Regional and City Planning graduate student Georgex Tafoya recently shared his favorite childhood memory of as part of the 2021 Latinx in Architecture San Francisco (LiASF) workshop, “Exploring our Latinidad,” led by James Rojas of Place It!
Read more in the March 2021 issue of ByDesign: Journal of Exceptional Achievement, and see an excerpt below.
Barrio Dreamin’
Georgex Tafoya
My favorite childhood memory is playing soccer in my front
yard under the supervision of my grandmother in our East
Los Angeles home. As the only child, I would use my
imagination to entertain myself at home. I would imagine
myself playing under bright lights in a huge stadium filled
with thousands of fans. I was the soccer superstar, and my
grandmother was the referee. This was a time for me to
play outside and to dream. For my grandmother, this was a
break from the work she had waiting for her in our garage
where she would sew clothes. My front yard in East L.A. is
the place where I most enjoyed my childhood, and it
continues to be a space where my younger cousins can
play and create memories
Telesis, a journal produced by students in the University of Oklahoma Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture, has earned first place in the 2026 Douglas Haskell Award for Student Journals for its seventh volume, “Unfold.” This marks the fourth time the publication has earned recognition for excellence in student architectural journalism. It shares the honor with student journals from Columbia University, University of Michigan, and Cal Poly.
Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture congratulates Thinh "Henry" Duong, a master's student in the Division of Interior Design, for earning first place in the 2026 Robert Bruce Thompson Annual Student Light Fixture Design Competition.
Gibbs College of Architecture Institute for Quality Communities (IQC) Director and Division of Planning, Landscape Architecture, and Design (PLAD) faculty member Amber N. Wiley, Ph.D., recently published a new book, Collective Yearning: Black Women Artists from the Zimmerli Art Museum.
