Category: Design

The non-profit Elizabeth River Project (ERP) aims to preserve and protect the health of the Elizabeth River and its tributaries. For architect Sam Bowling, AIA, of Work Program Architects (WPA) in Norfolk, they’re a dream client that aligns with his passion for sustainable and resilient design, which he’s fostered since his architecture school at Kansas State University. In what he calls “the opportunity of his career,” Bowling worked as the lead architect on the design of the Pru and Louis Ryan Resilience Lab for ERP—an $8 million model for urban coastal living amid sea level rise.

By Sara Saghafi Moghaddam, Ph.D. candidate at Virginia Tech

I am a practicing architect and researcher pursuing my doctoral studies in Architecture and Design Research at Virginia Tech. I explore topics at the intersection of architectural design and extended reality with a focus on well-being. My Ph.D. research is on incorporating virtual reality in the initial phase of the design process. I use 3D scanning of the project site, simulation, and virtual reality to develop a process that helps architects make more informed design decisions. I hold a BArch from the University of Tehran, an MArch from Milan Polytechnic University (Polimi), and an MS in Computational Design from Georgia Tech.

After nearly a decade of working in education design, Jenine Kotob, AIA, decided to focus on some of the most pressing issues facing the profession by pursuing legislative advocacy.

In my younger years, my family spent a lot of time traveling. My dad’s side of the family is from Egypt, so we would travel there every summer as kids to visit. The first time I saw the pyramids of Giza was a very profound moment, especially as a young child to see this huge structure in front of me. That was the first time my interest in architecture was sparked and it was exciting because it was an opportunity to see architecture in a non-Western context.