Bret Majarocon Graduate Portfolio

23 February 2021 Letter of Recommendation for Bret Majarocon Please accept this letter of recommendation for Bret Majarocon in support of his employment at your firm. I have come to know Bret this past year, having served as an instructor of his in my fourth-year “Urban Dwelling” design studio in the Fall of 2020. Bret has initiative, is curious, hard-working and creatively approaches studio problems. Bret has taken a particular interest in aligning his architectural studies with issues related to sustainability, the natural environment and public policies that impact public life in urban spaces. In the “Urban Dwelling” design studio, Bret directed his studies to explore how his building design work could support culturally diverse interests, human well-being and be adaptive to environmental-passive systems.

Bret leads by example, producing thoughtful work, exploring outside the boundaries of the assignment. As demonstrated in his past project with me, he diligently stayed focus and thoughtful about each step he took—testing, editing and refining ideas in a way that others learn from. He holds high standards in his work and is self-directed by ideas but also adaptive to meet evolving needs of the project. While in my studio Bret was a lead designer and maker in Professor Chad Kraus’s Dirt Works Studio where simultaneously to taking studio in the morning with me, he was going to a building site in the afternoon to help construct the Passerine Pavilion. The design and craft of the work is stellar and I know that Bret was an essential member of that design and construction team. Experiences like these transform our students from making ‘paper’ architecture to those that have empathy for the maker and abilities to think about materiality and build-ability at a higher level. I know that Bret’s passion of making has been also extended in his woodworking course with Professor Tom Huang, where he has designed thoughtful small-scale elements and furniture. Bret has further extended his commitment to making by earning the Certificate Studies in Design Build Fabrication. To my view, these experiences brought insight to his design studio work in ways in which he imagined and detailed architectural cladding and elements such as windows. Bret’s insight and maturity have deepened his design work.

Bret has advanced design sensibilities and abilities to visualize concepts to renderings in exceptional ways and was awarded a Folio Award in his 3rd year and has served as a mentor to our foundation students. His willingness to share his abilities and insight through mentorship workshops is a testament to his character to serve others and to strengthen our school’s culture. During my 30 years as a professor, I have seen many exceptional students of architecture, a number of those have asked me for well-deserved letters of recommendation for special programs and scholarships. Of all that I have had the opportunity to work with, I rank Bret as one of the top 5%. I highly recommend Bret to you. I believe that his abilities, integrity and intelligence will serve your firm well. Please do not hesitate to call me at 785.766.0069 or email at scriss@ku.edu if you have any questions or wish to discuss further.

Best Regards, Shannon Criss, Professor of Architecture