Megan Holmes

This is is a photo of me with my final presentation for my Winter Studio class. I focused on how to encourage and strengthen the community in a traditional apartment building complex through manipulation of the physical environment. I enacted a variety of real-world interventions and engaged with a property management company during the process. The presentation included drums, fish, and even a ‘clown bag’… 🙂

Degree: MArch

Expected Graduation Date: Spring 2024

Prior Degree
Bachelor of Arts, Southern Oregon University, Ashland

2022-2023 Scholarship
George F. and Geraldine D. Andrews Endowed Scholarship
Yost Grube Hall Architecture Scholarship

I Am Originally From Eugene, OR

WHY I CAME TO THE UO AND HOW I CHOSE MY MAJOR
I decided to return to my hometown of Eugene both because it had excellent elementary schools for my son and because the UO has a reputation for having the best Sustainable Architecture program in the country! The professors are fantastic. I especially appreciate working under Megan Haight and Allison Kwok, very talented and successful women architects. Tom Hahn is another professor I admire highly. The terminal studio he ran in the Spring of 2022 was breathtaking.

I have spent 20 years doing graphic design and wanted to do something more to help combat climate change. When searching online for a ‘Green MBA’ to supplement my advertising portfolio, Google kept showing me the sustainable architecture program at the U of O. During the COVID pandemic, I decided it was worth a try to see if I would be accepted. It was an honor to get into this program! I’m so happy to be studying with the tremendous professors here in my hometown.

UNIQUE QUALITIES I BRING TO MY STUDIES
I spent 20 years working in graphic design and advertising. In the last 10 years I have been running my own successful small firm and took my work all over the world. The freedom to work from a laptop anywhere with internet enabled me to do volunteer work with children all over SE Asia. I have experienced first-hand how some of the poorest people, children especially, live in the third world. I’ve been through earthquakes, flash floods, and typhoons in Asia and came back to Oregon to choking smoke and the danger of wildfires raging mere miles from my home. During COVID I studied with Michael Reyolds and did a field study with him in New Mexico learning how to build Earthships. I’m passionate about sustainable, affordable housing, regenerative landscapes, and building a better world for my son and all the kids I have met on my travels. As a mom, I take climate change very personally. Thank you, UO for giving me a chance to make a greater impact!

MY INFLUENTIAL PROFESSORS
I had two fabulous studio instructors in a row, last year. Megan Haight was the professor that I probably learned the most from. She was my studio instructor in the Winter of 2022. She was very firm, structured, and organized. She gave amazing practical demonstrations on how to work out problems quickly using hand drawing. I learned how to Charette ideas quickly in plans and elevations and really tackle ‘wicked’ problems hands-on. I appreciated her focus on visual communication and she pushed me to really expand and strengthen this skill to the point that I feel confident using hand drawing in final presentations. I have done digital art for decades, and something about hand drawing is so much more alive. By working out my ideas on heaps of trace, I feel that my final design was much stronger than others that had beautiful computer renders. I got commendations on my final review, confirming that my understanding of the building was deeper and that my drawings were ‘like nothing he had ever seen’ one of the external reviewers said. Megan was firm, and strict but also genuine and caring with all her students. Fantastic instructor.

Junichi Satoh, visiting faculty,  was also an amazing instructor. He brought in the element that I felt was missing in other classes, which was to think totally outside of the box about how architecture could (or could not) solve the problems humanity is facing right now. His class really helped me connect my passions to Architecture in a practical way. In his class, there were no ‘wrong’ or ‘crazy’ ideas. It was a real mix of art, activism, and architecture. I’m sad that he is only visiting faculty and not a permanent instructor. The social justice fellows are really important to the program. I think Architecture as a field needs to evolve to meet the challenges that we face today.

MY EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
Because I’m a single mother, the organizations I’m involved in are my son’s soccer camp, PTO, and school activities. The course schedule was so demanding that I could rarely attend lectures, but there were some tremendous lectures by the social justice fellows last year. The graduate families group at UO also has great activities. Although I rarely had time to participate, I felt supported just getting their newsletter. I also took my son to the ‘Earth day, day of service’ hosted by the UO Holden Center for Leadership and Community Engagement. This group is excellent!

MY GREATEST LEARNING EXPERIENCE AT UO
I think the class I learned the most from was Tom Hahn’s building construction class. It was chock-full of information, given in a very digestible and well-timed ways. His lectures, notes, and sources were so accessible. The structure of the class encouraged curiosity and gave us opportunities to implement the concepts we were learning about. I gained so much practical knowledge in his class and appreciate how Hahn balanced traditional building construction with alternatives. He carefully explained the benefits and limitations of a huge variety of approaches to building. It was the most practical class, and he was a very supportive and approachable instructor.

AFTER GRADUATION
I imagine working for a time on regenerative landscapes and water systems before building my own thermal mass/passive solar home and office in downtown Eugene. I would like to work with urban water management and demonstrate how to build and retrofit buildings to heat and cool without fuel, even at high latitudes like Eugene. I would like to bring the country back to the city, encouraging urban farming and building truly affordable housing that supports the basic needs of inhabitants the way Earthships do. I am interested in incorporating industrial ceramics as well as mass recycling plastic to create easy-to-assemble, passively heated/cooled housing for the most vulnerable in our society, especially homeless children and youth. I see myself working hard on large-scale projects, or mass producing tiny eco-homes in the US during the year, and taking my vacation to build climate-change-proof homes and community centers in India, the Philippines and the third world. Living a life of purpose.

YOUR GIFT
I am not a traditional student. I’m the oldest in my cohort, coming back to school with a family and having had another career. This scholarship both helps me make ends meet as I am providing for my family, but it also helps validate that I am on the right path and can make a valuable contribution in this field. I was feeling discouraged by the weight of the cost of this program and was seriously concerned that I would run out of loans before finishing. I didn’t have the money to do the summer studio I wanted to do. These scholarships give me the confidence boost I need to meet the year with optimism and determination! I will be able to get through another year. Having someone else believe in me is so huge. Thank you so much. I was considering taking a year off to focus on my family, earn money or just go into an internship to learn on the job. This scholarship will keep me in school for another year, learning from the tremendous faculty at UO. I’m going to keep going. THANK YOU!

A scholarship isn’t just money off the bill, it is a vote of confidence. Graduate school can be so grueling and many of us often fall victim to the ‘imposter syndrome’ under the tremendous stress. Getting a scholarship makes us feel seen. I feel seen, appreciated, and encouraged to keep going, because of your gift. Thank you so much for the much-needed help. This scholarship helps ease my mind that I have the funds to finish this program, and also that I deserve to be here. I am deeply grateful.