by: Julie Engh Assoc. AIA
During the Leadership Celebration at Grassroots, the AIA honored two AIANY members for outstanding contributions to the profession at a young age. Susannah C. Drake, AIA, ASLA, was recognized as a 2013 AIA Young Architect Award winner, and Jessica Sheridan, AIA, LEED AP, was honored as a 2013 AIA Associates Award winner.
The AIA Associates Award is the highest award given to individual Associate AIA members. The Associates Award jury recognized Sheridan as a “voice for those not practicing architecture in a conventional way” whose “tireless contributions to the profession embody what it should mean to be an Associate of the AIA.”
Her countless contributions to the architectural community include: serving as the AIANY Associate Director, co-chair of the Emerging New York Architects Committee (ENYA), and editor-in-chief of e-Oculus; facilitating five ENYA Biennial Design Ideas Competitions, three FIGMENT City of Dreams Pavilion Competitions, and the 2009 AmeriCorps Community Service Day “Getting Green Done” Charrette; and actively participating on the Women in Architecture and Design for Risk and Reconstruction Committees. As a tireless mentor and role model to young architects, she is an inspiring advocate for architecture.
Architect members of the AIA who have been licensed to practice architecture fewer than 10 years are eligible for the Young Architects Award. For her “energetic, intelligent, and collaborative approach to urban design,” and contributions to the “understanding of and potential solutions to the challenge of climate change and rising seas,” the Young Architects Award jury selected Susannah Drake as a 2013 Award recipient.
As the founding principal of the interdisciplinary design practice dlandstudio pllc, Drake promotes ecological solutions that address 21st-century infrastructure needs. dlandstudio’s Gowanus Canal Sponge Park and BQE Trench: Reconnection Strategies projects propose thoughtful ecological interventions into New York City’s urban fabric, aiming to reconnect neighborhoods and improve the environment. The dlandstudio-designed Pop-Up Park at Pier 1 in Brooklyn Bridge Park brought over 200,000 visitors to the waterfront, all with a construction cost of under $3 per square foot. Drake’s ability to produce ecologically sensitive projects of the highest design caliber makes her thoroughly deserving of the Young Architects Award.
Considering their impressive contributions at early stages in their careers, there is no doubt the architectural community is lucky to count Drake and Sheridan among its members. This writer, along with AIANY, offer hearty congratulations on these well-earned awards, and thanks for their many professional and volunteer contributions!
Julie Ann Engh, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP, works in the Architecture Department at Highland Associates, and currently serves as the 2013 AIANYS Associate Director.
Location: AIA Grassroots Leadership Conference
Event: 2013 AIA Associates Award Winners: G. Martin Moeller, Jr, Assoc. AIA; Jessica Sheridan, AIA; Patrick Thomas Weber, Assoc. AIA. Read more about the Associates Award winners here.
2013 AIA Young Architects Award Winners: Derwin Broughton, AIA; Andrew Caruso, AIA; Katherine Darnstadt, AIA; Susannah C. Drake, AIA, ASLA; Matthew Dumich, AIA; John Dwyer, AIA; Eric Reid Hoffman, AIA; Thomas Hussey, AIA; Virginia Elaine Marquardt, AIA; Rachel Minnery, AIA; Deepika Padam, AIA; Alissa D. Luepke Pier, AIA; Brett Charles Taylor, AIA; Lucas Tryggestad, AIA; Jennifer A. Workman, AIA. Read more about the Young Architects Award winners here. View the award winners’ work and interviews here