Her Professional Path -- After a host of academic accomplishments and accolades at UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture, where she graduated with a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1993, Youn went to work with several prestigious, internationally acclaimed design companies. 

Before she met, married, and co-founded pod architecture + design with Doug Pierson, she contributed her ideas and expertise both as a project and creative concept designer at Sussman/Prejza & Co. in Los Angeles, where she worked on the Rockefeller Center and the MCA Orlando CityWalk, among other high-profile projects. Afterwards, Youn’s resume grew as a Creative Concept Designer with Disney Imagineering’s Creative Department, as well as a Lead Designer for their Interiors Department, where she worked on Tokyo Disney Sci-Fi City, Tokyo Disney Sea, and Disney’s California Adventure. 

Later, at Selbert Perkins Design (also in LA) as Design Director for Landmarks, Cityscapes and Signage and Wayfinding, she worked across the globe and led design projects such as The Dubai Festival City, The Lusail City, Qatar Gateways and Cityscapes, The YIBD Yongsan Commercial Development in Seoul, The Haungzhu Latern City Project in China, the Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Irvine TX, LAX Airport, and City Creek in Utah. 

As it turned out, Sussman/Prejza would have a profound and lasting impact on Youn's career.

The late Deborah Sussman (1931-2014) was a pioneer in the field of environmental graphic design. Her passion for "place-making" (creating strong connections between people and places) and her trailblazing work to fuse graphics and architecture lead to collaborations with renowned planners, designers, architects, and artists. For a non-architectural firm, Sussman/Prejza received a host of awards from the American Institute of Architecture. 

Combined with skills she honed wherever she worked, Youn's emersion into Sussman's world inspired her to push the boundaries of visual communications programs and environmental design. Under Sussman's influence, Youn became a sought-after expert in creating environmental design and visual identity systems that support architectural intent and simplify the lives of people who interact with architecture. That expertise would become the "secret sauce" for non-residential projects at pod a+d.

Her Personal Journey -- Youn Choi grew up in a fishing village along South Korea's complex coastline. Often perched barefoot on one of many huge, ancient boulders by the seashore, she watched as colorful wooden fishing boats drifted into the crowded docks and the fishermen, with faces and hands weathered from their work, tugged their nets across the piers to pull squid and other sea creatures from them. 

As a child in a society dominated by Confucian ideology, Youn's social world was calm, modest, and orderly. It focused on family, elders, celebrations for family milestones, and observing special occasions together. 

In Youn's village, houses and other structures maintained a close relationship between people and the world they inhabited. To Youn, this was not a "choice" but simply the way things were built. Structures conformed to nature rather than making nature conform to them. They were erected on naturally "buildable" portions of land and oriented to maximize natural light and ventilation. They were made of natural, regionally available materials with roof overhangs for shade and internal courtyards to help cool them in summer. In winter, ondol, the under-floor heating system invented in Korea 2000 years ago, warmed the small rooms. (In 1940s and '50s America, many modernist architects used this radiant floor heating system to warm the masonry floors intrinsic to modern mid-century houses.)

Youn didn't realize it then, of course, but many traditional practices and mores from her childhood were setting her up to become the modernist, minimalist, environmentally conservative Korean-American designer she is today.

As Youn evolved from a child running barefoot around her village to a bright, intellectually ambitious teen, she became increasingly aware that she couldn't accept the traditional life expected of her as her future. She had to find her own passions and make her own way in the world. She also knew the path to pursuing her dream was paved in higher education. Longing to travel, she cast her gaze across the Pacific and set her sights on the University of California at Los Angeles.

First, however, Youn had to endure her parents' disapproval. The core Confucian values that shaped family structure were still a great force in Korean life then. Daughters were expected to marry, move into their husbands' familial homes, and have children in return for protection, affection, and stability. Following her dream would be seen as a family disgrace. 

Her family didn't speak to her for a year after the left. Eventually, however, her parents bridged the domestic divide and re-established a warm relationship with their daughter whose roots were firmly planted on the other side of the ocean. 

As a student at UCLA, Youn enrolled in the School of Art & Architecture where she studied environmental design -- also known as "experiential design" today -- as well as art and architecture. A high achiever, she became a teaching assistant for model building, space planning, and interior design. She also served as art director and set designer for various independent films through the UCLA Film Department. When she graduated in 1993, the next adventure began...

Today, Youn Choi's world revolves around her family, including the kids' education, and pod architecture + design. When she takes time away the studio, she and Doug and the kids continue to work on certain elements of their unique new home that they named"Carrboro Hillside House" in deference to its natural topography. (This is the second house she and Doug designed together; the first in Venice Beach, CA). They also like to cook together in their sleek new kitchen. But Youn's favorite activity away from work is traveling with Oscar, Sora, and Doug to explore remote edges of the globe.