MLA student Fa Likitswat has won the 2012 Schiff Foundation Fellowship for her work in Adjunct Professor Terry Guen’s fall 2011 graduate studio, “Catalytic Waterways.” The studio explored urban conditions adjacent to Chicago’s river and canal systems in order to design a new sustainable city form that integrates natural ecosystem types into the urban fabric.

Likitswat’s project, “The Gravity of Transformation,” focused on the area surrounding the Santa Fe Railroad elevator at the head of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. Likitswat’s design called for a cultural and recreational site, a food production and marketplace area, and a habitat island.

The Schiff Foundation Fellowship is administered by the Art Institute of Chicago for the purpose of supporting young architects. As the Schiff Foundation winner, Fa Likitswat receives a $15,000 award and her project will become part of the permanent collection of architectural drawings housed within the Ernest R. Graham Study Center for Architectural Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago.