An Open Invitation to My Licensed Colleagues from Joseph McCoy, AIA:

Our profession often talks about the importance of supporting and nurturing the next generation as a means to help ensure the continued viability and value of architects and architecture to the communities we live in and serve. This support and nurture often take on the form of mentoring, where we more seasoned architects can work with and guide people at the beginning of their career, as they learn, grow, and apply their expanding skill sets in daily practice. This kind of direct engagement has always been and will continue to be a valuable way to convey knowledge and encourage personal & professional development, but there is another opportunity you might not have considered that can be equally impactful and directly relevant in the pursuit of licensure – teaching an ARE® Prep course.

Completing licensure for an architect is not only an important personal milestone, but also an outward demonstration of our commitment to professional competence in service to our clients and the public. Traditional mentoring plays a large role in helping emerging professionals develop the wide body of knowledge we need as architects but assisting in helping people prepare specifically for the ARE® is a concrete way we as mentors can demonstrate our support for those on the path to licensure. 

I participated this year for the first time as a co-instructor for an ARE® Prep course and can highly recommend this opportunity to others as a valuable way to support our emerging professionals. Having taken my exams many years ago now, I was unsure of how relevant my contribution might be, but I was partnered with Alyssa Tope, AIA, who had more recently completed the exams. Together we developed our session using resources from previous years and found ways to blend her specific experience with the test format and my broader experience of how the course content would be relevant in practice after the test. I enjoyed the collaboration with my co-instructor and realized that my experience and guidance could, in part, help give a better understanding and sense of confidence to people who were undertaking the enormous task of obtaining their license. 

I would encourage you to strongly consider how your contribution could make a difference to the next generation of architects we have all committed to support. Please email chapter staff if you are interested in participating.

AIA Northern Virginia Celebrates Annual Honor Award Recipients & Emerging Professionals

Photos Courtesy of Jaclyn S. Toole, Assoc. AIA

It was with great honor that AIA Northern Virginia recognized the following 2022 Honor Award Recipients and Emerging Professionals at the recent Autumn Social event in Arlington, Va. 

Award of Honor – Kathryn T. Prigmore, FAIA

The Award of Honor is the Chapter’s highest award and is intended to recognize a member whose multi-faceted and wide-ranging contributions over many years have been integral not only to the success of local chapter programs, but also more broadly to advancing our profession and the impact we have in the communities we serve. This year's honoree, Kathie Prigmore, has served her community and this Chapter in a variety of ways. To list just a few: Kathie is Past Chair of the Committee on Examination for NCARB and has participated in the Virginia Board for Architects, Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, Certified Interior Designers and Landscape Architects (APELSCIDLA Board), and is also Past Chair of the National Ethics Council for AIA on which she has served in some capacity since 1982.

Recognized nationally when Kathie received AIA’s Whitney M. Young Jr. Award for her involvement with, and development of the program, “Riding the Vortex,” Kathie is one of the first 20 African American women registered to practice architecture in the United States and strives to make architecture and good design accessible to countless people. She has served NoVA as a board Director and First Vice President, and most recently serving as the Chair of our Fellows Committee. She is a former Associate Dean and Associate Professor of Architecture for the Howard University School of Architecture and Design, and now teaches at Virginia Tech’s Washington Alexandria Architecture Center (WAAC). She has consistently led by example and served as a source of inspiration for others to join in service at all levels of the profession.

Outstanding Achievement – David Jameson, FAIA

The award for Outstanding Achievement recognizes an architect member’s achievement of a significant contribution to the built environment that transcends the scope of normal professional activities. Attendees were treated to hearing Jameson be feted by Robert M. Gurney, FAIA. Following Gurney’s off-the-cuff remarks, Jameson's acceptance speech spoke briefly on passion in architecture demonstrating why he is deserving of this award: “I think, if I have… 2 words. One is Comradery, this group of people that you’re with. You have the ability to connect with them at a personal and professional level. I would urge you to do that. … I think, the word comradery leads to the word passion. And it’s weird, right, but the biggest competitor I’ve ever had for work in this area is my best friend in architecture (Gurney). And I think you can basically be passionate about what you do, be passionate about your relationships… 

But I would charge every single one of you with being passionate about what you do. We are stewards of the built environment in the way we shape peoples’ lives. I think a lot of people think this profession is service-oriented, but I would say this is a passion-oriented profession. And I would challenge each and every single one of you, every single day, to go to the studio and… do the best possible work that you can possibly do. And if it’s not the great building by itself, that’s fine, maybe it’s some portion of the building or some detail of it, but something you can be proud of, because architecture, it’s an art. And with artists, we are demanded to do more. And so I would challenge every single one of you to do that.” For this and many other reasons, David Jameson, FAIA, received this year's award for Outstanding Achievement.

Distinguished Leadership – Sonia R. Jarboe, AIA

The award for Distinguished Leadership recognizes an individual for their superior leadership in the representation of the chapter and the membership.  Each year the role of providing leadership to the board and the chapter as a whole falls to the current President. It is imperative for a good leader to hold this position since they set the tone and focus for the chapter for an entire year. This year's award recipient, Sonia Jarboe, has led within the Chapter in many different ways. She is a former Chair of both Women in Architecture and the Schools Connections committees, and still oversees the Inter-School Student Design Competition, a contest involving students from the 5 local schools of architecture. Specifically, she has overseen the chapter’s transition between Executive Directors and the re-visioning of the long-term strategic plan which will lay out the Chapter’s path forward through 2027. 

In an effort to shorten the year-to-year ramp-up time surrounding Executive Committee changes, Sonia has begun the process of sharing ownership of larger visionary Chapter topics with others on the leadership ladder. This work to build consensus, and share knowledge and ownership of major initiatives, ensures our Chapter’s continued success into the future. Sonia has spent countless hours developing programs behind the scenes, refining less obvious but vital resources for financial planning, non-dues revenue and chapter governance. Her dedication and leadership is greatly valued as our vision shifts to the future and her continued involvement within our chapter.

