PEOPLE

Anya Sirota Associate Dean for Academic Initiatives + Associate Professor of Architecture

Anya Sirota is an architectural designer, Associate Professor, Associate Dean of Academic Initiatives at Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning and founding principal of Akoaki. Her work, situated at the intersection of architecture and urban design, explores how a distinct synthesis of aesthetics, social enterprise, and cultural programming can offer contemporary and multi-disciplinary strategies for urban transformation. Her ongoing research and design efforts have received international recognition with recent projects featured at the Vitra Design Museum, the Brussels Design Museum, the Centro Pecci Prato, the Saint Etienne Design Biennale, and the Chicago Cultural Center. She is the recipient of the Architectural League Prize (2018), the ACSA Faculty Design Award (2016), the SXSW Eco Place by Design Award (2015), and the R+D Award from Architect Magazine (2013), and other honors. Sirota regularly contributes to international lectures, panels, workshops, and expositions addressing socially driven architectural practice and its impact on cities.

Sirota earned her Master in Architecture from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, where she was awarded the Araldo Cossutta Prize for Design Excellence. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Modern Culture and Media from Brown University.

asirota@umich.edu                ︎    ︎    ︎    ︎    ︎

Ishan Pal Singh
TVLab Director + Lecturer

Ishan Pal Singh is a licensed architect (India), educator and the Design Technologist for the Academic Initiatives at Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. He received a Master of Architecture from Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning and a Bachelor of Architecture at Sushant School of Architecture, Delhi NCR, India. While at Taubman College he was awarded the Alpha Rho Chi Award for leadership. In India he established his own private practice and was awarded IIDA Best of Asia Pacific Design Award for his BGIF Office project.  His most recent work explores architecture’s blended future by experimenting with extended reality and social media tools. Currently he is leading the efforts in the development of the Taubman Visualization Lab (TVLab). He is also the producer and technician of numerous digital and hybrid events which can be found here.

ishanpal @umich.edu                ︎    ︎    ︎    ︎    ︎

Jacob Comerci
Academic Innovation Project Manager + Lecturer in Architecture

Jacob Comerci is a designer and educator. He is the 2019- 2020 William Muschenheim Fellow at the University of Michigan. He received a Master of Architecture from Princeton University and a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Illinois at Chicago. While at Princeton, he was awarded the Howard Crosby Butler traveling fellowship where he studied building groups in Berlin as well as the Suzane Kolarik Underwood thesis prize for excellence in design. He has previously worked with Bureau Spectacular in Chicago and Los Angeles and with MOS Architects and LTL Architects in New York.

His research and design work reconsiders models for collective life and work by way of the interior fit-out of existing real estate with furniture-scaled domestic equipment.

comerci@umich.edu                ︎    ︎    ︎    ︎    ︎

RESEARCH ASSISTANTS

Chang Chu
Master of Architecture 3G

Chang Chu is currently a Master of Architecture student at the University of Michigan, where she serves as an XR Consultant and Research Assistant at the Taubman Visualization Lab. She specializes in integrating Extended Reality (XR) into architecture and spatial design.

Committed to sharing her researches, Chang has organized annual Unity workshops that have engaged and educated over 100 students. Her work focuses on advancing architectural visualization and pioneering innovative approaches to spatial design through XR technologies.



changchu@umich.edu                 ︎    ︎    ︎    ︎    ︎

Danah Owaida
Master of Architecture 3G

Danah Owaida (BA Architectural Studies, University of Toronto) is a second year M.Arch student in the 3G program at Taubman College. She is the current Blender/3D modelling lead at the Lab and is also on the TVLab Curatorial Team. Danah navigates her architectural practice through storytelling via various media, while also exploring different meanings for spatial justice. Interacting with others is one of her favourite parts of working at the Lab, so never hesitate to reach out to her for support!



dowaida@umich.edu                 ︎    ︎    ︎    ︎    ︎

Ngoc Minh Dang
Master of Architecture 3G

Ngoc Minh Dang is a Fabrication and Research Assistant at the TVLab, where her passion for learning drives her to explore new ideas and technologies. She's always eager to help and ready to tackle challenges alongside you or lend a hand when needed. Minh received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is now pursuing a Master of Architecture at Taubman College.


minhdang@umich.edu                ︎    ︎    ︎    ︎    ︎

Varun Vashi
Master of Architecture 2G

Varun is a graduate student in the Master of Architecture 2G program, and takes on a significant role at the TVLab. His responsibilities include the efficient management of the TV Lab website. Previously, he conducted orientation sessions for incoming students, introducing them to the lab's offerings and offering insightful demonstrations of XR capabilities. He continues to explore his technological interests within Architecture, as a Research Assistant for the TV Lab.



vvashi@umich.edu                 ︎    ︎    ︎    ︎    ︎

Xuanshu Lin
Master of Urban and Regional Planning

Lin graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with the highest honors in two degrees: B.A. in Urban Studies and Planning and B.S. in Sustainable Design. With a dual-degree background, Lin joined Taubman Visualization Lab (TVLab) with well-equipped graphic design skills for urban planning and design, from data processing to urban modeling and rendering. Lin also hopes to bring his skills and knowledge in virtual reality (VR) to both real-world content creation and rendering creation. As a research assistant in TVLab, Lin begins his journey in exploring Unreal Engine, Unity and UI/UX design. Now, Lin is pursuing a dual-degree in Master of Urban and Regional Planning and Master of Science in Information at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. P.S. Lin is a semi-professional magician. If you see him in the lab, come in and ask for a trick!



xuanshul@umich.edu                 ︎    ︎    ︎    ︎    ︎

Ranya Liu
Undergraduate student - Architecture + Computer Science

Ranya Liu is a third-year undergraduate student currently double-majoring in architecture and computer science at the University of Michigan. As a new research assistant in the lab, Ranya aims to expand her capabilities in various imaging technologies and platforms like Unity and Unreal Engine. Eventually, Ranya hopes to find a way to merge her two majors to further push architectural ideation and representation.



ranyal@umich.edu                 ︎    ︎    ︎    ︎    ︎

Hassan Berry
Undergraduate student - Architecture

Hassan is a second-year student in the Bachelors in Architectural Science Program at Taubman College. He is very interested in the use of virtual reality technology within and beyond the field of architecture. He also enjoys 3D printing, where he likes to experiment with what he can design and create using 3D Fabrication Technologies. At the TV Lab, Hassan explores Unreal Engine & its potentials in Architectural Production.  In his free time Hassan also likes to play the piano, and spend time with his family!



berrhass@umich.edu                 ︎    ︎    ︎    ︎    ︎