Welcome to our 2020 Summer Scholars
This week, Hanbury welcomes our eighteenth class of Summer Scholars. Typically, we would have met the design students last weekend at Hague Towers to tour Downtown Norfolk and orient them to their new home for the summer. On their first day, the firm would host a welcome breakfast where they would be introduced to everyone, get a firm orientation, discuss our design work and culture, get lunch with our emerging professionals’ group, and possibly walk the site of their summer project.
The Nicholas E. Vlattas Summer Scholar program is one of our Legacies, one we are aiming high to preserve. This summer will not be typical as described above, but we are determined to rise to the challenge of continuing the thriving program. Instead of the in-person orientations, we will be meeting virtually. Instead of lunch in the city, we will be eating together over a Zoom call. And, instead of walking their project site, we will be touring the site via Google Maps. The summer will look different because of distance, but we see the space created between us as a design opportunity we can shape into a meaningful place.
This year more than 100 student designers from 20 different universities applied for this summer experience. Through a juried selection process, Hanbury selected the following talented students:
John Zogg is a rising fourth year student anticipating a bachelor’s degree in architecture with a minor in Political Science from The University of Oklahoma in 2022. He is currently pursuing his Real Estate Broker’s License and is an AIAS member. John has experience with site analysis, sustainability, and structural systems design. John has served as the Lead Graphic Designer and Design Chair for his fraternity and has interests in web and automobile design.
Emily Zekany is a rising fourth-year student anticipating a Bachelor of Science degree in architecture from The University of Virginia in 2021. Emily’s extensive leadership experience includes an internship with AmeriCorps’ 100 Fold Summer Studio where, alongside 15 students and young professionals from around the globe, she developed skills in leadership, service, and design. During her time with AmeriCorps, Emily generated environmental design strategies for an intensive eight-week design-build project for the local community. Emily also serves as her Sorority’s Design and Apparel Specialist.
Jameson O’Donnell is a rising fifth-year student anticipating a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Virginia Tech in 2021. Jameson was a finalist in Virginia Tech’s prestigious Second and Third Year competitions. In 2019, he traveled to Japan for a two-week study abroad program called Streets, Buildings, and Gardens: Japanese Culture in Constructed Artifacts where he compared the urban fabric and cultural dichotomy between western and non-western traditions. During the spring 2020 semester he participated in VT’s Chicago Studio where he studied at von Weise Associates and completed architectural and design research for Liederbach and Graham Architects.
Ashkan Radnia is a candidate for a Master of Architecture degree and Master of Information Technology, 2021, from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He received a Bachelor of Architecture from Azad University of Tehran, Iran in 2017. His experience includes numerous internships including the latest for Ivan Toth Depeña, preparing concepts, interactive media, parametric and generative design development, and design proposal documentation. He also is a research assistant for UNC Charlotte |IDRL Lab & d-Arts Lab, which is part of the Design & Research team developing digital prototypes, BIM workflow, and bench marking solution for local firms. Ashkan co-founded FAAM, a design/architecture studio based in Iran, and has received numerous design awards such as Arch Daily’s “The Best Drawings of Year” for his Kahrizak Drawings, Arch Daily’s “The Best Student Design-Build” for Urban Installation #5 and was shortlisted Top 50 for the WASTE Multi-Purpose Stadium Competition 2018.
