SYDNEY MINA

Student at Cooper Union, The Irwin S. Chanin School Of Architecture.

Sydney Mina is an aspiring architect currently in her first year of studying at The Cooper Union. She is also a member of their NOMAS chapter. Prior to her studies at The Cooper Union, she was an intern at New York City School Construction Authority and the firm, HOK, at the age of 16. She was born and raised in Brooklyn, and she is of mixed race, which has always had a strong influence on her accomplishments and goals. She aims to earn her Bachelor’s degree in Architecture and gain her professional license through The Cooper Union’s five-year program.

Embracing Growth and Finding Strength in My Path as a Future Architect

What is your favorite dish?

I love steak and chicken burritos! (Especially the ones from Chipotle)

What is your favorite song by a Black artist?

Love Yourz by J. Cole is an amazing reminder to have faith in yourself and remember all you have to offer the world. You’re a wonderful person with many strengths that you should be enhancing and showing off, rather than bringing yourself down by comparing yourself to others. It’s definitely something I struggled with a lot as a young adult, but it’s something I have learned firsthand to be true. I hope everyone can realize it for themselves because when you do, you drop a lot of the negative weight that comparison brings.

Three additional fun facts about Sydney:

1. I love to play soccer and was on my high school Girl’s Varsity Soccer team for three years.

2. I love fashion and styling, so I’m always online shopping and creating lookbooks.

3. I really enjoy driving and listening to music on full blast in my car.

I usually practice my soccer skills, shooting, dribbling, and ball handling, by myself in an empty handball court, so I can shoot against the wall. Image courtesy of Sydney Mina.

What inspired you to study architecture?

I’ve always had a love for art and math. In high school, I majored in Fine Arts at Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn, NY. In my junior year, I was lucky enough to be chosen for the summer internship program with New York City School Construction Authority (NYCSCA). I was introduced to the world of construction and architecture as I worked as an intern at HOK, an architecture firm, through the NYCSCA program. I found myself intrigued by all the work and team effort that went into making a building that people rarely see, and so I yearned for more. I knew architecture would be a great combination of all my different areas of interests: math, art, hands-on building, and designing. I’d love to see what the world of architecture has to offer me, and what I can learn from it. I currently study at the Cooper Union and I find all I’ve learned in a semester to be invigorating. The pedagogy is definitely beneficial and teaches me how to humble myself as well as learn so much without even realizing it.

A five-minute gesture drawing I created from observation during my time in the Edward R. Murrow Fine Arts program. Image courtesy of Sydney Mina.

Name a Black architect/artist who most influenced you as an emerging professional. How did they?

Norma Sklarek was the pioneer for black women in the architecture field. She has even been referred to as the “Rosa Parks of architecture”. She’s had an influence on me because she was a trailblazer. I think it’s admirable to enter into a field knowing there’s no one like you there, and you’ll most likely be looked down on by everyone around you, but still push for it anyway.

One of the most difficult challenges in life is willingly choosing to do the thing no one else has done before. It takes a lot of gut and courage, and just for that I think she is a role model, but most importantly inspiring to other aspiring architects such as myself. Sklarek once said, “It [architecture] should be functional and pleasant, not just in the image of the ego of the architect”. That statement is such a powerful reminder of one of the main things architecture is about, the subject interacting with space, and sometimes it’s easy to lose sight of that in all of the complexity it takes to create a building. I think Sklarek empowers women through her consistent confidence in her worth, even though she has been challenged so much throughout her career.

In the winter, one of Sydney’s favorite hobbies is snowboarding with her family. Image courtesy of Sydney Mina.

Name a favorite project designed by a Black Architect. Why is it your favorite?

