Stephanie Surjan

Stephanie Surjan is a Lecturer at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), where she teaches courses in Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects. She concurrently serves as Design Principle at Chicago Underground Practice (C_UP). She holds a BA from the Illinois Institute of Technology (2012). Her work focuses on architecture's role in public life and social causes, emphasizing design that engages cultural and political contexts. Her exhibitions include contributions to the Chicago Architecture Foundation and the Center of American Architecture & Design. She has published in journals like KooZA/rch and FairyTales, and her book Face On Second Skin: Facade as Site explores architectural facades.

Her teaching philosophy prioritizes group pedagogy, encouraging students to explore non-mainstream solutions through precedent studies and collaborative projects. She emphasizes digital tools like Revit and parametric modeling, as seen in her course Parametric Constructions: Revit. Her courses also address ethical and cultural dimensions of architecture, requiring students to develop professional portfolios and engage with site-specific design challenges.

Awards include the ItsLIQUID Illustration category win and 4th place in the Re-imagine the Astrodome competition. Her current interests involve socially conscious projects that connect historical and contemporary events with architectural interventions.