Sophia Zaita





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The Cherry Farm
Movement as Healing
Regeneration
Not Quite
Among the Trees

Professional Work
Learning on the Line
GrowNYC’s Entryway
Additional

Additional Projects
Ripple
Aging Lamps
Discreet Dryer
Broken Ritual
Sph(dere)

The Archive
Sketches
Watercolor
Photography

SZ
About
Contact
CV
Recognition
    Copyright © 2026 Sophia Zaita
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Cornell University
Fall 2024iii. Discreet Dryer


ARCH6308, Seminar_The Back Wall

Led by
Cat Wilmes
Assigned Painting: Chambered Nautilus by Andrew Wyeth, 1956.

With our assigned painting, we were invited to use photography as a means to reimagine and restage a narrative inspired by the image. My photograph seeks to inhabit the quiet emotional weight of Wyeth’s watercolor. In the original work, Wyeth portrays his mother-in-law confined to her bed in the final days of her life. The unmade bed becomes both setting and subject, her gaze drawn outward toward the water beyond the window. Draped fabric encloses her figure, interrupted only by the soft emergence of blue from her shirt.

What lingered most for me was the presence of a sheltered body, not protected by walls, but by layers of translucency. Protection emerges through fabric, softness, and light rather than enclosure. In my image, light functions as a threshold, hinting at possibility beyond what is immediately visible, suggesting a world that exists just outside the frame.

The back wall adopts a quieter, more secretive role, inviting uncertainty about what lies behind the curtain. The thesis grew from a familiar discomfort: the exposure of private domestic rituals, like clothes left to dry in the presence of others. As the curtains recede, they become increasingly fragmented and transparent, slowly revealing more the deeper one moves into the space. What begins as concealment gradually opens into vulnerability, dissolving the boundary between inside and beyond.

Discreet Dryer        Photographed by Sophia Zaita
Discreet Dryer Drawing, Layers of Transparency
Assigned Painting






Info.


SZ is a Master of Architecture Candidate at Cornell University, anticipated graudation in Fall 2027.

She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Architectural Design from Parsons School of Design in Spring 2024, graduating summa cum laude and received the Honors Award at graduation for her contributions to the School of Constructed Environments.

Her interests are focused on sustainable design with the use of healthier materials, reflecting a deep interest in shaping the future of architecture both locally and globally.

Zaita was born and raised in Queens, New York. Now living in New Jersey + working in the NYC area.

Sophia Zaita
sophiazaita246@gmail.com
linkedin.com/in/sophia-zaita
CV.

Education.










Work.

Cornell University
Master of Architecture


Parsons School of Design
BFA Architectural Design

Graduated with Honors and Departmental Honors


Teaching Assistant
Cornell University,
ARCH 1612/5612 Structural Concepts - Mark R. Cruvellier

Graduate Research Assistant
Cornell University, Cat Wilmes

Tutor
Parsons School of Design

Architecture Intern
Space4Architecture

Co-Designer/Construction Crew
Parsons Design Workshop


Ithaca, NY
December 2027


New York, NY
May 2024





Ithaca, NY
Jan-May 2026



Ithaca, NY
Jan-June 2025

New York, NY
Jan-May 2024

New York, NY
May-Sept 2023

New York, NY
Jun-Aug 2022


Skills.

Rhino
AutoCAD
Sketchup
Enscape
Vray
Grasshopper
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe InDesign

Phys. Modeling
Carpentry
3D Printing
Laser Cutting
Book Binding






  open pdf


Competitons.




Recognition.









Archived Projects.
Parsons School of Design




The Healthy Materials Lab, December 2022 Newsletter.




The Healthy Materials Lab, January 2024 Vermont Housing Project.

Shortlisted Competition Project
“Learning on the Line”
Led by Catherine Wilmes


Recieved the Honors Award at graduation - Awarded to a student for their outstanding contributions to the SCE community.

Dean’s List
Parsons School of Design


The Tilt
Veiled Sound
E.W.R.
Movement as Healing



E.W.R.

https://healthymaterialslab.org/blog/parsons-ad-students



Among the Trees

https://healthymaterialslab.org/projects/smokey-house-vermont

Summer 2025




Spring 2024





Fall 2020 -Spring 2024


Fall 2021
Spring 2022
Fall 2022
Fall 2023



Fall 2022






Spring 2024