Designing His Own Experiences

Between the personal attention from faculty members and a dedicated studio space guaranteed to every architecture student, Vincent Pacifico ’17 knew that Roger Williams University was the perfect fit for him. “It felt like a family here in the architecture program, where everyone is connected and the professors are warm and welcoming,” he says.

Knowing he wanted a range of engaged learning experiences, Pacifico’s academic studies prepared him well for work beyond the classroom. In a summer internship with Fagan Design Build Studio, he was part of a team that placed in the top eight internationally for their design of shipping-container housing that adapts to seasonal flooding in The Go Beyond: Design Challenge. And as construction manager for the RWU chapter of Freedom by Design, his team designed and constructed an outdoor classroom for Pell Elementary School in Newport, R.I.

“This work has given me a larger sense of responsibility and real-world experience that will help me in my future career beyond just doing an academic project,” he says. “We worked with real clients and encountered problems that we had to solve. In the classroom, we learn the basics of how things work, theoretically, but the actual outcome is much different.”

Building upon his academic foundation with a variety of hands-on projects set him up for success after graduation. He took on a job with ZDS Architects in Providence, before returning to Roger Williams in Fall 2017 to earn his master’s in architecture.