AIA Seattle Announces 2021 Fellows & National Awards
The 2021 Jury of Fellows from the American Institute of Architects elevated five AIA Seattle Members to its prestigious College of Fellows, an honor awarded to Members who have made significant national contributions to the profession. Additionally, multiple AIA Seattle members have been selected for National honors.
Brian Court FAIA has brought sustainable design to the forefront of the public realm with his performance-driven design process that works in harmony with natural forces, shaping our environment and establishing a low-impact, regenerative future. Since joining Miller Hull in 2001, Brian has led the design of numerous high profile and complex landmark projects using a deft combination of time-tested and innovative design strategies and emerging technologies. This has earned him the reputation as an advocate for groundbreaking sustainable design.
Brian has a master’s degree in architecture from the University of Washington and continues to give back to the program as a guest reviewer and thesis critic. Pushing the boundaries of current practice make him a highly sought-after speaker and instructor who regularly shares his insight and experience with other designers and students. Additionally, Brian was honored with the distinguished and singular Young Architect Award by AIA Seattle in 2013.
Grace H. Kim FAIA is an architect and co-founding principal of Schemata Workshop, a Seattle-based architectural practice with a keen focus on building community and social equity. Her clients include a range of public housing authorities and social service providers, as well as municipalities and private clients. Her work is deeply rooted in race, equity and inclusion – and she seeks to include the voices and cultures of people of color and marginalized populations through her projects.
Grace is also the founder of Capitol Hill Urban Cohousing, a collaborative residential community which includes her street level office and a rooftop urban farm. She walks the talk of sustainability – leaving a small ecological footprint while incorporating holistic ideals of social and economic resilience into her daily life. She is an internationally recognized expert in cohousing – her TED talk has over 2.4M views.
Grace serves on the Seattle Planning Commission and on the Board of Directors for the Housing Development Consortium – a membership organization that advocates for housing policy at the local and state levels.
Eric Lagerberg FAIA, LEED AP has led a career of nearly 30 years, emerging as a global guiding force in the design of retail and consumer-focused environments. A consummate leader, Eric brings the unique perspective of a professional who has worked and lived around the world—as a designer as well as a client. This broad view allows him to see the work from all aspects and to drive solutions that accommodate operational considerations without compromising design.
Lagerberg’s professional experience includes leadership positions at, among others, Starbucks, Callison and CRTKL, the global architecture, design and planning firm. At CRTKL, he directed the efforts of nearly 400 creative professionals across 22 offices internationally. Under his leadership, the practice developed an award-winning portfolio of work for some of the world’s most recognizable (and demanding) brands and retailers. With Eric at the helm of its retail team, CRTKL consistently ranked as the top retail design firm in the world.
A passionate but diligent ambassador for the profession, Eric has taken a global path in his career. In the late 1990’s, he relocated from Seattle to London and, eventually, to Beijing to work with Western retailers expanding into emerging markets—an assignment that tested his skills as an architect as much as a diplomat. Eric’s commitment to quality design, business integrity and client service proved to be invaluable in helping American commercial interests break into what many had considered an impenetrable market. And, in the spirit of a true educator, he wasted no time in sharing his knowledge through lectures, articles and talks that encouraged colleagues, peers and even competitors to test their limits and push boundaries.
Eric received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Architecture from the University of Washington and a Master of Architecture degree from The Ohio State University. He currently lives in Seattle with his wife Park.
DLR Group Principal Erica Loynd FAIA is a national justice design expert leading teams to elevate conditions for disenfranchised people, creating environments and setting innovative justice standards that support wellness, equity, & transformative programs to successfully return people to their communities. Erica engages clients and organizations to empower change from the top down, addressing physical and operational policies and practices related to mental health, programs, medical treatment, enhanced physical environments, safety for inmates, public, staff, and officers. Her projects have led to $1.7 billion dollars of construction for justice and civic projects and over 5.25 million total square feet of space. Volunteering with AIA WA Council as the state licensure advisor, AIA Seattle’s mentorship programs and membership steering committee, she has worked with architects and aspiring candidates to enrich their careers in architecture. As an expert in government facility design and construction, Erica has been leading the national AIA Academy of Architecture for Justice Knowledge Community to push for innovations in research and operations to better serve all people.
Richard E (Rick) Mohler, FAIA, NCARB is an Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of Washington College of Built Environments with over thirty-five years of professional practice garnering more than a dozen local and regional AIA awards and multiple design competition wins. His teaching, research, practice and advocacy are focused on the nexus of urban housing, transportation and the public realm and he leverages his teaching to address these issues while strengthening connections between the profession, academy, government and community. Rick co-chaired the AIA Seattle Public Policy Board, is co-chair of the Seattle Planning Commission, an Affiliate Fellow of the UW Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies, an Urban@UW Fellow, an NCARB Scholar in Professional Practice and a founding member of Sound Communities, a volunteer group of civic leaders focused on leveraging the region’s $60B transit investment to build complete neighborhoods with an abundance of affordable housing at transit hubs. He is the recipient of a 2020 R+D Award from ARCHITECT magazine for ADUniverse, an online application for Seattle homeowners to determine the feasibility of building an accessory dwelling unit on their parcel and a 2021 ACSA/AIA Housing Design Education Award for his “Neighborhoods for All” design studio focused on missing middle housing types taught in collaboration with the Seattle Planning Commission.
The work of these Fellows demonstrates the power of architecture to address issues of urban housing, retail design, justice facilities, cohousing and social equity, and sustainable design.
The Fellowship program was developed to elevate those architects who have made a significant contribution to architecture and society and who have achieved a standard of excellence in the profession. Election to fellowship not only recognizes the achievements of architects as individuals but also their significant contribution to architecture and society on a national level.
Out of a total AIA membership of over 90,000, there are approximately 3,000 distinguished with the honor of fellowship and honorary fellowship.
National Awards
Honorary AIA
Through his 14-year tenure at Architecture 2030, Vincent Martinez, Hon. AIA, has been working to solve the climate crisis by catalyzing global building decarbonization efforts through the development and activation of robust networks focused on private sector commitments, education, training, and public policies. Vincent also helps set the organization’s vision and currently leads Architecture 2030’s work on urban zero-net-carbon buildings and public policy. Vincent is an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and was the 2018 chair of the AIA Energy Leadership Group, a former member of the AIA Sustainability Leadership Group, and is a current member of the AIA Committee for Climate Action and Design Excellence.
This award is given to an allied professional whose contributions the Institute bear national significance.
The 2021 Fellows and National honorees will be honored by AIA National in the year to come, and celebrated at the AIA Seattle awards ceremony in Fall 2021.
Young Architect
Myer Harrell, AIA, LFA, LEED AP BD+C, Homes is a trusted industry leader in high performance design, drawing on his teaching, research, and volunteer service to inspire commercial design practice. He is a Principal and Director of Sustainability for Weber Thompson, an integrated design firm in Seattle nationally recognized for their commitment to sustainability.
Myer was named AIA Seattle Young Architect in 2011, has served on the AIA Seattle Board of Directors since 2016, and is the current president-elect. Nationally, he serves on the AIA Continuing Education Committee. His past service includes the USGBC Greenbuild Program Working Group, the USGBC Education Events Committee, and the Cascadia Green Building Council Board of Directors.
Myer earned a Bachelor of Science in Architecture at the University of Maryland and a Master in Architecture and Commercial Real Estate Certificate from the University of Washington. He has co-instructed architecture studios at the University of Washington and has been invited as a guest lecturer and studio critic. His current research includes building-integrated agriculture, land-use incentives for deep green projects, and crafting a business case for sustainable design choices.
