PAYETTE is pleased to announce the 2021-2022 recipient of the PAYETTE Sho-Ping Chin Memorial Academic Scholarship, Virginia Tech student Brittney Sooksengdao.
Brittney is the eldest of two daughters of Lao, Vietnam War-era refugees, born and raised in Olathe, Kansas. She spent her childhood in Kansas with an extensive Lao family and community until she attended Yale University for her undergraduate degree in Architecture and Urban Studies from 2012-2016. Since graduating Brittney has worked primarily in commercial workplace interior architecture in Washington, DC where she recently received her WELL AP credential. Currently, Brittney is pursuing her graduate degree in architecture full-time at the Virginia Tech Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center while also working part-time at Gensler DC.
Brittney is a resolute architectural designer driven by design as a service to empower people through wellness, connection, and social equity. Shaped by her personal identity and disciplined through years of competitive gymnastics, she pursues design with grit.
Diana Tsang, AIA LEED AP, Committee MemberBrittney’s own story resonated with her graduate research project. Both her professional and school work are excellent, they show maturity, beauty and thoughtfulness.
Brittney is the sixth recipient of the scholarship, which honors Sho-Ping Chin, FAIA, a long-time principal at PAYETTE and a healthcare practice leader who was instrumental in defining and elevating the national discourse for women in design. The annual process of giving in Sho-Ping’s name offers us the time to reflect on the professional and personal values she brought to our practice, and it is an honor to select a recipient who exemplifies these qualities. As a firm, we are excited to support Brittney and see her advance throughout her career.
Samples from Brittney’s Portfolio:
The Playbook: Methods & Forms in Architecture, Undergraduate Studio Spring 2015
The Capitol for the 51st State, Forum, Graduate Studio Fall 2020
The 2025 OpenLAB Boston studio work will be exhibited at Virginia Tech Monday, March 2nd through Wednesday, March 4th.
Please join us for the following events on Monday, March 2nd:
11:00am - Lecture with Parke MacDowell
1:00pm Lobby talk with Kevin Sullivan
This year’s studio identifies seven sites along the frayed edges of Boston’s Greenway. The Greenway is a one-mile-long linear park running through the heart of the city, reconnecting downtown Boston with its waterfront. Many of the parcels along its edges remain undeveloped and present mute, blank facades to the public realm. Addressing and repairing these edges through acts of infilling, layering, grafting, framing, and placemaking is the core focus of the studio—SUTURE.