ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: ASIA NG
As a five year old at Russell Byers Charter School, Asia Ng was excited when her mother, an architect, came for career day. Amazingly, following the workshop, she found her interest in architecture ignited! Asia spent six years at Byers School before transferring to Masterman and finally completing her high-school education at Germantown Friends.
At 15, Asia had her first internship with the Philadelphia-based restoration architectural firm, Kelly Maiello which was, at that time, deeply involved in the interior renovations of the Parkway Central branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia. The internship gave Asia her first experience visiting an active construction site, and though she had long-felt architecture was her calling, she was then completely hooked. Over the course of two summers interning at the firm, Asia assisted with surveys, created drawings, and assisted in the design of a new website for the organization.
It was no mystery what Asia would study in college. Now student in the architecture department at Temple University, she is also employed at the local architecture firm, FIFTEEN Architecture + Design. As an intern there, Asia creates renderings, presentation drawings, and 3D models. Asia also has enjoyed the opportunity to delve deeply into practice, becoming involved in the full cycle of work by attending construction meetings, visiting construction sites, and assisting in the completion of punch-list items to carry projects to completion.
Now a junior at Temple, Asia looks forward to continuing her education after graduation, attending graduate school and eventually earning a PhD in justice-related research. Once she completes her licensure, Asia can imagine herself becoming a full-time academic, and maybe even running her own practice. Ultimately, she hopes to combine design work with her interest in educating future generations of architecture students. She believes architecture is meant to serve people and rectify injustices in our society, and this is her focus.
One architect Asia admires is the late Zaha Hadid, who created extraordinary buildings around the world. Hadid designed 950 projects for 44 countries, and like Asia, believed in creating transformative spaces that work in sync with their surroundings.
Putting her expertise into practice, Asia and her mother have been assisting Laurada Byers in finding an architect who can adjust her living space to become more accessible and useful for managing her Parkinson’s disease. We commend Asia on how successfully she has built her dreams!