Are You Considering Studying Architecture? Check out this Career Close-Up on Maya Lin

One of the most exciting careers you can consider in the world of large-scale design and community infrastructure formation is architecture. Maya Lin is well known as an architect, artist, and memorial designer who has left her imprint throughout the United States. Examining her work and career a bit may help you to imagine what it’s like to be an architect and large-scale installation artist, and whether these fields might interest you.

Who is Maya Lin?

Maya Lin is from Athens in southern Ohio. She was born in 1959 to Chinese immigrants Julia Chang Lin and Henry Huan Lin. Her Chinese heritage was sometimes controversial during her career (as with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial) and it inspired her to create grand works such as The Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA). Her parents left China to avoid the rising Communist party and were both in creative college-level fields—her dad was an Art College Dean and her mom taught literature.

Maya Lin was a successful young student and explored her passion for the arts as she grew up, eventually turning to bronze sculptures as a central interest.  She received a degree in architecture from Yale in 1981. During her years of undergraduate studies she designed the now-famous Vietnam Veterans Memorial. She also carried out graduate studies in architecture at Harvard and Yale and earned her master’s at Yale. Lin is now married to photography dealer Daniel Wolf and their children are named India and Rachel. Here are a few of the special works that Maya Lin has created in her ongoing and epic career:

The Museum of Chinese in America

Maya Lin designed a new version of The Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) on Centre Street in NYC and it opened in 2009.  The heritage of U.S. residents of Chinese descent is preserved at the museum through its offerings of exhibitions, educational panels, cultural films, and other creative and informative happenings. Lin’s vision transformed a dilapidated machine shop into a two-story atrium with a courtyard. New York Guides shares that visitors who pass through the museum’s entrance will see “a re-creation of a century-old Chinatown store—history repackaged as a window display.” Lin has said that as she progressed into and through adulthood, and when she became a mother to two daughters, she developed an increased interest in her family’s Chinese heritage. The design of this museum was clearly a tremendous way to further explore and honor that heritage.

Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Maya Lin’s design for this memorial won in a blind competition wherein names and ages were hidden.  When the winner was revealed to be a Chinese-American young woman, some American citizens responded with racist feedback and slurs. Lin’s design which she created at age 21 was also controversial because of its utterly unique layout. The memorial, as she imagined it and as it now stands, was to be a simple, dark granite wall bearing the names of all of the over 50,000 soldiers who lost their lives or were MIA in the Vietnam War. She had to defend her memorial design before Congress and luckily, it was approved and built on the national mall in Washington, D.C.  Another smaller and more traditional monument depicting several soldiers was also built nearby as a compromise to appease those who were uncomfortable with her stark, modern design.

This monument is now the most frequently visited one in the country. Since it was dedicated in the eighties, it has drawn thousands of visitors annually. It has a striking reflective surface and many visitors make a rubbing of the name of a soldier who is important to them to take home.

The Langston Hughes Library

The Langston Hughes Library in Clinton, Tennessee houses over 5,000 volumes, primarily of works by African-American writers and illustrators and those that chronical the experience of being black in America. It is named for African-American writer and social activist Langston Hughes, who lived from 1902 to 1967. This library is situated on the Haley Farm in the Appalachian mountains, previously owned by writer Alex Haley (author of Roots: The Saga of an American Family).  The Children’s Defense Fund bought the property in the nineties and in its current form it holds the Langston Hughes Library and Riggio-Lynch Interfaith Chapel (which Lin also designed) and also serves as a retreat and conference center. The streams, orchards, and ropes course on the 157 acre property are available for visitors to explore and enjoy. Architects List describes Lin’s design in this way: “[it] maintains the integrity and character of the old barn while introducing a new inner layer…In both the Library and Chapel Lin was able to create outdoor rooms that help maximize the spaces while affording the visitor a strong visual connection the surrounding landscape.”

Maya Lin’s illustrious career has included being the recipient of many accolades including, but not limited to, the Presidential Design Award and a National Endowment for the Arts artist award. Lin still works as a professional architect and artist with a studio in New York and you can explore more of her work on her website.  If reading about Maya Lin’s work as an architect has piqued your interest in this career, you might want to check out Architecture Daily’s list of the best architectures schools in the United States for 2017 (Cornell University is listed as number one). Also of note, the Bureau of Labor Statistics shares that architects earn about $76,100 annually, or $36.59 per hour (more stats on this profession are available here).

Written by Julia Travers

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