Isaac Tu spike

At a glance · about a minute

Isaac Tu

M.Arch student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, class of 2028

major GPA, B.S. Architecture
3.97
Earl Prize recognitions
2
new design tools learned since 2023
9
members led as club president
100+

Email meAll projects

Team projects here were an equal split of the work. Where an idea was mine, it says so.

  1. 01

    Two Earl Prize studios

    Dusk render of a timber hall under a long sloping roof, lit from inside, with people sitting on the floor and tall prairie grass in the foreground
    Waterfly
    Two three-storey blocks with lit interiors and a footbridge between them, seen across the street under a starry sky
    Terraced Living

    A rain-collecting climate hub on the prairie, and housing where every home gets a terrace.

    Waterfly with Clare Smith, equal share.

    • Earl Prize Senior Studio nomination
    • Earl Prize Junior Studio Honorable Mention
    • AIA COTE Top Ten entry
    • Twinmotion

    Waterfly →Terraced Living →

  2. 02

    Lets the sun shape the form

    Worm's-eye render of a glass tower with stepped, tilted balconies and horizontal fins, framed by street trees against a pale sky
    Zenith Court, Chicago
    Axonometric of the tower floors coloured from red to blue by daylight autonomyAxonometric of the tower coloured green to red by hours of glareAxonometric of the tower facade coloured from purple (low) to orange and yellow (high) radiationAxonometric of the tower facade coloured from blue to yellow by hours of sunlight
    Daylight, glare, radiation and sun hours

    Sun studies carved the tower's sloped glass face. LEED Gold, 77 of 110 points.

    With Pushpanjli, equal share. My idea: the sloped facade.

    It began as a Barcelona courtyard study with XiaoYi; I made most of the analysis shown.

    • Ladybug
    • Cove Tool

    Zenith Court →Barcelona study →

  3. 03

    Works in a real office

    Render of a tall apartment building with a bright orange-red terracotta facade on its left half and a grey screened facade with balconies on its right, between white neighbouring buildings, under a deep blue sky with trees and a lawn at its foot
    Dajiang Housing Development
    Close render of the corner where the red terracotta facade meets a grey stone-coloured facade with slatted balcony railings and dark glass
    Facade detail

    Internship at Ho+Hou Studio Architects, Taipei, 2024: housing with a terracotta facade.

    My part: facade design and iterations, the full Rhino model, CAD drawings and physical models.

    • Rhino
    • CAD
    • Physical models

    Dajiang Housing →Linkou →

  4. 04

    Knows how it goes together

    Exploded axonometric of Waterfly's elevated path: timber ribs, deck panels lifted above them, a column on a concrete footing, and knife plates and screws pulled out along dashed lines
    Waterfly's elevated path, exploded
    Isometric view from above with the roof removed: the brick wing on the right with its small rooms, and the glass extension on the left holding stepped seating around a central stair
    Annex Intervention, Revit model cut open

    A timber path detailed down to its knife plates and screws, and an existing building rebuilt in Revit.

    Waterfly: the elevated path and its exploded axon were my idea.

    Annex:
    1. Measure
    2. Sketch
    3. AutoCAD
    4. Revit
    5. Twinmotion
    • Revit
    • AutoCAD

    Waterfly →Annex Intervention →

  5. 05

    Learns what the job needs

    Two hands hold a small white card with lines of raised lettering and a column of dots down its left edge, fingertips on the lettering, against a black background.
    Reading a printed braille label
    Seen from above, one hand points at a card of lettering lying on a white paper-and-card model while another hand rests on a sheet of drawings. A ruler stands at the right edge.
    Labels on the student's model

    Learned Python in fall 2025 and built three tools that semester for a low-vision student.

    The first braille dots, 0.48 mm, were too shallow to feel; the next plates used 0.7 mm.

    • Python
    • Grasshopper
    • 3D printing

    Accessibility tools →

    New tools, by the year I picked them up

    1. 2023Twinmotion, Grasshopper
    2. 2024Ladybug
    3. 2025Revit, Cove Tool, Python
    4. 2026EnergyPlus, DesignBuilder, ClimateStudio
  6. 06

    Leads, teaches, presents

    Flashpoint Photography Club
    Talk at the Chicago Architecture Center

    Outside studio I run a club, teach and show work in public.

    • President, Flashpoint Photography Club: 12 officers, 100+ members; curated its annual exhibition.
    • Studio TA: weekly desk crits for 14 sophomores; taught Rhino and fabrication.
    • Solar Decathlon build team, working with the mechanical and concept teams.