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LSU Architecture Students Win Earth Made Competition
LSU architecture students in associate professor Robert Holton’s class won the Earth Made Competition, an international design challenge to plan buildings using earth materials. “Last semester my studio participated in an international competition focused…
Read Full StoryNew to LSU: Q&A with Meredith Gaglio
Meredith Gaglio is an assistant professor in the LSU School of Architecture. She is a historian of modern and contemporary architectural technology, urbanism, and the environment, with previous experience in professional practice. Her dissertation…
Read Full StoryNicole Hilton Named “Young Alumna of the Year”
LSU School of Architecture grad Nicole Hilton (BArch 2007) was named a “Young Alumna of the Year” by the LSU Alumni Association Hall of Distinction 2021. Nicole is the first Black female graduate of…
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Thinking, learning, research, and design centered on the collaborative act of making . . .
LSU School of Architecture students develop a solid foundation of traditional design, hand building, and drawing skills and learn to use computer and technological resources. The architecture program at LSU provides a balance between broadening educational experiences and discipline-focused coursework. In addition to learning how to make buildings, students develop a sense of professionalism and leadership in shaping the world by learning how to see, think, and act creatively.
Architecture Featured Student

Naomi Mareschal
“I’m captivated by the idea of being able to create space and experience, and yet do so through reason and logic.”
Bachelor of Architecture Naomi's Story
Naomi Mareschal
Bachelor of Architecture
Naomi Mareschal became interested in design at a young age, and under unlikely circumstances. Originally from New Orleans, she became intrigued with architecture after her family’s home flooded from Hurricane Katrina.
“After Hurricane Katrina, I lived in a FEMA trailer on my front yard,” she shared. “Over those two years, I watched my house get rebuilt from the ground up. Having been amidst all the design decisions of the house I now inhabit, I have ever since then been fascinated with all things architecture and its related professions (construction, interior design, etc.)”
“Architecture draws from all of the subjects I’m most interested by: art, science, technology and environmental awareness,” she said. “You have to constantly consider so many factors to be able to successfully design and create architecture, which has been a welcomed challenge.”
Naomi said architecture is the ideal field for her, since she prefers experiential learning rather than just I studying from a textbook. “I’m much better suited to a more hands-on approach as I deal with mostly drawing, model-making, and rendering,” she explained. “In addition, I am very much a social learner so I take advantage of the collaborative atmosphere in the studio and our little architecture community.”
Studying architecture has been different than what she initially imagined. “Coming into the architecture program at LSU, I expected to have to deal with math and physics a lot more than I actually have,” she said. “While basic math concepts are in integral part of practicing architecture, the math involving numeric equations doesn’t play much of a role in design. However, being that math isn’t my strongest subject, having the School of Architecture within the College of Art & Design has turned out to be the best fit for me. I get to truly focus on designing.”
Naomi has enjoyed each of her studio classes so far. “Each has had such a different focus, getting more and more detailed with each class, and I have truly seen my skills develop. I do also enjoy the history and technical classes that come with the major, but I’m pulled to the hands-on approach found only in the studio.”
This past summer she had the chance to intern at Brown University for the architect of the university. “The experience confirmed that I am much more interested in the design aspect of architecture rather than the technical logistics of it,” she said. “That being said, I would love the opportunity to intern in many different fields (interior design, set design…) as well as architecture, and be able to do so in different places around the world.”
She has also particularly enjoyed traveling on class field trips. So far, she has traveled to Atlanta, Georgia and Chicago, Illinois. “There is something so awe-inspiring about being able to finally visit and experience the buildings and structures you have been studying in class,” she shared. “Both trips strengthened relationships within our studio community, both amongst the students and with the professors.”

Design by Naomi Mareschal
In addition to the major field trips, architecture students have the opportunity to go on site visits each semester. “These day field trips are integral to the success of our designs, as experience is such an important factor to the project,” Naomi said.
She’s ready to explore the world: “With all of my travel experiences having been so enjoyable, I’m very much looking forward to my semester abroad in Paris next fall!”
Designing the Future
See what our architecture students have been creating.
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First-year design projects are intended to provide practice in ordering a design inquiry and structuring conceptual and visual arguments.
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Second-year students explore the connection between architecture and context.
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Third-year studios emphasize planning buildings while incorporating studies in the technologies of materials, structure, environmental controls, lighting, and acoustics.
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Fourth-year students in Architectural Design VIII focused on high-rise urban housing in New York City and the interplays between the urban experience and the design of comfortable, marketable interior environments.
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Fifth-year students focus on the comprehensive design of a single building, integrating material selection, mechanical, acoustical, structural, lighting, and 2D and 3D studies.
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Graduate Design Studio I introduces students to the process of design through a series of exercises that asks them to engage the questions of the profession, first in isolation, then in combination, with each assignment adding new parameters or tasks to their current body of work.
Don’t just learn it, live it.

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