Elle Fourie
Scholar since:
2024-08-01
Scholarship received:
Next Generation Undergraduate Scholarship
Education:
University of Florida
Hometown:
Homestead, FL
Elle Felicia Fourie is an architecture student in the College of Design and Planning at University of Florida. Passionate about ideology, global culture, and natural art, she incorporates these themes into her expressive design.
The origin of her interest lies in Unincorporated Miami Dade, near the Everglades. As the acres of farmland and greenery she grew up with gradually became massive cookie-cutter housing projects that her community fought hard against, she held true to remembering the importance of regularly seeing, hearing, and breathing in life in a balanced environment. She studied, not only for South Florida’s community, but for the broader underrepresented and marginalized communities across the world, in a battle against greed and thoughtlessness that demographic differences, like wealth inequality and ethnicity, face daily.
Her proposed work in the classroom does what these businesses fail to do: balance intention with context. From a culinary institute, inspired by the recent partnership between South Carolina and Taiwan’s Education Departments and based upon the history of rice between West Africa and East Asia, to a mixed-use connective hub in the underutilized space between Madison Square Garden and Greeley Square, blending the philanthropic interests of Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Lin Manuel Miranda, and BTS, with the 5 elements of hip hop, she places great importance in the meaning behind her work.
Now, she looks forward for more opportunities to further emphasize the beauty of thoughtfulness and intention to a profession that changes lives everyday.
The origin of her interest lies in Unincorporated Miami Dade, near the Everglades. As the acres of farmland and greenery she grew up with gradually became massive cookie-cutter housing projects that her community fought hard against, she held true to remembering the importance of regularly seeing, hearing, and breathing in life in a balanced environment. She studied, not only for South Florida’s community, but for the broader underrepresented and marginalized communities across the world, in a battle against greed and thoughtlessness that demographic differences, like wealth inequality and ethnicity, face daily.
Her proposed work in the classroom does what these businesses fail to do: balance intention with context. From a culinary institute, inspired by the recent partnership between South Carolina and Taiwan’s Education Departments and based upon the history of rice between West Africa and East Asia, to a mixed-use connective hub in the underutilized space between Madison Square Garden and Greeley Square, blending the philanthropic interests of Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Lin Manuel Miranda, and BTS, with the 5 elements of hip hop, she places great importance in the meaning behind her work.
Now, she looks forward for more opportunities to further emphasize the beauty of thoughtfulness and intention to a profession that changes lives everyday.