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Mina Chow

Mina Chow is a licensed architect and Adjunct Associate Professor at the USC School of Architecture where she teaches design, practice, history and theory. She is principal of LA design/multi-media and production firm mc² SPACES, which has completed several international design and multi-media projects.

Mina is interested in expanding the awareness of architecture and design by exploring stories in film media. Her awards include production grants from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, the California Architectural Foundation, the USC Architectural Guild, the USC US-China Institute and the USC Ambassador’s Fund. She has directed/produced films for the National Chapter and local chapters of the American Institute of Architects and USC; including the USC School of Architecture “100 Years of Architecture” film. Her feature documentary “FACE OF A NATION: What Happened to the World’s Fair?” honors American architectural excellence and historically documents the rise and fall of American participation at World’s Fairs. The film has caught the attention of the State Department; affecting change by clarifying U.S. law and requiring American architectural excellence in the Expo bid process. In 2012 as part of her film research, she was on the team of the award-winning U.S. Pavilion team “Spontaneous Interventions: Design Actions for the Common Good” at the Venice Architecture Biennale. In 2011, she created “Brace New World”, a broadcast pilot about innovative architecture for the Mayor’s office in the city of Los Angeles.

Mina has worked for several innovative architecture firms including Eisenman Architects, and TsAO + McKOWN Architects in NYC. At UC Berkeley, she won the Peerless Award for Architectural Design, and was on the winning team for the Amerika Gedenkbibliothek International Library Design Competition. At Harvard University, she co-taught a graduate seminar with Diane Lewis and researched architectural theory with K. Michael Hays. She has collaborated on several design-media projects with the late Doug Michels of Ant Farm.