Leif Estrada is an emerging artist and architectural designer, who recently completed his Bachelor of Architecture degree in Architecture with High Distinction from the California College of the Arts in San Francisco.
Born in a provincial town in the Philippines to a clan of artists, and growing up on the beautiful island of Maui, Leif attended CCA with the hopes of studying Fine Arts; however after a serendipitous event of signing up for an architecture elective class,
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, and SWA Group), but was also heavily involved in extra curricular activities including his membership in the Cossutius Chapter of the Alpha Rho Chi fraternity (in which he was elected as Chapter Secretary and Chapter President, and appointed as Fundraising Chair and Pledge Educator). During his term as Chapter President, he developed a close professional network with the Bay Area Young Architects, which enabled the Chapter to host a school-wide Mixer and Networking event.
Associate AIA
He was also a member of the the school’s AIAS chapter, participated in a group Honors Critique Program, and served as a
leif.estrada@gmail.com leif-estrada.com 808.214.2173
mentor in CCA’s Architecture Mentorship Program. Not only was he active with the school curricular activities but was also a constant volunteer in the community including in the Habitat for Humanity, Equality California and at the SF Food Bank.
His dedication to academics, school curricular programs, and community service have earned him awards, including, the 2012 American Institute of Architects-San Francisco’s coveted Citation Design Award for the Unbuilt Category.
Just as he’s accomplished in his academic studies, so was he with his artistic talent, having exhibited on Maui, San Francisco, and New York. His self-portrait piece, entitled “Starving Artist,” was highly praised at the 2007 Celebrating the Artist in Us Exhibition at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center, which was later used for the Center’s magazine cover. Competing in the state and national level; he received the Region-at-Large Award and Gold Key Award from the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards in New York.
Most recently he has been selected as the sole American representative to join the Venice Architectural Association at the Universitá IUAV di Venezia on their 2nd Annual “Tall on the Water” international competition, for which his group’s skyscraper design was selected and was highly-commended, most notably by Skidmore Owings and Merrill. His group’s design; symTEC, has been exhibited at the prestigious 2012 “Common Ground” exhbition at the la Biennale di Venezia di Architettura.