Paul is an aspiring architect from Mission, Texas, who loves making things and drawing places that foreground exciting questions about time, history, and ornament. His thesis, Instruments of Culture: The Layered Representations of the Alhambra performs a non-western reading of ornament that uses water infrastructure to transcend its origins of abstraction and into something visceral and essential to architectural design. He is always seeking to form new partnerships with people with similar values and interests as he continues to develop his post-thesis research. Paul is currently an Architectural Designer at Weiss/Manfredi.
Paul holds a Bachelor of Environmental Design from Texas A&M University and a Master of Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania. Over the last eleven years, he has practiced as a scenic designer, has led design teams in branding projects, service ventures, assisted teaching design studios, editorials and has joined many practices between Los Angeles and Helsinki. His portfolio, Protagonists of Architecture received the 2020 Kanter Tritsch Prize in Energy & Architectural Innovation in concert with the 2020 Kanter Tritsch Medalist, Peter Eisenman. Upon graduating fron Penn, Paul received the Arthur Spayd Brook Memorial Prize: Gold Medal - following in the footsteps of former recipients Julian Abele, Louis I. Kahn, and Jenny Sabin. Metropolis Magazine has named Paul one of the Future 100 designers in the United States.
Ateljé Sotamaa, Helsinki, FI, Design Intern
All Star Theatre, McAllen, TX, US, Technical Director
Metropolis Future 100, 1st Place
The top 50 interior design and 50 architecture students graduating this year in North America, chosen to be the inaugural Metropolis Future 100. Nominated by their instructors and mentors, they hail from some of the best architecture and interior design schools in the U.S. and Canada, from Harvard University to California College of the Arts, and call everywhere from Atlanta to Toronto home. They are a diverse group—with many identifying as BIPOC or LGBTQIA—who advocate for openness, equity, and inclusion through their work and extracurriculars. They are leaders on their campuses who are sure to be forces in the industry.
Arthur Spayd Brooke Memorial Prize: Gold Medal, 1st Place
Established in 1900 in memory of Arthur Spayd Brooke, a graduate of the School of Architecture, and awarded to graduating architecture students for distinguished work in architectural design. Former winners include Julian Abele, Louis I. Kahn, and Jenny Sabin.
Mario J. Romañach Fellowship, Award
Established in 1984 in memory of one of Penn’s most beloved teachers, the fellowship is awarded to a student entering the final year in the professional degree program, for demonstrated excellence in design, a love for architecture, and the determination to develop as an architect.
Van Alen Traveling Fellowship, Award
Awarded to two students in the Architecture and/or Landscape Architecture departments who are in the second year of their programs, for summer travel to Europe.
E. Lewis Dales Traveling Fellowship, 2nd Place
Established under the will of E. Lewis Dales in 1963 for travel abroad during the summer prior to a student’s final year as a candidate for the first professional degree in architecture.
Kanter Tritsch Prize in Energy & Architectural Innovation, Award
The Kanter Tritsch Prize in Energy and Architectural Innovation is awarded to a second-year Master of Architecture student at PennDesign who demonstrates transformational thinking on the built environment and innovation in their approach to energy, ecology, and/or social equity.
AIA Lower Rio Grande Valley Scholarship, Scholarship
Supporting access to quality education for the next generation of architects is important for the prosperity of everyone. AIA LRGV makes scholarships available for students from our area who are currently enrolled in an architecture program at a NAAB accredited university or an Architecture Program in a local College.
The scholarships are sustained with funds raised at the chapter’s annual fundraising events, which are supported by the local design and construction industry and also in part by a grant from the American Institute of Architect’s Component Scholarship Program Grant, which our chapter was once again honored with this year.
Academy for the Visual & Performing Arts (AVPA) Research Enhancement Grant, Grant
Academy for the Visual & Performing Arts (AVPA) Research Enhancement Grant, Award
Otto D. Grove D. Grove Scholarship, Scholarship
Gene D. Burton Scholarship for Integration of Clinical Tech. in Healthcare Design, Award
Most Outstanding Portfolio, 1st Place