William Abrahamson, AIA, is a senior associate at Grimm + Parker Architects, with offices in Charlottesville, Tysons, and Calverton, Maryland. He’s also Co-Chair of Virginia’s Committee on the Environment (COTE), which is hosting “Creating Your Sustainability Action Plan,” a workshop at Architecture Exchange East (ArchEx) in November. Since July, Virginia COTE members have been presenting a multi-part series called “Embodied Carbon 101,” which originated with the Boston Society of Architecture and aims to empower architects at the design and specification stages (and beyond) to make sustainable choices. At ArchEx, Abrahamson and COTE will offer specific and actionable steps for architects and designers to continuously work with the environment in mind.
More »Density is a Strategy, Not an Outcome
Katharine Gray, AIA, is the land use and urban design planner for the City of Roanoke. In November, she will appear as part of a panel discussion at Architecture Exchange East about the importance of rebuilding communities using density as a strategy rather than just a measurable outcome.
More »Ann Neeriemer on a Second Life for Old Spaces
Perkins Eastman Associate Principal Ann Neeriemer, AIA, is no stranger to taking an existing space that served one purpose historically and designing it for today’s students and teachers. With previous projects primarily in the DMV area, Neeriemer is now based in Raleigh, NC and leads the education division for Perkins Eastman’s offices in the Carolinas. She discusses several adaptive reuse education projects, including a nurses’ dormitory on the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, now the site of the District of Columbia International School (DCI).
More »Perspectives on Resilience: Sam Bowling, AIA
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.
More »The Poetic of Making: Perspective from a Design Student
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.
More »Bridging Passions for a Better Profession
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.
More »When Passions for Volunteering and Good Design Merge
Kelley Holmes, AIA, NOMA, an associate in Quinn Evans’ Richmond office, discusses in her words how finding her passions early on in her life and career were essential to her success.
For me, the true interest in architecture came from chance. My dad’s job involved him being heavy into technology and burgeoning technology, so I had the privilege from a young age of growing up in a household that had computers, which was a rarity for the late–eighties and early-nineties.
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