Firelight Chats Ep018 | From Blocking to Building w/Yi-Chia Ruby Wu

In this episode of Firelight Chats, Ruby Wu drafted her way to the Spacelab to chat architecture and more with Kane & Mocha by the fireside. In this wide ranging chat, Ruby shares stories of her educational journey, from attending Fu-Hsin Trade and Arts School, studying abroad for a year in South Carolina during high school, experiencing a Chinese-themed American prom, soccer & bloody accidents, playfully cheating every once in while, nap time and culture shocks, getting accepted to her 2nd choice college, stalking Frank Gehry, interning under slave labor conditions for an up-and-coming Japanese architect, falling head first into an escalator, working in Beverly Hills for her first job, and blocking out everything else that no longer matters.

Kane and Ruby also talk about their confusion about Taiwanese units of measurement (坪) & Taiwanese laws governing responsibility in architecture, her battle with the architecture licensing exam, her worries about and dreams for the future, and their mutual love for MMA.

Ruby Wu is a 4th generation family member of a leading, family-run conglomerate in Taiwan. She is a graduate of the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), lives back in Taoyuan with her family, and is currently working for a small architecture firm in Taipei.