Hayden Alyssa Prillwitz

Within the last seven years of critically studying the built environment, both in practice and academia, where I have found my foothold is primarily in research and theory. Though theory and practice are seen as opposite sides of a binary spectrum, I believe the two are cohesive and offer a pragmatism that would not exist without the other. Theory informs practice as all architectural ideas must begin as a theory to develop a precedent; though, professional practice commonly uses precedents rather than sets them. Theory is crucial to architectural practice as it allows architects to leverage their critical capacity to set a precedent. Architecture allows theory to be practiced just as science allows theory to become innovation.

For the last three years, academia has offered me the opportunity to explore architectural representation styles. Through this, I've redefined what architecture means to me and how it's visually articulated. Along with photorealistic renderings, I've had the opportunity to create dystopian illustrations and photo-composites of built forms to create unique visualizations of space. This labor of love gives me complete control over the final form. This, combined with diagramming and theory, is my ideal representation and defines who I am as a designer.