Rafael Armendariz

Rafael Armendariz

Scholar since
2021

Scholarship received
2021 Jason Pettigrew Memorial ARE Scholarship

Current occupation
Designer at assemblageSTUDIO

Education

The Ohio State University (M. Arch)
The University of Nevada Las Vegas (B.Arch)

Hometown
Las Vegas, NV

I grew up in the Mojave Desert, under the shadow of the Las Vegas Strip. Many of my earliest memories are watching my father toil over plan sets in his home office. He was a residential designer and when I started college at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas I decided to follow in his footsteps and pursue architecture. During my undergraduate career I focused on reacquainting myself with my hometown and learning how to design for the Mojave Desert. To supplement my studies, I became involved in the AIAS and the AIA to grow my leadership abilities, meet like minded individuals, and broaden my impact on the design community. I would go on to serve in roles at the local and national level.

Wanting to expand my horizon, I left Las Vegas in 2019 to pursue my M.Arch at the Ohio State University, focusing on pushing the limits of architecture through speculative design. Upon graduation I returned to Nevada to work at assemblageSTUDIO, a boutique architecture firm in Downtown Las Vegas, and work towards licensure. Here I am able to pursue place based design in my hometown while reimagining what architecture should be in the Mojave Desert.