Meet the 2025 Young Architects Forum Chair!
Name: Sanzinia Nevarez
Firm: LGA Partners
Family: My husband Jim and three cats Lenny, Pantera and Flip.
Years in practice: 12
Education: B. Arch. and M.S. Arch. from the Autonomous University of Nuevo Leon
Favorite thing about YAF: The fellowship and meeting a lot of likeminded people that are passionate about architecture and the profession.
Why should young architects join YAF? It opens opportunities and gets your foot in the door. It was the best way for me as a newcomer to the city to know the firms and meet a lot of young professionals.
Your first job: A tour guide on a Herpetarium for a summer.
Project you’re proudest of: LGA’s YASC submission in 2023 that got us the win! It was so fun to work with something as iconic as the rivers of Pittsburgh.
Biggest design challenge you’ve faced: Learning to work from metric to imperial.
What have you always wanted to tell your clients? Know when to stop making changes for the sake of the project timeframe, look at the big picture and trust the architects to do what they know.
Favorite architectural style: Art Nouveau.
Favorite tool (can be digital, drafting, physical…): I imagine things in 3D, I love playing around with volumes on Sketch up because it is so fun and user friendly, and it can be taken to many other software’s to “polish.”
Favorite building: The Monterrey Central Library by Legorreta Architects, Ricardo Legorreta took a lot inspiration from Luis Barragan for his own work. I used this building as my case study for my masters degree’s thesis.
Favorite local landmark or hidden gem: All Downtown Pittsburgh is so beautiful, I can’t pick one, this is such a gorgeous city.
Architect you’d like to have coffee with: Luis Barragan or Juhani Pallasmaa
What do you like to do when you’re not working? We just bought and renovated a house; we still have many little projects and DIYs to do in there.
Best gift to give an architect: A trip to a city known for their architecture and let them plan the itinerary.
If you hadn’t become an architect, what would you have been? A museum Curator or an exhibition designer.
If you could live anywhere in the world, where? Anywhere you could walk everywhere, cars were not needed, and that had good food and museums.
Most inspiring city: Can’t wait to go back to Madrid, loved the food, the city, the parks, the museums and the metro!
What’s on your iPod/Pandora/Spotify? I mainly do podcasts, mostly in Spanish, anything scary! Also, I’m swooning over Debi tirar mas Fotos from Bad Bunny, the old school Latin rhythms mixed with reggaeton are *chef’s kiss.”
What are you currently working on (personally or professionally)? Studying for the AREs, trying to go back to practicing painting and doing more creative non-work-related activities.
A skill architects need that’s not taught in school: How to network.
The secret to my success: Resilience
Advice to other young architects: Knock on doors, put yourself out there (come to YAF meetings *wink wink*), ask questions, don’t be afraid of reaching out for help and guidance when needed.
Architectural quote to practice by: This part of Luis Barragan’s Pritzker acceptance speech: “the words Beauty, Inspiration, Magic, Spellbound, Enchantment, as well as the concepts of Serenity, Silence, Intimacy and Amazement, all these have nestled in my soul, … they have never ceased to be my guiding lights”
Are you interested in learning more about the Young Architects Forum?
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