunities to students from various backgrounds, the GAYA Scholarship was established to foster collaboration, scholarship, and understanding between two of the most dynamic architectural hubs in the world.

Gutierrez says, “As a Mexican company with thirty-three years of experience in construction services, GAYA is honored to fund a full scholarship for one Mexican student to attend in SCI-Arc Los Angeles. We firmly believe that this deserving individual will receive a world-class education and join the ranks of top tier professionals and architects that SCI-Arc produces.”

“We are happy to support the excellent education that SCI-Arc provides,” continues Gutierrez, “and we are certain that closer ties between nations, institutions, and individuals is the key to better practices, better architecture, and better living standards for all living creatures—regardless of nationality.”

With the expansion of its international programs, as well as satellite initiatives in Bogotá, Shanghai, Tokyo, Mumbai, and Mexico City, SCI-Arc has broadened its global reach while remaining committed to creating a positive impact in the context of Los Angeles.

“Because of Fernando Gutierrez’s foresight and GAYA’s generosity, an exemplary student of great promise from Mexico will be able to come to Los Angeles to study at SCI-Arc on a full scholarship,” says SCI-Arc Director Hernán Díaz Alonso.

“We are thrilled,” he says, “to extend this GAYA Scholarship as one of many future SCI-Arc scholarship opportunities for individuals like David who will shape the future of architecture as we know it.”