Princeton CAC Fellowship
A fellowship program that supports early-career architects in developing independent projects and advancing new ideas in architecture and urban design.
A fellowship program that supports early-career architects in developing independent projects and advancing new ideas in architecture and urban design.
The Princeton Urban Imagination Center (PUIC) has collaborated with the CAC to create a fellowship program to support new design projects by early-career architects. These aspiring professionals need resources to develop independent projects, and they need exposure for their work. For these reasons, the Princeton CAC Fellowship carries a specific focus on addressing urgent topics and bringing new architectural strategies into the public eye.
The inaugural fellowship has two parts: a research and design phase from mid-September 2025 to mid-January 2026, followed by an eight-week exhibition development phase. The fellows’ work will be on public view at the Chicago Architecture Center from mid-March to mid-May, 2026. The exhibition opening will also feature an accompanying symposium.
The fellowship includes multiple study trips to Chicago for site visits, research and the chance to engage with community organizations and design professionals. In mid-October, the three selected fellows gathered in Chicago with Princeton faculty and CAC staff. Together the group toured prospective sites on the city’s South Side, greater Downtown and North Side, where each will propose a speculative intervention on the theme “Re: Settlement.” (An archive of the open call is available at the PUIC website.).
Architecture and urbanism need new insights that expand the possibilities for our built environment. Early-career architects can and should lead the way. Princeton and CAC are pleased to have the opportunity to support our accomplished fellows and the original work they will develop over the coming months.
2025-26 Fellows
T.K. Justin Ng is the founder of Spaced Agency, where he led the design of the recently completed Small Business Innovation Hub and the expansion of historic Wo Hop Restaurant in New York’s Chinatown.
Ng is also a painter whose work has been exhibited in New York and Boston, and whose sketchbooks have been published in Canada and Finland. Justin holds a Master of Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and is a LEED Accredited Professional in Building Design and Construction.
Yotam Oron is an architect, urbanist and researcher, and co-founder, with Sharona Cramer, of CO53, a New York–based practice working across scales and grounded in collaborative design. A graduate of the Yale School of Architecture, Oron’s award-winning thesis on collective land ownership and community-led development continues to guide his work toward more equitable urban futures.
Leslie Ponce-Diaz is a Mexican-American aspiring architect whose work centers on educational spaces, regenerative design and cultural heritage as pathways to support communities and their environments. Ponce-Diaz holds a Bachelor of Architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design, with double minors in Nature Sustainability and Latin American Cultural Studies. She recently earned her Master of Architecture II from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where she was a Dean’s Merit Scholar, the 2024 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow, and recipient of the 2025 GSD Rafael Moneo Rome Prize Award. Ponce-Diaz’s professional experience spans a range of collaborative and socially driven practices, including orizzontale in Rome, BNIM in Kansas City and both Studio Gang and Sweet Water Foundation in Chicago.