The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture by Freelon Adjaye Bond. I love the unique facade of the building, a bronze lattice as a reference to African American craftsmanship. The lattice controls the amount of light let into the building which is a one of a kind experience. At night, when it’s lit up, you can see into the building because of the design of the bronze lattice and it’s so beautiful. There’s so much to discover and unwrap about the museum. Nearly half of it is actually underground, something you’d never know if you were just strolling by. I’m also drawn to the shape of the building, it looks almost as if there are three trapezoids upside down stacked upon each other. It draws my eye up the building and out towards the landscape. I love unpacking all the complexities within a building and picking it apart piece by piece, just to put it back together and feel satisfied by the harmonious interaction between many different complexities. It’s always fun to look over a building for the 10th time and find something you didn’t even realize was there the first 9 times, but how cohesive it is with the design, as well as its beauty when it stands alone.

The roof view from my site visit to a school under construction in New York City because of its annex addition. Image courtesy of Sydney Mina.

How does your culture affect your studies and the way you design?

This is probably one of the harder questions, as I’m still discovering that for myself. I’m biracial, so culture to me isn’t just one pinpoint thing, it’s a variety of things combined because of the major influences both of my parent's cultures have on me. It’s definitely something I’ve tried defining and exploring as I grew up and continue to do as I’m still growing. However, seeing how Freelon Adjaye Bond weaves African American culture into his design and makes it such a monumental piece of the building, is really inspiring. I would love to incorporate details from both my Hispanic culture and Haitian culture, into my future designs. I would learn and discover how they interact with each other, potentially creating an original hybrid of the two, seeing as how both are equally a large part of how I define myself. I believe that it should not only show in my everyday life and beliefs, but it would also be amazing for it to shine in my work as an architect, especially since both cultures are considered to be minorities.

This is an original pomegranate ceramic sculpture Sydney created from scratch in her senior year of my Fine Arts program in high school for my art portfolio. Image courtesy of Sydney Mina.

Are there any organizations that helped you grow in architecture? How did they help you grow?

I would say NYCSCA, HOK, The Cooper Union, and NOMAS are all organizations that were an open door inviting me to learn more about architecture. Through these organizations I was exposed to more. At NYCSCA, I was given the opportunity to actually go on a site-visit to a school with a new annex being built. From the bottom to the top floor, I saw firsthand what the beginning stages and final stages of a project look like, almost as if I was peeling back layers of an onion. Through NYCSCA, I gained the opportunity to gain hands-on experience working in a genuine architecture firm. At HOK, I was exposed to AIA meetings and learned that every building actually has to have regulations and it’s a large part of the design. Due to my experience at my internship, I was encouraged to apply to The Cooper Union. The Cooper Union introduced me, through research for a written paper and through class lectures, to architects whom I never heard of before but soon grew to love such as Le Corbusier, Toshiko Mori, and Jeanne Gang. From Cooper Union, I was also exposed to their NOMAS chapter which has provided support socially and professionally. One of my colleagues, Leslie-Fairuz Abad-Neagu, actually introduced me to Primaverarch. All of these organizations helped me grow because of their connections to the architecture industry which helped me explore and continue to learn more.

In addition to snowboarding, Sydney also love hiking! This is Sydney at the top of Breakneck Ridge in New York. Image courtesy of Sydney Mina.

Tell us about your summer internship at HOK. What did you learn as an aspiring architect?

HOK was definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity. It’s such a rarity that you get to see firsthand what it’s like to be placed into any profession, where you get to see all the strings behind the curtain. When I began at HOK, I had no knowledge about architecture besides the fact that it was about designing buildings of course. Through HOK, however, I was introduced to the crucial collaborative effort that’s essential when making a building. Without an engineer, the building won’t stand, and without a construction worker that building won’t ever leave the paper. All these fields, engineering, construction, and architecture, are all interlocked, and I never realized the importance of collaboration until I worked at HOK. I was introduced to AIA, the American Institute of Architects, through the weekly meetings they held and discovered that architects have limitations when designing because of rules and regulations they have to follow to make sure their building is “up to code”, or else it won’t ever be finished. Working at HOK was a blessing, I had so many resources accessible to me through informational meetings, the workload, and the employees sitting at the desk across from me. I was able to see what the process of making a building actually looks like. I gained so much insight into a field I had no knowledge about in such a short amount of time.

