AIA 2008 Young Architects Award

AIA announced the ten recipients of the 2008 AIA Young Architects Award.The Young Architects Award will be presented to the recipients at the AIA 2008 National Convention and Design Exposition in Boston in May.
Victoria Beach, AIA
In 1995, Victoria Beach was an essential component to what is now the Harvard Graduate School of Design’s first ethics course, which is now required for all architecture students. In 1998, Beach began her affiliation with the Center for Ethics and the Professions at Harvard, where she became a member of the International Ethics Forum. In 1999, Beach became the first and only architect ever admitted into Fellowship at the Center for Ethics and the Professions. Beach published a 30-page exposé on the treatment of interns as well as having established her own nonprofit organization, Design Foundations, to restore the dignity and productivity of the internship experience through community service. Design Foundations has since donated more than a quarter million dollars worth of design services to underserved communities and was chosen as an example of ethical practice in the upcoming AIA 150th anniversary book: Celebrating the Past, Designing the Future.

David Gamble, AIA, LEED-AP
David Gamble holds a BArch from Kent State University and a MArch in urban design. Gamble has done extensive work abroad as well as having served as a full-time assistant professor at Syracuse University, where he taught design and drawing from 1997 to 2001. At Syracuse, Gamble founded the interdisciplinary Community Design Center (CDC). In 2003, Gamble was awarded the Western European Architecture Foundation’s Gabriel Prize, a grant for the study of architecture and urbanism in Paris. Now a senior associate at Chan Krieger Sieniewicz in Cambridge, Mass, Gamble has led urban design projects throughout the United States. He served as project architect for the award winning General Aviation Facility, recently completed at Boston’s Logan International Airport. In addition, Gamble is currently a part-time design instructor at Northeastern University’s School of Architecture in Boston. He also serves as a member of the board of directors of the newly established Community Design Resource Center-Boston and is an active member of the Boston Society of Architects Urban Design Committee.

Emily A. Grandstaff-Rice, AIA
Emily Grandstaff-Rice, an architect with Cambridge Seven Associates Inc., has shown exceptional leadership in her commitment to design and construction through projects such as the Boston Children’s Museum and Liberty Hotel. Her commitment to education is demonstrated through her volunteer work with children and activities with the AIA Young Architects Forum (YAF), Continuing Education Quality Assurance Panel, and her firm’s AIA/CES program. She is involved in two unique projects within the AIA: the YAF 150 at 150 Project featuring podcasts of Fellows discussing mentoring and their career choices and the CEQAP Knowledge Communities Subject Matter Planning project to integrate AIA knowledge within a curriculum format to allow members to choose better paths for continuing education. She also teaches at the Boston Architectural College. In 2003-2004, she participated in the BSA Young Designers Professional Development Institute, which was awarded, through Grandstaff- Rice’s successful nomination, the 2004 YAF/NAC Emerging Professionals Program of the Year.

Kelly Hayes-McAlonie, AIA, MRAIC, LEED-AP
Kelly Hayes McAlonie an associate vice president with Cannon Design, has dedicated her career to design for education and improving learning environments. Upon graduation from the Technical University of Nova Scotia (now Dalhousie University), Hayes-McAlonie joined Leathers & Associates where she planned and designed more than 100 learning gardens for clients throughout the United States and abroad and co-authored a multidisciplinary architecture curriculum for grade-school children. Hayes-McAlonie joined Cannon Design’s Education practice in 1998 as a planner for pre-K-12 and higher education clients. One of her projects, the Montante Cultural Center, received an AIA Honor Award for Interior Architecture. Hayes-McAlonie also was instrumental in the development of Cannon Design Academy, a professional development program. Hayes-McAlonie has become a champion of the legacy of Louise Bethune, FAIA, the nation’s first woman registered architect, and through Hayes-McAlonie’s efforts, Bethune was inducted into the Western New York Women’s Hall of Fame. She was named as one of Business First of Buffalo, Forty Under 40, and is a member of Leadership Buffalo Class of 2007.

Grace H. Kim, AIA
Grace Kim is a co-founding principal of Schemata Workshop, an architectural collaborative in Seattle where she authored the book The Survival Guide to Architectural Internship and Career Development. During her early career, she was an active participant in AIA Chicago’s Young Architects Committee and has since been involved nationally on issues related to internship and mentorship. Her participation in the 1999 Summit on Architectural Internship resulted in her appointment to the Collateral Internship Task Force as a representative for Emerging Professionals. In 2006, Kim was appointed as a member-at-large on the inaugural national Board Community Committee, through which she spearheaded an initiative called “Welcome to the Profession”—a program to welcome graduates into the architecture profession. Kim also serves on the AIA Mentorship Task Group, through which she developed unique methods of fostering mentorships. For the past seven years, Kim also has served as a session presenter at Expanding Your Horizons, a conference for junior high and high school girls to foster an interest for professions in the math and science field.

