DANNY ORTEGA is an architectural designer who is currently completing a Master of Architecture degree at the University of Pennsylvania. Raised in rural Nebraska,  Danny completed his Bachelors of Science in Design at the University of Nebraska. During that time, he completed "Searching for the Ineffable," an award-winning investigation on sacredness and spiritual experiences in architecture sans specific religious affiliations. 

After completing his undergraduate studies in 2018, he worked at the world-renowned office of Morphosis Architects in Los Angeles. Led by the Pritzker Prize Laureate Thom Mayne, Danny focused on visualization and representation. This includes contribution in INTERFACES, an installation featured in Milan Design Week in 2019, and their most recent publication, "Morphosis: 2004-2018".

In 2020, he worked as a design intern for the highly acclaimed namesake firm of Tighe Architecture. In his short time there, he completed a competition with a team of 7 for a mixed-use facility in Joshua Tree, California. 


Most recently, in 2021, he interned at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) and completed a competition in Hangzhou, China.

To further his abilities and research interests outside of school, he started a speculative practice with some of his colleagues called UWU Arc. As a team of three, they have participated on nine competitions in under a year. The team's work was awarded several honors and published on well-known platforms including Surface Magazine, The _Ark, and Babble Magazine.