Stable Magazine builds creative home for architecture students
By Matthew Becerra, January 20, 2026
When co-editor Aleena Hussain noticed too much of the Cal Poly Pomona architecture department’s work going unrecognized, she knew she had to engineer a solution.
The solution, Stable Magazine, became a way to showcase work while giving students field experience with low stakes.
“The whole point of the magazine was to create this platform,” Hussain said, “(to) build this community within the college to have people recognize one another and have people share their voice with each other.”
The architecture program at CPP is known for having a heavy workload, according to co-editor Elizabeth Mayen, and a commuter-heavy campus can make it difficult for students to connect outside of coursework. Members of Stable said working on the magazine fills that void.
“Our goal is to unite people within architecture and provide information that, oftentimes, we don’t get provided so easily,” Mayen said.
Head of graphic design Diana Angeles also described Stable as indirect training for architecture students.
“It’s a way that we can get our creative outlets out without having to worry about what grade we’re going to get,” Angeles said.
Angeles said architecture students are constantly learning skills like design and presentation but rarely get to practice them without academic pressure. Working on Stable is a way to be more creative with their skills than a normal class project, according to Angeles.From the beginning, Stable was built collaboratively. Angeles joined the magazine as a general graphic design team member and later stepped into a leadership role. She said being part of a new club made the experience feel different from other student organizations.
“It was really nice knowing that everyone was on the same playing field at first,” Angeles said. “It felt like a collaborative experience and team bonding at the same time.”
When Angeles took over the graphic design team, she held the team’s first meeting at a café, where members grabbed drinks and talked about themselves before discussing design. Her goal was to build personal connections before assigning roles or tasks.
Once in their creative process, the different teams balance in-person and Zoom meetings, especially during breaks when not all members are in Pomona.
“We’re all humans,” Angeles said. “We’re all going through different things, different experiences.”
Personal connections have helped make Stable feel like more than something to put on a resume, according to Angeles.
Hussain said the people behind Stable have been the most rewarding part of the experience, as collaborating with students from across the college has allowed her to build meaningful connections.
The process of making their first issue started with an open call for story submissions from students through social media and club meetings, from which Hussain said they received around 15 to 20 submissions.
Instead of rejecting submissions that didn’t fit the theme of the issue, editors worked with the contributors to rewrite or fix pieces. For many students, it is their first experience working on a publication.
Mayen said the writing team has also benefited by gaining interview experience.
“They’ve been able to reach out and do interviews with specific people and make connections within the industry,” Mayen said.
Stable will release its first issue titled “Bad Ideas” Jan. 21 at Spring Interim in the Interim Design Center at 6:30 and will continue to sell them for $10 outside of other events throughout the year and online. For the students behind it, the launch represents months of collaboration and the start of a new creative space within the architecture department.
