Mina Chow@minachow
Mina Chow
Lecturer
B.A. in Architecture, University of California, Berkeley
M.Arch, Harvard University
Professor Chow is a licensed architect and filmmaker who currently teaches 1st year building science studio and professional practice at USC. She has taught 1st and 2nd year design studio, architectural history and theory, as well as serving as Faculty Coordinator for Executive Education. She is principal of LA design/multi-media and production firm mc² SPACES, which has completed several international design and multi-media projects. Her design constructions focus on idea-driven structural and skin research based on the fundamental properties of materials and formulated in context site analysis.
Professor Chow is interested in expanding the awareness of architecture and design by bringing compelling and passionate stories about the built environment to film, television and multi-media. Her awards include production grants from the Graham Foundation in Chicago, the California Architectural Foundation, the USC Architectural Guild, the USC US-China Institute and the USC Ambassador's Fund. She has directed/produced films for the National Chapter and local chapters of the American Institute of Architects and the University of Southern California. Currently, she is directing/producing FACE OF A NATION: "What Happened at the World's Fair?” a feature documentary about World's Fairs which will be completed in 2015. She also directed the USC School of Architecture "100 Years of Architecture" documentary short in 2014. In 2011, she created BRAVE NEW WORLD: Architectural Icons of Los Angeles, a broadcast pilot about innovative architecture that was created for the Mayor’s office in the city of Los Angeles. She is a member of AIA and NCARB.
Professor Chow has worked for several innovative architecture firms including Eisenman Architects, and TsAO + McKOWN Architects in NYC. At UC Berkeley, she won the Peerless Award for Architectural Design, and was on the winning team for the Amerika Gedenkbibliothek International Library Design Competition. At Harvard University, she co-taught a graduate seminar with Diane Lewis and researched architectural theory with K. Michael Hays. She has collaborated on several design-media projects with the late Doug Michels of Ant Farm. Recently, she was on the award-winning U.S. Pavilion team "Spontaneous Interventions: Design Actions for the Common Good" at the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale.