University of Southern California School of Architecture
Profile Contact
Email: lillytung322@gmail.com
Phone: (314) 688-1360
Portfolio: issuu.com/lillytung
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/lilly-tung
Education
2020 - 2025
University of Southern California | Los Angeles, CA
Bachelor of Architecture | Business Minor
Awards
USC Presidential Scholarship
A. Quincy Jones Memorial Scholarship
Thom Mayne Full Study Abroad Scholarship
National Merit Scholarship
Technical Skills
Rhino 3D
Revit
AutoCAD
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe InDesign
Adobe Premiere Pro
Grasshopper
Enscape
V-Ray
SketchUp
Python
HTML/CSS
Los Angeles Institute of Film Arts
Fall 2024 | Comprehensive Design Studio
An educational and cultural center showcasing LA-based Black independent filmmakers and underrepresented artists. Located in Chinatown, the museum enhances public access and arts education. Its design integrates public and open spaces through an open ground floor and central courtyard, creating a pedestrian-friendly passage and gathering space for visitors and residents. Circulation around the courtyard connects various programmatic areas, fostering interaction between staff and visitors.
The mass timber structure features a secondary steel system supporting vertical tinted glass louvers, strategically angled for shading. Cantilevered upper floors provide additional shade, while program placement optimizes daylighting. Passive cooling is enhanced through the courtyard and open ground floor, with a front bioswale directing stormwater to a basement filtration system.
Concept Diagram
Train Station
Fall 2023 | Topic Studio
A proposed redesign of Compton Station on Los Angeles Metro’s A-Line integrates a “rail-to-table”, using existing rail line infrastructure to deliver fresh produce to communities along the route. The station includes a direct connection to the adjacent grocery store, allowing more efficient transport and distribution. The station also houses a library, exhibition space, and elevated green space, transforming a once-divisive rail corridor into an engaging public space.
As part of the initiative, a portion of accompanying train cars serve as mobile elementary classrooms, designed with child-scale amorphous forms to create interactive learning environments. The station’s twisting form echoes train car interiors, with a green exterior “shell” and interior pockets for books and local artwork. Structural “ribs” enhance porosity, opening the space to its surroundings.
*Group project
Housing Cooperative
Fall 2022 | Housing Studio
A limited-equity housing co-op in South Central LA that fosters self-sufficient food production while expanding access to healthy groceries and educating the community on sustainable farming practices.
Designed around shifting L-shaped floor plates on a 5’x5’ grid, the building’s cantilevers create varied light conditions and microclimates, supporting diverse plants and crops. A central light well provides each unit with a “planting balcony,” enabling residents to directly participate in the co-op’s farm-to-table initiative. The structure is supported by a dense array of thin columns, spaced 5’ apart, with suspended stairs and planters woven throughout.
Third Floor Plan
Second Floor Plan
Downtown Los Angeles Community Center
Spring 2023 | Adaptive Reuse Studio
Located on the rooftop of 801 S. Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles, this adaptive reuse community center expands access to music education and performing arts for local residents. Designed for an immersive sonic experience, the journey begins at the Broadway entrance, guiding visitors through the building up to the rooftop.
The geometric walls and ceilings reflect a blend of music and city sounds, enveloping users in an acoustic landscape. Cantilevers, aligned with the concert hall seating incline, extend outward to form outdoor performance spaces, seamlessly linking interior and exterior programs. The facade features layered ceramic tiles, angled to redirect and amplify exterior sound, enhancing the building’s dynamic auditory presence.
Minimal Housing Units
Fall 2022 | Housing Studio
A proposal for prefabricated minimal dwelling units that serve as a transition between emergency and permanent housing. Designed for both single residents or families, each unit features a compact core containing the essential systems and fixtures while remaining flexible and expandable into outdoor space. The lightweight curtains surrounding each unit blur the line between private and public space, allowing residents to adjust privacy levels throughout the day. The units maximize natural light and ventilation, and their modular arrangement fosters smaller clusters within the larger community, promoting both individuality and connection.
*Group project
Single Unit
Family Unit
Undoing the Traza: Reclaiming the Culture of Water in Mexico City
Spring 2024 | Global Studies Research Studio
This research proposal examines the history, contemporary impact, and future potential of the Spanish colonial grid (traza) in Ciudad de México, focusing on its role in shaping the enclave typology common across Latin America.
A key consequence of the 16th-century traza was its transformation of the city’s relationship with water. As Spanish expansion replaced Tenochtitlan’s canals with roads, Lake Texcoco disappeared, and indigenous water systems were dismantled in favor of inadequate European substitutes. The traza was more than a planning tool—it asserted European dominance over the Mexica city.
Today, Mexico City faces a water crisis. It cannot supply enough clean water, suffers from seasonal flooding due to poor infrastructure, and is sinking into its lakebed, further contaminating the groundwater. With UNESCO-backed preservation efforts in the historic core, the proposal seeks to reintroduce canals back into the urban fabric, linking them to rainwater capture basins. Depending on street conditions, interventions could include narrow drainage slots, deeper central canals, and reflecting pools, integrating with existing infrastructure to reduce aquifer stress while restoring the city’s Mexica heritage.