Samuel Lasky, AIA
Samuel Lasky, a senior associate with William Rawn Associates (WRA), Architects Inc., Boston, graduated from the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1997. He started work with WRA in January of 1998 and was assigned to help refine and detail the facades of the first building being built as part of Northeastern University’s new West Campus residential precinct. After detailing three of the project’s glass towers, the largest expanse of curtain wall WRA had ever designed, he became the office’s de facto curtain wall expert and had the right experience to serve as project architect for the largest building designed by WRA to date: the 400,000-square-foot W Hotel and Residences under construction in the heart of Boston’s Theater District, where he leads a team of 20 people. He also is working on the College of Computer and Information Science & Residence Hall at Northeastern University, a mixed-use residential and academic building. This project was awarded the Boston Society of Architect’s Harleston Parker Medal for the “most beautiful building in Boston.” Before starting with WRA, Lasky had taught in Harvard’s Career Discovery program and at the Boston Architectural Center, and subsequently taught at the GSD.

Michael J. Meehan, AIA
Michael Meehan, the 2007 chair of the Young Architects Forum (YAF) Advisory Committee, has focused on validating and redefining the mission of the committee. In practice, he is the professional development manager at BWBR Architects in Saint Paul. In 1997, Meehan became co-chair of the AIA Minnesota Intern Development Program Committee. While working with the IDP Committee, Meehan began teaching ARE review seminars for AIA Minnesota. In 2006 Meehan served as co-chair of the YAF and also began his rotation as a member of the AIA/AGC Joint Committee. As YAF chair, Meehan focused on activities that included the YAF 15 Summit (in recognition of the committee’s 15th anniversary) and creation of a 10-year strategic plan. Meehan recently worked with the Hazelden Foundation as project architect and project manager on their new Women’s Recovery Center in Center City, Minn. Architecturally, Meehan’s projects reflect his passion for buildings and clients that contribute to society and the built environment. Meehan sits on the board of directors of a civic group formed in 2006 within his historic neighborhood of Northfield and is also a member of the Northfield Zoning Code Advisory Group.

David Montalba, AIA
David Montalba’s work, often executed in tandem with local builders and artisans, has garnered numerous design awards including several from the AIA Los Angeles. Born in Florence, Italy, and raised in both Switzerland and California, Montalba earned his BArch at SciARC and a MArch at UCLA. He then worked for a number of architects in the LA area, including Frank Gehry and Pugh + Scarpa, before creating Montalba Architects Inc. in 2004. Montalba has been actively involved in local, regional, and international architecture communities as a member of the boards of AIA Los Angeles, Swiss Institute for Architects, Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects and AIA Europe and also as a board member of the Architecture & Design Museum Los Angeles. He currently serves as treasurer of the LA/AIA and serves as a past as co-chair and advisor to the LA/AIA Academic Outreach Committee. He has also been largely responsible for raising nearly $100,000 for student scholarships on behalf of the AIA. For the last several years, David has organized the highly visible LA/AIA annual 2x8 exhibit, bringing together the schools in an annual exhibit of work.

Robert Pasersky, AIA
In February 2006, after closely following news reports of how 10 churches in rural Alabama were destroyed by arson, Robert Pasersky, a native of Atlanta, felt an ineffable need to volunteer his services, pro bono, to help the victims get their places of worship rebuilt. Two took him up on his offer, and, as a framework through which to offer pro-bono design services to both churches, as well as other projects, he established Open House Works. To define its commitment better, his company joined the 1%, a program of Public Architecture through which design professionals pledge a percentage of their time to working pro bono for their community. Pasersky earned his BArch from Tulane University where he received the F.W. Lawrence Memorial Medal for design excellence upon graduation. He earned his MArch from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Pasersky joined Payette in 1999 and was named an associate of the firm in 2002. Pasersky also has taught advanced studio and has served as a thesis advisor at Boston Architectural College since 1998. In 2000, Pasersky earned a certificate of achievement from the Boston Society of Architects Young Designers Professional Development Institute.

Tim Schroeder, AIA
Graduating cum laude from Iowa State University in 1994, Tim Schoeder received the Kocimski Award, the highest award available to graduating architecture students. Schroeder, in 2000 at age 30, became a vice president of Neumann Monson Architects and has led many of the firm's design and sustainability endeavors. An outstanding designer, his work has been honored by the AIA and other organizations and environmental groups at the local, state, and regional level. He created Iowa’s first green roof project, the first LEED-certified school, the first LEED-certified public building and was the recipient of AIA Iowa’s first Sustainability Award. Schroeder also served on the Iowa Architectural Foundation Board and the editorial board for the award-winning Iowa Architect magazine, for which he recently became editor-in-chief. He also serves as a guest lecturer for his alma mater and leads building tours on behalf of the Cedar Rapids-Iowa City Architects Council. His recent community-oriented service activities include the Hickory Hill Park prairie restoration, the City of Coralville’s Iowa River Landing wetland restoration and planting, and the Iowa City tornado clean-up.