Virginia Ellyn Melnyk is a computational architectural designer & researcher exploring textiles, craft, and deployable structures. Pursuing a PhD in DigitalFUTURES International program at Tongji University, she focuses on soft structures with material techniques and computational methods. Melnyk holds a Master of Architecture from the Weitzmann School of Design, the University of Pennsylvania, and a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University at Buffalo. Virginia’s work spans projects at Studio Pei Zhu and volunteer work at DigitalFUTURES and Architecture is Free. Currently, as the Inaugural Foundations Fellow at Virginia Tech, she explores deployable structures and soft materials for performative designs.