Recent USC Architecture graduate Alec Long ’24 has been selected as one of fifteen talented young professionals for the inaugural Holcim Foundation Fellowship. The kick-off event will take place in New York City from August 5-16, 2024, with two intensive weeks of exploring sustainable construction with industry leaders and academics. 

Chosen from a competitive pool of applicants across Canada and the United States, the first cohort of Fellows includes individuals from diverse fields across architecture, engineering, real estate, urban planning, and landscape architecture who will bring a wealth of perspectives crucial for addressing the Fellowship’s central theme, “Decarbonization at Scale.” 

Alec Long is an LA-based architectural designer and recent graduate from the Master of Architecture program at USC School of Architecture, whose work explores the intersection of technical, social, and natural systems. 

In his final thesis project, with instructor Sascha Delz, titled URBSTEADING – A Machine for De-Growth, Long uses architecture to explore “degrowth” – a concept he describes that “radically reimagines society, addressing climate change, capitalism, and human rights through a community-based sustainable lifestyle.”  

Alec stresses the need to embrace collaboration and having an interdisciplinary knowledge base as an architect. “Being an architect is being a generalist, seeing the big picture, and developing the insight and finesse to arrange all the components of the picture into a working whole. This demands a knowledge base an inch deep and a mile wide, and a network of people with different specialties.”  

He is excited about the collaborative work with the other Holcium Foundation Fellows as they tackle the theme of “Decarbonization at Scale.” “Collaboration has always been my first language, learned in the rough and tumble Chicago storefront theatre scene and recast during my time at USC as a M.Arch student developing architectural knowledge and design skills.” 

“Decarbonization technology is rapidly advancing, but we can't simply rely on being aware of what technology exists or is soon to be released,” says Alec. “To be an innovator in sustainable development, you need to know the players in the game. This creates the opportunity for collaboration on future endeavors and the capacity to stay up to date while participating in a process that is constantly in flux.”