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Aryana Leland

Ashley Morales and I had the immense privilege of sitting down with two (very) busy third-year architecture students in the middle of a deadline, Aleena Hussain and Elizabeth Mayen. As we chatted, Aleena and Ellie joined us with the telltale signs of studio chaos happening in the background - models in different states of completion, bleary eyed students passing by, lots of coffee. They are in the middle of their tower project - a grueling hazing ritual that Ashley and I remember well - and we are lucky to be meeting with them during daylight hours. 

While balancing their studio work, Aleena and Ellie are the Cofounders of an ambitious, promising new venture at Cal Poly Pomona: Stable Magazine.

Aryana Leland

There are over 121,000 licensed architects in the United States - yet only 1 in 4 are women.

A licensure candidate in the United States must pass six divisions of the Architectural Registration Exam to earn their license, which can be notoriously difficult. In 2024, the pass rate for the Project Management division was 60%, and 48% for the Practice Management Division. Despite these daunting numbers, the Practice Management and Project Management divisions are often the starting point for licensure candidates, and rely heavily on an understanding of key AIA contract documents. This is where Michael Hanahan comes in, unofficially. 

Aryana Leland

Don’t miss the upcoming 2025 AWA+D Symposium - here’s a sneak peek of past events and what to look forward to!

Aryana Leland

In December, the American Institute of Architects published Artificial Intelligence Adoption in Architecture Firms: Opportunities & Risks as part of their The Architect’s Journey to Specification series. The growing use of AI in architecture has prompted an examination into the perception and goals of these tools for firms and organizations, and what a future of AI and architecture might look like. Though this report aims to provide key insights about the profession’s current use and perception of AI, its methodology has glaring issues.

Aryana Leland

This week in Denver, seemingly disparate artists Kneecap and Kent Monkman drew large crowds downtown. On a Monday night, Irish rap trio Kneecap played a sold out show at Summit. A few blocks away, the first major United States solo exhibition of Cree artist Kent Monkman was being set up at the Denver Art Museum; the subsequent exhibition opening and sold out conversation with the artist on Saturday was the largest crowd I’ve seen at DAM. With little in common at first glance, these artists are alike in their use of humor and indigenous knowledge to establish identity and colonial histories, and are now bringing their work to a larger stage.

Aryana Leland

As an organization whose mission is to advance and support women who work in the built environment, AWA+D supports and celebrates women year-round through education, mentoring, and networking opportunities. Through our sister foundation, AWAF, we provide scholarships, mid-career fellowships, and present events such as which introduces young female students to architecture and allied design professions in an accessible environment.

To celebrate Women’s History Month, we wanted to share 15 women that are making an impact in today’s world of architecture, art, and design.

Aryana Leland

I was invited by my dear friend Daniela to visit an exhibition held at a privately-owned Neutra house in Beverly Hills. Daniela and I pride ourselves on an encyclopedic knowledge of Richard Neutra as former student docents at the VDL House in Silverlake, but I had never heard of the William H. Levit House. I had also never heard of the famous celebrity hairdresser who owned the home, and my parents scoffed when I admitted as much in front of the chic docent and his French Bulldog. Feeling a little guilty for wandering into Los Angeles during crisis, we said goodbye and I climbed into the backseat as my parents chauffeured me through Beverly Hills. I’ve been here before, but I couldn’t place it. I recognize Mulholland Drive, but only from that song or that David Lynch movie or - oh no - the Manson family. Then it dawned on me, and I had to explain to my parents that I’ve been in this neighborhood before in Grand Theft Auto V. 

Aryana Leland

From newcomer director Brady Corbet, The Brutalist is a three-and-a-half hour magnum opus centered around architecture. The monumental film earned ten Academy Award nominations for: Actor in a Leading Role, Actor in a Supporting Role, Actress in a Supporting Role, Cinematography, Directing, Film Editing, Music (Original Score), Production Design, Writing (Original Screenplay), and, the most anticipated award, Best Picture. The film finds itself in good company among the nominees for Best Picture and was one of the most nominated films of the year, along with Wicked and exceeded only by Emilia Pérez. Despite critical acclaim and its architectural focus, I’ve been hard pressed to find any friends who have seen the film. With a whopping three-hour and thirty-five minute runtime and a built-in intermission, it’s understandable that many have not found themselves rushing to the theater since its December 20th release date. The film also competed with Nosferatu’s Christmas Day release (which, even I admittedly made time to see before watching The Brutalist in the new year). With that said, this discussion will contain significant spoilers for The Brutalist. If you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend you find some local arthouse cinema (I went to Alamo Drafthouse in Denver) and hunker down - Brady Corbet earned his three and a half hours. 

Aryana Leland

I stumbled upon Eileen Gray by accident. The Denver Central Library - designed by Michael Graves - recently reopened after four years of major renovations, and I was excited to finally see the inside. In the sunlit main hall, a graphic novel was propped up in the “Recently Returned” section: Eileen Gray: A House Under the Sun. I’d heard of her in architecture school, but only ever in connection to Le Corbusier. I brought the book home and became enamored with her story. Through the format of a graphic novel, author Charlotte Malterre-Barthes and illustrator Zosia Dzierżawska have made Gray’s exceptional history more accessible and personal, and honor her as a pioneer of architectural modernism. The graphic novel begins with Le Corbusier’s death, who drowned beneath Eileen Gray’s most famous work: E-1027.

Aryana Leland

In early May, the Denver Art Museum unveiled a new exhibit titled Biophilia: Nature Reimagined. Organized by Darrin Alfred, Curator of Architecture and Design, the exhibit featured digital installations, furniture pieces, models, and other works by contemporary designers that focus on how human design is intertwined with the natural world. The Member Preview Event for the exhibit was accompanied by a talk by Dixon Lu, the Associate Principal of MAD Architects, which provided more insight to their project in the RiNo Art District in Denver: One River North. The new luxury apartment development was completed earlier this year and features a vaguely organic facade, quickly becoming a neighborhood landmark - an Uber driver once asked me if I knew anything about the building when we drove by it. After the talk, an audience member asked about the project’s sustainability practices, which was met with a deflated explanation. 

While the exhibit had moments that felt unfocused in tackling such a broad subject, Biophilia prominently featured models, renderings, and diagrams of architectural works that bring nature into their design. The exhibit included models of the Nanjing Zendai Himalayas Center in China by MAD Architects, Metropol Parasol in Spain by J. Mayer H., and Populus by Studio Gang. Centered in the gallery, the model of Populus allowed visitors to come face-to-face with a recognizable facade, which was under construction just down the street.