Welcome to our 2021 Summer Scholars
Hanbury’s Nicholas E. Vlattas Summer Scholar program kicks off this week with some exciting opportunities. Our firm’s culture is enriched by the dynamic of having these young designers working with us elbow to elbow growing our strong firm connectivity and design community during the summer. Now that we have some mastery over collaborating remotely, it was clear that this summer would be a great time to build on our experience of successfully working together in a virtual and physical environment. Though the scholars typically all live and work in Norfolk, we decided to expand hosting summer scholars in our other offices to create another bridge of connection. The Class of 2021 will see scholars living and working in Raleigh, Norfolk, and our Clemson offices.
This year more than 110 student designers from more than 20 different universities applied for this summer experience. Through a juried selection process, Hanbury selected the following talented students:
Kiaron Aiken received a Bachelor of Design from the University of Florida School of Architecture in May 2021 and is planning on attending Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation for his graduate studies. Kiaron is passionate about everything design related, including architectural design, graphic design, product design, typography, and photography. Working in Martin Gold Architects office over the past two years has helped him gain professional experience in model making and schematic design drawings. Kiaron aims to build new sustainability standards, while promoting affordable architecture for the shifting economical needs of the nuclear family.
KJ Ammon received a Bachelor of Architecture in May 2021, with a minor in Sustainability and Intermediate German from Clemson University. She also studied at The Charles E. Daniel Center for Building Research and Urban Studies in Genoa, Italy during the spring semester of 2020 where she was honored with an AIASC Student Design Award for her project, Genoa Food Lab. KJ’s professional experience includes an internship for Payette (2019 AIA firm of the year) preparing digital and physical models, construction document drawings, full-scale mock-ups, and schematic design drawings.
Sophia Li is a rising fifth year student at North Carolina State University who received a Bachelor of Environmental Design in Architecture this May and is anticipating a Bachelor of Architecture in 2022. Sophia just returned from studying abroad in Prague. Her experience includes internships with Jim Spencer Architects and POD Architecture + Design where she produced design development and construction drawings, created renderings and presentation graphics, and participated in site visits and client meetings. She also explored different resilient building systems for coastal mitigation during her NCSU assistantship research. She was AIAS Vice President elect, an AIA Triangle Award for Design Excellence nominee (2020 & 2021) and earned the Student Merit Award for the AIA SAR Design Award (4/2020).
Kenneth Hicks is anticipating a Bachelor of Architecture from Virginia Tech in 2023. He is currently working with the FutureHAUS team to prepare for the FutureHAUS’s presentation at the Dubai World Expo in the fall. He will be traveling with the team to Dubai as well, serving to help reconstruct and give tours of the FutureHAUS. Kenneth has experience as a properties project manager and as an electrical engineering intern where he prepared CAD documents from architectural and engineering sketches of Norfolk’s CHKD Emergency Care Wing. His honors include a second place award in Virginia Tidewater Builders Association Young Designer’s Competition.
