President Dowdell Receives AIA 2020 Young Architects Award

President Dowdell at the Q1 Board Meeting
President Dowdell at the 2020, Q1 Board Meeting in Seattle, Washington at the offices of ZGF.

“Emerging talent deserves recognition. The AIA Young Architects Award honors individuals who have demonstrated exceptional leadership and made significant contributions to the architecture profession early in their careers.”

From the AIA website.

NOMA members topped the lists during AIA award season in 2020 including NOMA President Kimberly Dowdell. She and MSP NOMA Past-President Damaris Hollingsworth both received the prestigious Young Architect Awards while Tiffany Denise Brown garnered an AIA Associates Award.

Kimberly shared this about her honor:

I’m incredibly grateful for this recognition in a cohort of 20 other outstanding professionals as a 2020 AIA Young Architect of the Year. God is at the top of my thank you list, but a close second is my professional family, NOMA. Since 2004, NOMA has been my support system and given me access to the most incredible people in this industry. NOMA has taught me important lessons about leadership and it has honored me with the privilege of amplifying our legacy in the profession. #ALLinforNOMA

Next on my list is AIA, where I have been a member since 2007. I’m humbled by this recognition and appreciate the AIA’s role in my professional development as well as its partnership with NOMA in working to create a more diverse and inclusive profession. I must also thank HOK for being a great champion of the topics that I take very seriously: sustainability, design excellence, social responsibility, diversity, technology and industry leadership. HOK is a great place to be an architect and a firm with which I’m delighted to have been connected since 2008, in various capacities. My HOK Chicago journey is off to an amazing start. I appreciate my global team at HOK as well as my new Chicago community.

Detroit will always be my first love, however. The source of my aspiration to become an architect as a kid and one of the most resilient cities in the world. This award would not be possible without my Detroit experience, including my family, friends and colleagues from home. I’d also like to acknowledge my Big Red family at Cornell as well as my Sheila C. Johnson Fellows and classmates from the Harvard Kennedy School. My experiences in Washington, D.C. and New York have further ignited my passion for cities and I thank McKissack & McKissack, GSA, ASG, HOK New York and Levien & Company for the opportunity grow with each of them at different points in my career. Last, but not least, I’d like to thank my mentees and mentors for shaping the way that I walk in the world. This award is really a reflection of you. Thanks for reading this!

Kimberly Dowdell, NOMA, AIA

Read the full AIA release here.