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So Young Lee

So Young Lee

San Mateo, CA, US

 
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About 

So Young has over 17 years of experience that ranges from commercial, residential, healthcare, and higher education projects as a designer and a digital design leader at prominent firms in Chicago and San Francisco. So Young's projects include Transbay Block 9 Residential Tower, a part of the Transbay redevelopment project while at Skidmore Owings & Merrill, Gensler’s NVIDIA Headquarters in Silicon Valley featuring the efficient triangular plans and parametric building enclosure modeling, the world's tallest Jeddah Tower, and the first positive energy building Masdar Headquarters while working at Adrian Smith+ Gordon Gill Architecture.

So Young has been heavily involved in designing complex geometry and transforming shapes into rationalized and buildable forms using the latest digital technologies. She's been working on various projects using Revit with Dynamo to create abstract geometries for competition entries, conceptual massing for architectural projects, or as a fabrication tool for the installation project and construction. She is one of the founding board members of the 'San Francisco Computational Design Institute' and actively engages in organizing monthly events for the group.

So Young is NCARB certified, a Licensed Architect in California & Illinois, a LEED AP, WELL AP, and a Construction Documents Technologist.

Employment 

DGA, Inc., San Francisco, Senior Project Architect

Commercial and Life Science projects

Jun 2021 - current
 

SYL Architecture, San Francisco, Founder

Nov 2016 - current
 

TWINSTEPS architecture, San Jose, CA, US, Project Architect

Commercial, Industrial, Science & Technology Projects

Oct 2020 - Jun 2021
 

San Francisco Computational Design Institute, San Francisco, CA, US, Treasurer Board of Directors

Independent, Non-Affiliated, Non-Profit organization working to put together a set of monthly meetings out of a shared passion for Computational Design tools

Aug 2015 - Jun 2021
 

HOK, San Francisco, CA, US, Architect

Commercial, Government, Science & Technology, Research Projects

Jun 2017 - May 2020
 

BAR Architects & Interiors, San Francisco, CA, US, Architect | Digital Design Lead

Multi-family Residential, Commercial and Retail projects

Nov 2015 - Jun 2017
 

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), San Francisco, CA, US, Senior Digital Design Architectural Professional

Research lab, High-rise multi-family residential and commercial office buildings

Jun 2014 - Oct 2015
 

Gensler, San Francisco, CA, US, Designer / Techniccal / Project BIM Manager

Large scale Commercial office buildings and Headquarters

May 2013 - Jun 2014
 

Wight & Company, Chicago, IL, US, Firmwide BIM Manager

K-12, Higher Education and Government projects

Nov 2011 - May 2013
 

bKL Architecture LLC, Chicago, IL, US, Architectural Designer

Commercial and Multi-family residential projects

Feb 2011 - Nov 2011
 

Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, Chicago, IL, US, Architectural Professional

High performance Commercial Office Buildings, Headquarters and Super-tall Towers

Sep 2008 - May 2010
 

Loebl Schlossman & Hackl Inc, Chicago, IL, US, Architectural Designer

Commercial, Healthcare & Higher Education Projects

Mar 2007 - Sep 2008
 

Lucien Lagrange Studio, Chicago, IL, US, Architectural Designer

Multi-family Residential, Hospitality & Retail projects

Jan 2006 - Feb 2007
 

CITY OF CHICAGO, DEPARTMENT OF GENERAL SERVICES, Chicago, Architectural Intern

Jan 2005 - Dec 2005
 

Education 

City College San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, US, Real Estate

Broker Pre-Licensing Program

Aug 2016 - May 2018
 

Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), Chicago, IL, US, Masters, Integrated Building Delivery

Post-Professional Degree

Sep 2010 - Dec 2011
 

School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, US, Masters, Interior Architecture

Sep 2004 - May 2006
 

University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Eau Claire, WI, US, Fine Arts

Jan 2004 - May 2004
 

Ajou University, Suwon, KR, BArch, Architecture

EESA - NAAB evaluated for US equivalency

Mar 1999 - Jun 2003
 

Awards 

Full-ride scholarship, Scholarship

1999
 

Areas of Specialization 

Skills