JERRICA ARIAS
Portrait courtesy of Jerrica Arias.
Florida Atlantic University | Double majoring in Architecture and Urban Design
Jerrica is involved in school as president of The National Organization of Minority Architecture Students (NOMAS), The American Planning Association (APA) as a student member, member of FAU's Planning Society, and the secretary for The American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS). Jerrica is planning to apply her knowledge in architecture and planning and urban design to create mixed used communities to create and shape cities for their needs but to also go beyond the field and go into fashion, photography, industrial design, and mixed-media art.
Fractions
What inspired you to pursue architecture?
Architecture has always been present in my life. Even at the age of 9, living in Dominican Republic, not knowing what architecture was, my curiosity had me paying more attention to everything around me. I started to recognize that my surroundings were changing but specifically the buildings. The cultural, lively, and historical architecture that I have interacted with my whole childhood was taking a more modern approach. I also realized that the way people interacted and behaved between one another and between their surroundings was changing too. That is when I understood that the change happening between people was because of the buildings, because of their surroundings. I knew I wanted to make a change to my surroundings and for me to do so I needed to become an architect. Culture and society are as important in architecture as the aesthetics and structures, this is what differentiates architecture from other professions and the reason I want to expand that architectural knowledge into every field that I have taken interest on. I have seen how much architecture can impact people and their way of living but something that impacted me a lot was that architecture can be applied into everything. From the sciences to the art, architecture makes a part of the whole picture of society in some way. I want to be able to design under these artistic fields but with a sense for the people, make them a reality and people to interact with my designs whether is a sculpture, a painting, a drawings, a building, furniture, or even a garment. Being an architect will allow me to develop my designs into a reality in many fields. Being able to be part of the bigger picture, being part of one of the most influential professions in society is truly something I been looking forward all my life.
Final Design Rendering. Photo courtesy of Jerrica Arias.
What is the most important thing that you learned in the past year?
Out of the million things I have learned this part year the most profound thing I have learned is to not make excuses because of the circumstances and use them to your advantage. Work with what you have. Just accept what happened in the past, whatever it is that is going on and take it to your advantage for what is going to happen. This year has been nothing but new experiences. From the beginning of the year when I first started using different design software to the pandemic making me stay home and with no job. I realized that I had no control of the natural course of the world and I had to roll with whatever comes my way. I understood that from design six on I will have to use my computer to produce my work and that before the pandemic my excuse was that “I have no time to sit and learn the program” but now with all the time I had from staying at home I got to not only learn but to get comfortable to use them to produce and design my work. This year I have had no excuses I just did what I had to do at the moment and do it at the best of my capabilities that way for the future I will be more prepared and in the stances of failure I learned from them to improve myself and not repeat them.
New Orleans School Trip. Photo courtesy of Jerrica Arias.
What are some architectural organizations (or specific person/role model) that helped you learn to overcome an obstacle? How did they?
Back in 2017 when I started to study architecture at Florida Atlantic University, I had leadership experience from high school as I was the president of the foreign language honor society and member of the national art honor society and the honor society. We did multiple school wide events throughout the year and participated in competitions on state levels, but that level of leadership and exposure is not comparable to what a club in college entitles even as a member. Even with that background in leadership I was not entirely comfortable nor used to public speaking, the exposure or stepping out of my comfort zone. But this year I decided I needed to step out of my comfort zone and become a leader, be more out there and confident of myself. To better myself I ran for the secretary position in the American Institute of Architecture Student (AIAS) chapter at FAU. With that leadership role I went out of my comfort zone as I had to campaign in the upper division where I did not quite know everyone. I sent emails to professors and students, made posters, wrote a candidacy statement and ever since I been the connection between guest speakers for our meetings, our faculty, and the students. Not so long after becoming secretary I had the opportunity to open and be the president for the National Organization of Minority Architecture Students (NOMAS) chapter at FAU alongside with one of my classmates and three transfer students. Rather than staying a member for AIAS and let someone else open the NOMAS chapter, I got to establish myself more as a leader and run a student organization which made me confident of myself and a better colleague.
Photography Interest. Photo courtesy of Jerrica Arias.
If you were given the opportunity to repeat the year, what is one thing you’d do differently?
My experiences have helped me grow and come out of my comfort zone but if I could repeat the year, I would have taken more of my time to explore Florida. I have lived here for five years and I do not feel like I have been places besides Miami and Orlando which are the typical tourist places. Even though I did use my time to learn how to be better when it comes to computers, I spent a lot of time inside. I should have gone out and enjoyed the good weather and explore. And when I say to explore Florida I mean to go out to learn about those sites that can be found only in Florida like going canoeing through the everglades or skating through the beach drive, more outdoor activities that could be done with 3 people maximum keeping in mind the pandemic of course. It could have helped me a lot more to be more active besides just skating through my community. Being more active would have benefit me more in my physical and mental health.
Museum Trip. Photo courtesy of Jerrica Arias.
Sketch. Photo courtesy of Jerrica Arias.
As you reflect on the past year, what did you discover as your biggest strengths?
As someone that analyses every detail in every step of the way, I believe ambition and organization are my greatest strengths. This past year has been full of unforeseen circumstances, but regardless of the situation I took advantage of it. With the transition to working remotely it has allowed for more flexibility when it comes to completing projects from anywhere anytime, to commit and focus on how to achieve more. Having more time to be productive allows to not only complete my goals faster and have time for my hobbies but to also have extra time to set new goals. I always aim to improve myself in any areas that I feel like I’m lacking. One of my goals for this year was to expand my knowledge to become faster and precise at the different modeling software I use for school so I registered for a computational methods class where I got an understanding of design computing technologies and applications that I applied to design projects. I always follow my schedule as planned and with the extra time from staying at home I became more familiar with the modeling software since I had more time to practice. But there was only so many projects I could do for the class, so I took it a step further and added a new goal. I decided to use my old projects that were drafted on paper and develop them through modeling software to be able to expand my capacities and be able to share them in social media.
Final Presentation for Design 5. Photo courtesy of Jerrica Arias.
In terms of rising concerns and problems (in the architectural profession) over the past year, what is one change that you wished would happen and it did not? This can be in an educational or work atmosphere.
The purpose of architecture is to design communities for everyone, yet minorities get looked down upon and do not get their voices heard in the field especially when it is a woman. The extra effort, knowledge, and ability to connect and communicate that minority women must go through in the field to get the bare minimum is unacceptable.
Surrealism Sketches. Photo courtesy of Jerrica Arias.