Service to the Chapter – D. Matthew Alexander, AIA

The Service to the Chapter Award recognizes exemplary and meritorious conduct by a member in service to the AIA Northern Virginia Chapter and was presented to Matt Alexander. He has reinvigorated the dormant Committee on the Environment (COTE) at the Chapter level, and then further expanded its reach by serving as the Co-Chair for the AIA Virginia COTE Steering Committee. 

Under Matt’s guidance, and with the assistance of Committee members situated throughout the Commonwealth, the COTE Committee created a widely-viewed virtual education series on Embodied Carbon – which ran once a week for 12 straight weeks this year and wrapped up earlier this month. Previously, Matt also served on the Schools Connections Committee where he coordinated the annual Student Scholarship Competition.

Award of Special Recognition – Marsha Collins, James M. Scott Exceptional Design Awards 

This year’s Award of Special Recognition is given to Marsha Collins in acknowledgement of her decades-long leadership of Fairfax County’s James M. Scott Exceptional Design Awards program. Marsha has a 35-year tenure at Fairfax County and has been the Program Manager for the Exceptional Design Awards program since 2013.

Sponsored by the county’s Board of Supervisors, the program recognizes achievement in the total design of a building and its site. It aims to raise awareness of outstanding planning and design projects among design professionals and the general public within Fairfax County. 

On behalf of the County's Department of Planning and Development, Marsha has led and grown the program over her career. She is instrumental in coordinating with the County Architectural Review Board, and in selecting the jury, overseeing the judging, and coordinating the award ceremony each year.

AIA Northern Virginia Chapter Award – Virginia Chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects (VANOMA) 

The AIA Northern Virginia Chapter Award recognizes an individual or organization whose partnership with our chapter has been especially beneficial in creating opportunities to connect architects in meaningful and enriching ways. This year's recipient, VANOMA led the first virtual Project Pipeline camp in Virginia during the Summer of 2021. This summer camp empowers young people to affect change in their community through design. The program connects the next generation of design professionals, civic leaders, and changemakers with real-world architects and planners.

We applaud and support VANOMA’s mission and vison to become the respected voice, guide, and resource within Virginia, for those that are actively engaged in issues of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in the architecture profession.

2023 ARE® Scholarship Recipients

AIA Northern Virginia’s ARE® Scholarship is intended to recognize an Associate AIA member who has made significant contributions to the profession at an early stage of their career and to encourage their pursuit of licensure. This scholarship, in the amount of one-thousand, four-hundred and ten dollars ($1410), covers the cost of all six tests and allows the recipient to focus on studying for and taking the Architect Registration Exam®. 

This year, two deserving individuals were awarded this scholarship.

The first recipient is Alexandra Foster, Assoc. AIA. A designer at MTFA Architecture, Alexandra has served our Chapter as a volunteer supporting our 2022 ARE® Prep series, and is a member of the 2021 Emerging Leaders in Architecture class. Alex is also the incoming Chair for the NoVA’s Young Architects Forum. Gaining her architect license would only add to the great leadership potential she has demonstrated thus far.

The second ARE Scholarship recipient is Gloria Kim, Assoc. AIA. A designer at E4H - Environments for Health Architecture, Gloria has already begun studying for the ARE and was an active participant in this year’s Chapter ARE® Prep Series. She has expressed a lifetime commitment to learning and has acknowledged the crucial part that the ARE® examination plays in this effort. Gloria would like to specialize in healthcare design and has jumped at every opportunity to learn from her peers and mentors. 

AIA NoVA Emerging Leaders in Architecture (ELA) Nominee – Ava Helm, Assoc. AIA

It is the annual privilege of the Chapter to nominate a deserving emerging professional to AIA Virginia’s Emerging Leaders in Architecture (ELA) program. Ava is not only dedicated to the profession but also consistently demonstrates a willingness to learn. She is a proactive and motivated individual that has the potential to thrive in the ELA program. Actively engaged in her local community architectural endeavors in both high school, through the ACE Mentoring program, and while attending Syracuse University, as the Vice President of the Architecture Student Organization, Ava joined the AIA after attending her first national conference in New York in 2018 after seeing everything the AIA had to offer. We look forward to supporting her leadership path.

Introducing AIA NoVA’s Newly Licensed Architect Members 

Since this time last year, ten Associate Members were able to upgrade their memberships and become full Architect members of the Institute by completing their AXP requirements and passing all six Architect Registration Exams®.

Those members are: 

Haley M. DeNardo, AIA

Isaiah S. Felton, AIA

Sarah E. Goff, AIA

Joseph A. Kraus, AIA

Sean N. McGillicuddy, AIA

Marium Rahman, AIA

Matthew Salzer, AIA

Mariana Torres, AIA

Anh Tran, AIA

Ariel Westmark, AIA

Congratulations to all of you for working hard and earning your architecture licenses! You are the future of architecture, and our Northern Virginia communities are lucky to have you.

AIA Northern Virginia wishes to thank all of our sponsors for helping to make our Autumn Social and Membership Meeting possible, especially those who directly supported the event:  E.E. Reed Construction - East Coast, LLC, our Mount Vernon sponsor and MTFA Architecture, our Montpelier Sponsor.  We’d also like to acknowledge our annual Chapter Sponsors, without whose support much of what we do would not be possible. A big thank you is also extended to: Potomac Valley Brick & Supply Company; Shannon Mullins & Wright LLP; Krieger Specialty Products; CADD Microsystems; Marvin; Pella Mid-Atlantic; and T.W. Perry.