Sydney’s set up when creating models from her original Rhino design during her first semester, Fall 2020. Image courtesy of Sydney Mina.

Based on your internship, what is the importance of firms giving students a chance to intern at their office?

I would say the opportunity of a “sneak peek” into what your potential life could be. It’s so difficult going through the college process and choosing a profession without much information about where you’ll end up in 5 years. There’s a lot of uncertainty in the way things are set up in terms of growing up, choosing a career, and becoming an adult, and that’s pretty scary, especially for those of us like me who like to be in control and in the know. When firms give students a chance to intern at their offices it’s eye-opening. It’s easier to gain a sense of direction and allows you to see the different paths you can take. At HOK, I was exposed to not just one field but multiple, interior design, speculations, engineering, etc. Another benefit is the unique opportunity of getting to hear other employees’ experiences, and the paths they took to get where they are today. It creates this general roadmap for you, and from that, you get to shape your future and tailor it to your needs and desires. Without a doubt, firms allowing young adults to be interns at their office is extremely beneficial. I encourage my peers to go looking for those opportunities because I know it’s a once in a lifetime experience.

Apple picking trip during a day off from studies. Image courtesy of Sydney Mina.

If you were able to talk to your younger self, what would you say?

Relax, it’s okay to not get everything “right” on the first try. I would definitely say I’m a perfectionist and studying at The Cooper Union has taught me that being a good architect means failing in order to succeed. I entered my first semester with a very critical mindset, that I had to get everything “right” on the first try or else I wasn’t “good enough.” However, through the pedagogy and the support of my professors, I’m beginning to learn that everything is a process and nothing worthwhile comes easy. I spent my first semester working on over 20 iterations of my final project design before I could find one decent enough to pursue, and even then it still needs more improvement in my opinion. I’m learning that as an architect you’ll always be creating and changing that idea to get to an even better one, the work is never done. Being a student at The Cooper Union definitely betters me as a growing architect but also humbles me as a person, and I can definitely see that there’s been self-growth and there still is more to come.

Observation drawing that Sydney drew in one of her classes at Cooper Union, using only charcoal exploring foreshortening through the illustration of her view looking down at herself. Image courtesy of Sydney Mina.

What would you want to say to the next generation of aspiring Black women architects?

Perseverance, perseverance, and hard work. It’s so difficult being a minority in any scenario, but in a white male-dominated field it’s even more challenging. You’ll always have to keep pushing yourself to be better than your last efforts in order to attempt to be on the same level as them. You’ll have to deal with the snide remarks from those who are in a “traditional mindset” and don’t take you seriously because “women aren’t supposed to be architects” and especially not black women. You should expect to have to prove yourself even though you worked so unbelievably hard to earn your degree and your license to even put your foot through the door. I’m sorry those are the most common circumstances for us right now, but your hard work is always going to shine through. I am one of the few non-caucasian students in my class and one of the few black women on top of that, and that just goes to show how my years of hard work in my schooling and my application to The Cooper Union paid off and I earned my spot because of it. Believe me when I say your work will speak for itself. If it is hard work, authentic, and genuine, it will stand all on its one and no one will be able to deny it. Your effort isn’t for nothing, you will begin to shine because of your perseverance and your determination. I believe in you.

Sydney with her father crossing a river on rocks while on one of their hikes. Image courtesy of Sydney Mina.

In terms of rising concerns and problems (in the architectural profession) over the past year, what is one change that you wish would happen and it did not? This can be in an educational and/or work atmosphere.

Closing the gender pay gap in architecture firms. Women have to work so unbelievably hard to even be considered when standing next to a man, and on top of that, they have to swallow the big pill of getting paid less. It’s insulting that as a woman one of the most fundamental aspects of the workplace doesn’t demand respect for women architects.