Alumni Profile
Diversity of Life Experiences
Henrietta Oyula
M. Arch
2009
We learn from our past. It it is thus important to look at where we have come from, to learn from our cultural past and to look at the reasons why we lived the way that we did and what it is that works today. How we can combine these ideas and techniques to formulate a solution for our current problems?
Henrietta Oyula’s diversity of life experiences has galvanized how she views the world as a designer. She has lived in a variety of built environments and her socioeconomic status has varied. She was raised in Kenya where she lived in the rural countryside and was an occupant of a middle class government housing project. She moved to the United States to study Architecture in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Boston, Massachusetts.
As an architecture student, Henrietta has insightfully found value in an eclectic collection of built environments. “We learn from our past. It it is thus important to look at where we have come from, to learn from our cultural past and to look at the reasons why we lived the way that we did and what it is that works today. How we can combine these ideas and techniques to formulate a solution for our current problems?” she asks.
Henrietta is a 2003 graduate of the University of Utah, where she received a Bachelor of Science in Architecture, and a 2009 graduate of the Boston Architectural College’s Master of Architecture program. She is the recipient of the 2008 Roy Viklund Scholarship, and the 2009 Thesis Commendation, as well as the Edwin T. Steffian Centennial Thesis Award. She also was awarded the 2009 President’s Award.
Henrietta used her thesis as an opportunity to investigate the synthesis of building techniques and cultures and its application as a solution to address the living conditions of under-served communities in developing nations.
Drawing from her own life experience in Kenya and her education and her experience in practice at CBT Architects, and E.R. Racek Associates, Henrietta seeks to provide a system of design and construction techniques developed from a successful synthesis of feasible vernacular architectural elements, and modern building techniques that can be the driving force for change in substandard housing conditions. Before accepting a position in a private firm in Windhoek, Namibia, Henrietta returned to her home country of Kenya and partnered with the non-profit Pamoja Trust to further her research in this seminal endeavor.
As an architecture student, Henrietta has insightfully found value in an eclectic collection of built environments. “We learn from our past. It it is thus important to look at where we have come from, to learn from our cultural past and to look at the reasons why we lived the way that we did and what it is that works today. How we can combine these ideas and techniques to formulate a solution for our current problems?” she asks.
Henrietta is a 2003 graduate of the University of Utah, where she received a Bachelor of Science in Architecture, and a 2009 graduate of the Boston Architectural College’s Master of Architecture program. She is the recipient of the 2008 Roy Viklund Scholarship, and the 2009 Thesis Commendation, as well as the Edwin T. Steffian Centennial Thesis Award. She also was awarded the 2009 President’s Award.
Henrietta used her thesis as an opportunity to investigate the synthesis of building techniques and cultures and its application as a solution to address the living conditions of under-served communities in developing nations.
Drawing from her own life experience in Kenya and her education and her experience in practice at CBT Architects, and E.R. Racek Associates, Henrietta seeks to provide a system of design and construction techniques developed from a successful synthesis of feasible vernacular architectural elements, and modern building techniques that can be the driving force for change in substandard housing conditions. Before accepting a position in a private firm in Windhoek, Namibia, Henrietta returned to her home country of Kenya and partnered with the non-profit Pamoja Trust to further her research in this seminal endeavor.
