Pauv Thouk’s architectural career began with Legos at age five. Today, the 21-year-old senior from Minneapolis is winning the attention of the Twin Cities architectural community.

“She has a gift for building models that are superior to those made by graduates with lots of experience,” observes Craig Rafferty, 1970 University graduate and principal of Rafferty, Rafferty, Tollefson Architects, a firm where Thouk interned the past three summers. “I have nothing but great expectations for her.”

A scholarship from the Minnesota Architectural Foundation has been critical for Thouk, a native of Cambodia, in being able to focus on her studies and take advantage of internship and mentoring opportunities. Her father died several years ago, and she, the youngest of eight children, is only the third child in her family to attend college. “Most of the other kids were teenagers when we came here, so they had a harder time assimilating and didn’t have the opportunities I had,” she says.

While at the U, Thouk has worked on design projects for the new Minneapolis library and urban landscaping in St. Paul. She has also helped design a transitional living-community center for Minneapolis’s Cedar Riverside complex. Thouk’s design for the center combines Eastern and Western elements, reflecting the neighborhood’s ethnic diversity. With a roofline that looks like woven basketry and sliding interior doors that allow for maximum flexibility, the one-story structure is a cross between a Japanese tearoom and a small Midwestern warehouse.

Her instructors are using her model as an example in other classes. “It’s a little embarrassing,” Thouk admits. “But it’s kind of flattering, too.”

Attracting and helping students like Thouk succeed at the U of M is one of the main goals of Campaign Minnesota, the University-wide fund-raising effort with a goal of building not just a better University, but a better Minnesota, too.

by Richard Broderick