ELISA MEDINA-JAUDES

Portrait courtesy of Elisa Medina-Jaudes

Elisa Medina-Jaudes is an architectural designer based at Cornell University, College of Architecture, Art, and Planning (AAP). She is also the former president of the National Organization of Minority Architecture Students (NOMAS), Cornell Chapter. Currently a fifth-year B. Arch student, Elisa has spent time working in numerous architecture and design offices. She has most recently worked at Höweler + Yoon, engaging multidisciplinary design in an urban context. Medina has also worked on documentary filmmaking and in prop design at Hangar Theatre. She hopes to translate her passions for film and architecture into a fulfilling career in production design.

What inspired you to study Architecture?

My mother is a librarian. If you looked at my childhood bookshelf you could see the phases I went through as a kid based on what books my mom got me that year. Paleontology, astronomy, Greek and Roman mythology, books on various artists and illustrators. I wanted to do it all. My parents encouraged me to use my artistic talents to choose a future career (they tried to sway me from being an artist for their fear I wouldn’t make any money). When I was 12, I had to do a project on what we wanted to be when we were older, a classic assignment for a sixth grader. My parents suggested I look into architecture for my project and the rest is pretty much history. I loved it. I eventually took an architecture summer course at The Cooper Union during my junior year of high school and knew that was what I wanted to study in college. It was the only career choice that I had stuck with for a consistent number of years.

Axonometric of Port Authority Redesign for studio taught by Daria Khapalova. - Courtesy of Elisa Medina-Jaudes.

In your Second year of college, you wanted to take a different route than the typical architectural job. What inspired you to search for options outside of Architecture?

I think after finishing freshman year of college, you get a taste of what your major is going to be like and whether or not you think it’s for you. One of the benefits of being in an architecture program is that all of your courses focus on architecture so you can get fully immersed into the subject. However, this also doesn’t leave much room for experiencing any other areas of study. You have to know that you want to pursue this degree head-on. Some students choose to leave the architecture program altogether and pursue something else. By my second year I was enjoying myself in architecture, but as my friends were beginning to think about what else they could do with such a versatile degree, I too wondered what else was out there for me to dive further into the world of design. While mulling it over with a friend, he asked me what I enjoyed doing and I told him. I love watching movies and television. In response, he asked why I didn’t do something in that field? It was a pretty simple question, but I had honestly never considered anything in the film industry up until that moment. For me it was just a hobby. It sounds silly, but it really only took that one question for me to consider using all my skills in architecture for a passion I’ve always had.

NOMAS Houston: Elisa and her fellow NOMAS members traveled to Houston for the 2017 NOMA Conference. - Courtesy of Elisa Medina-Jaudes.

NOMAS Render: Render completed for the 2018 Barbara G. Laurie NOMA: Student Design Competition. The project called for a community center that also served as a transportation hub in Woodlawn, IL. The project received the Juror’s Choice Award. - Courtesy of Elisa Medina-Jaudes.

How was your experience working for a local theatre company? What did you do? What did you learn?

After my second year of undergrad, I had an internship with the Hangar Theatre Company in Ithaca. It was a small local company and I was trying to find a place to dip my toes into different design worlds. I worked as an “apprentice” in the prop shop designing and building props for the shows. I worked in the woodshop and metal shop at school and used those skills to build larger-scale items. It’s always fun to see the behind-the-scenes of a production and even more fun to be a part of it. I learned about myself and what else I wanted to pursue with the skills I was honing in the architecture program. One of the more important events of that summer was meeting a set designer for one of the plays, who became a professor, and important mentor for me in my journey down this new path.

Concrete Model of Music Hall Design for studio taught by Leslie Lok. - Courtesy of Elisa Medina-Jaudes.

Tell us more about the set design course you took in College. What was the curriculum? What was your project?

In my third year, I took a Scenic Design Studio with professor Kent Goetz. He is an accomplished set designer and has taught at Cornell since 1991. I happened to meet him while at the Hangar Theatre Company, and he suggested I take his course that fall. He is a wonderful individual who immersed the class in the world of set design for theatre, through film, text, and his own work. We went through a series of projects on designing a set for a simple black box theatre that varied from interpreting a poem to designing a stage for the play Oedipus at Colonus. He encouraged his students to trust themselves in their work and to consider each aspect of what we placed into our sets, and to consider everything from the color of the walls, to the type of furniture we selected. Kent helped guide me toward next steps in my development of skills and interests outside of architecture.

Oedipus at Colonus Set Design: Elisa created studies and a model for her design and interpretation for Oedipus at Colonus. -Courtesy of Elisa Medina-Jaudes.

Having a person to talk to and ask questions is extremely important. There is a standard interpretation that architecture majors work in a firm as a drafter. Can you express the importance and the influence Jason Ardizzone, Winner of an Emmy for his work on Jesus Christ Superstar Live, had on you? How did he motivate you to pursue an interest in production design?

As the semester wound down during the fall of my third year, professor Goetz gave us a list of set and production designers to research and maybe connect with. He spoke with admiration for Jason Ardizzone-West, a former student of his, and a Cornell B. Arch alum. I asked Kent to put me in touch with Jason. Jason and I connected via email, and since we both lived close to New York City, we met for coffee. He was in his mid 40s and had studied architecture for two decades before he began to explore options other than what he majored in. He discovered set and production design and built a successful career in those fields. Jason is now an Emmy Award Winner. This small, informal meeting became a hugely impactful in what I wanted to do and who I wanted to be. He encouraged me to find my passion and follow it without hesitation. He told me there was a whole world full of architects who worked in set or production design and used their architectural skills to design their projects. He was happy that I found my passion for film early and pushed me to continue to search for options where I could take a step closer to what I wanted to do.

The film industry is where I want to be, but architecture will help get me there. The skills I’ve learned in school and through working in firms have become invaluable and I will continue to develop them until I graduate and beyond. I’m aiming to get my architecture license before moving into production design, though I know I can get to where I want to be!

Photo by Rachel Philipson, photo of the production Fortune, at the Hangar Theatre. Set design by Kent Goetz. Elisa worked on various props for this set and helped dress the set. - Courtesy of Elisa Medina-Jaudes.