What does the architecture profession most admire in its young members? The recently announced Young Architects Award can tell us much about what the American Institute of Architects prizes in those who will be leading the profession in coming decades. The winners are chosen from nominees who have been licensed to practice less than ten years (age not a factor) and are members of the AIA. Choosing just 20 from the entire country assures us of exceptionally talented honorees.
And what talents are most treasured today? The winners are cited not so much for the aesthetic elegance of their designs – although that does still matter – but for leading their firms to produce more energy-efficient, environmentally responsive architecture, for leading workshops within their firms or AIA regions, for organizing public meetings related to design commissions. As ever, many of them are teaching – or taking part in events – at schools of design, which are now likely to be focused on the social and environmental impact of design, not just its internal qualities.
officeinsight will present ten of the winners in this issue, the remaining ten next week.
Desmond Johnson, Atlanta. While practicing as a project manager in Nelson Worldwide’s Atlanta office, Johnson continues his widespread efforts on behalf of the profession and the public. Earlier, he played key roles such projects as the first-ever on-campus housing for the Morehouse School of Medicine, which included vital commercial space for its neighborhood. Named AIA Georgia’s Emerging Professional of the Year in 2017, he was appointed to the city of Atlanta’s Urban Design Commission, which he now chairs. As a participant in the national AIA’s Practice Innovation Lab, he was a founder of the JAMB Collective, which supports a variety of social and professional initiatives.
Patricia Culley, Pittsburgh. Having joined the Pittsburgh office of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson in 2007, Culley became an associate partner there last year. She has led the firm’s work on such innovative projects as the Frick Environmental Center, carrying out related educational programs for her team members and the public on biophilic design – that is, design with an affinity for nature. She is now project manager for the Virginia Autonomous Systems Testing (VAST) facility at the University of Virginia, leading town hall discussions that are likely to influence design for the entire campus. She is a board member of the Pittsburgh AIA, providing guidance in the area of sustainable design. A 2003 architecture graduate of the Carnegie Mellon University, she is a regular participant in design critiques and other programs there.
Mark M. Bacon, Omaha. After earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in architecture at Kansas State University, Mark Bacon led design studios there before moving east for a time to the office of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, where he honed his interest in material technology and founded the firm’s Design Research and Development Committee. In 2010 he joined BVH Architects in Omaha, where he is now a design principal with a seat on the firm’s board of directors. His influence can be seen in recent BVH works that are environmentally sensitive and exhibit exceptional construction craft. At the University of Nebraska’s College of Architecture he now sits on the dean’s Professional Advisory Committee.
Jonathan Moody, Columbus, Ohio. Jonathan Moody grew up immersed in architecture as the son of Curt Moody, a founder of Moody Nolan Architects. As a student of architecture at Cornell, he was warned that he would not be able to earn an architecture degree while playing for four years on the football team – but he did it anyway. After earning his master’s degree at the University of California, Berkeley, he took his design and management skills to his father’s firm, where he recently became president and CEO, at about the time the firm won the one-per-year national Firm Award of the AIA. (officeinsight, March 8 issue).
Dagmara Larsen, Minneapolis. Growing up in Poland, Larsen received her education in architecture at the Gdansk University of Technology. An international scholarship sent her to work in Brazil, where she was inspired by the work of the now-widely-recognized Modernist Lina Bo Bardi. When a job offer for her husband took them to Minneapolis, she first worked there at the firm of HGA, and now at MSR Design, where she has been a leader in the design of libraries and educational facilities across the U.S. A notable example is an arts and media center, converted from a 1900 gym, at Haverford College in Pennsylvania. She and MSR’s CEO Traci Lesneski have recently become majority shareholders in the firm, now certified as a woman-owned business.
Matt Toddy, Columbus, Ohio. An architect and shareholder in the Design Collective in Columbus, Ohio, Toddy is a leader in a firm that expands design expertise into broader areas of culture, even cooking. Since he joined the collective in 2016, its work has grown nearly 40 percent. He led the firm’s collaboration with Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture on the thorough revitalization of a 37-story office tower in Columbus, designing a 3,000-plant green wall for its lobby. As a regional director of the AIA’s Young Architects Forum, he developed his region’s Design Innovation Lab and rebuilt its emerging professionals communication network.
Jennifer Park, Chicago. In dual roles as practitioner and educator, Jennifer Park explores more equitable pathways for the next generation of designers and creative thinkers. She founded the small but productive Jurassic Studio in Chicago, which operated from 2015 to 2019. Now a principal of Brininstool + Lynch there, she was significantly responsible for winning that office the AIA Chicago Firm of the Year Award for 2019. On the design team for the Obama Presidential Library she led in establishing its state-of-the-art museum program. As an associate studio professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology, she helps students understand the social responsibilities of architects.
Jeffrey Guggenheim, Portland, Oregon. As head of his own Portland, Oregon, firm for nearly a decade, Guggenheim is well aware of the resourcefulness needed for small firms, which comprise the great majority of all US architecture practices. His office regularly produces award-winning work that has helped elevate him as an advocate for his small-firm peers. The firm’s Instagram account offers some 5,000 followers a look at design and the issues involved in it. His office promotes a healthy work-life balance for its staff, with a 35-hour work week on a flexible schedule and a program that provides weekly farm bounty for them to share. Jeff recently completed a three-year term as a regional representative in the national AIA’s Small Firm Exchange.
Adrienne Cali Mangers, Boston. In her short career to date, Mangers has already reinvigorated a number of significant historical buildings through preservation and adaptive reuse. During her master’s studies at Savannah College of Art and Design, she introduced children to preservation through its history camps. As a preservation specialist at the Boston firm Bargmann Hendrie + Archetype, she worked on the rehabilitation of the Independence Hall tower in Philadelphia. In 2014 she joined the Boston office of Bruner Cott Architects, a national leader in preservation and reuse projects, and led their team in the restoration of Harvard Hall, the university’s iconic original structure.
Matthew Thornton, Springfield, Missouri. In line with his childhood in the Missouri countryside, Matthew Thornton approaches design optimistically, expecting fine results even with limited means. And he brings to the task a love of the arts instilled by his educator parents. As a result he has created some unconventional yet beautiful schools in rural Ozark communities. Thornton began his professional career in 2004, after completing his architecture studies at Drury University and while starting his family. In 2008 he joined the firm of Dake Wells in Springfield, Missouri, where he has been instrumental in expanding its staff from three to the present 27 and elevating it to 13th place in Architect magazine’s 2019 list of the top 50 design firms.
