Summary: The AIA congratulates the 10 recipients of the 2008 Young Architects Awards. This special honor is bestowed upon professionals licensed 10 years or fewer (regardless of their age), who have shown exceptional leadership and make significant contributions to the profession early in their careers. The Boston Society of Architects nominated five of the 10 recipients.

Victoria Beach, AIA
In 1995, Victoria Beach began gathering greatly detailed case studies from the U.S. and Europe that became the foundation of the Harvard Graduate School of Design’s first ethics course, now required for all architecture students. In 1998, Beach began her affiliation with the Center for Ethics and the Professions at Harvard, where she became a member of the International Ethics Forum, a multidisciplinary group of ethicists from around the university. In 1999, Beach became the first and only architect ever admitted into Fellowship at the Center for Ethics and the Professions. Beach now lectures and writes on these topics outside of academia and has been invited to speak in more than a dozen states as well as abroad. On the subject of internship ethics, for example, she published a 30-page exposé on the treatment of interns but also established her own nonprofit organization to restore the dignity and productivity of the internship experience through community service. Design Foundations has since donated more than a quarter million dollars worth of design services to underserved communities and was chosen as an example of ethical practice in the upcoming AIA 150th anniversary book: Celebrating the Past, Designing the Future.

David Gamble, AIA
David Gamble, AIA, LEED-AP, holds a BArch from Kent State University and an MArch in urban design, with distinction, from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Gamble worked from 1991 to 1995 with M+P Design in Zurich, Switzerland, and the Office of Rob Krier/Christoph Kohl in Berlin, Germany. Subsequent to his work in Europe, he served as a full-time assistant professor at Syracuse University, where he taught design and drawing from 1997 to 2001. At Syracuse, Gamble founded the interdisciplinary Community Design Center (CDC). In 2003, Gamble was awarded the Western European Architecture Foundation’s Gabriel Prize, a grant for the study of architecture and urbanism in Paris. Gamble is now a senior associate at Chan Krieger Sieniewicz in Cambridge, Mass., where he has worked since 2001. He has led urban design projects in Buffalo, Dallas, Knoxville, Oklahoma City, and Tampa. He served as project architect for the award winning General Aviation Facility recently completed at Boston’s Logan International Airport. In addition, Gamble is currently a part-time design instructor at Northeastern University’s School of Architecture in Boston, where he teaches design and drawing in the undergraduate curriculum. He also serves as a member of the board of directors of the newly established Community Design Resource Center-Boston and is an active member of the Boston Society of Architects Urban Design Committee. Photo © Christian Phillips.)

Emily A. Grandstaff-Rice, AIA
Emily Grandstaff-Rice, an architect with Cambridge Seven Associates Inc., has shown exceptional leadership in her commitment to design and construction through projects such as the Boston Children’s Museum and Liberty Hotel. Her commitment to education is demonstrated through her volunteer work with children and activities with the AIA Young Architects Forum, Continuing Education Quality Assurance Panel, and her firm’s AIA/CES program. Identifying the need for in-house continuing education after licensure, Grandstaff-Rice registered the firm for AIA Continuing Education Provider status, incorporating and aligning existing in-house education programs and resurrecting a technical seminar series named “Second Tuesday.” She is involved in two unique projects within the AIA: the YAF 150 at 150 Project featuring podcasts of Fellows discussing mentoring and their career choices and the CEQAP Knowledge Communities Subject Matter Planning project to integrate AIA knowledge within a curriculum format to allow members to choose better paths for continuing education. She also teaches at the Boston Architectural College. In 2003–2004, she participated in the BSA Young Designers Professional Development Institute, which was awarded, through Grandstaff-Rice’s successful nomination, the 2004 YAF/NAC Emerging Professionals Program of the Year.

Kelly Hayes-McAlonie, AIA
Kelly Hayes McAlonie, AIA, MRAIC, LEED-AP, an associate vice president with Cannon Design, has dedicated her career to design for education and improving learning environments for all ages. Upon graduation from the Technical University of Nova Scotia (now Dalhousie University), Hayes-McAlonie joined Leathers & Associates, a firm specializing in the design of children’s environments and learning gardens. There she planned and designed more than 100 learning gardens for clients throughout the United States and abroad and co-authored a multidisciplinary architecture curriculum for grade-school children. Hayes-McAlonie joined Cannon Design’s Education practice in 1998 as a planner for pre-K-12 and higher education clients. One of her projects, the Montante Cultural Center, received an AIA Honor Award for Interior Architecture. Hayes-McAlonie also was instrumental in the development of Cannon Design Academy, a professional development program that the AIA honored with the 2006 IDP Firm of the Year Award. Hayes-McAlonie has become a champion of the legacy of Louise Bethune, FAIA, the nation’s first woman registered architect, and through Hayes-McAlonie’s efforts, Bethune was inducted into the Western New York Women’s Hall of Fame. In 2006, Hayes-McAlonie received the Young Architect Award from AIA Buffalo/WNY Chapter. She was named as one of Business First of Buffalo, Forty Under 40, and is a member of Leadership Buffalo Class of 2007.

Grace H. Kim, AIA
Grace is a co-founding principal of Schemata Workshop, an architectural collaborative in Seattle. Her practice is a laboratory for the practical lessons she wrote about in her book, The Survival Guide to Architectural Internship and Career Development. Grace has been a member of the AIA since graduating in 1993. During her early career, she was an active participant in AIA Chicago’s Young Architects Committee. Since then, she has been involved nationally on issues related to internship and mentorship. Her participation in the 1999 Summit on Architectural Internship resulted in her appointment to the Collateral Internship Task Force as a representative for Emerging Professionals. A key outcome has been NCARB’s decision to allow portions of the ARE to be taken prior to completion of IDP. In 2000-2002, Grace served as a Washington State IDP Coordinator. In 2006, Grace was appointed as a member-at-large on the inaugural national Board Community Committee, through which she spearheaded an initiative called “Welcome to the Profession”—a program to welcome graduates into the architecture profession and provide them with several contact points to encourage engagement and involvement in the AIA. Grace also serves on the AIA Mentorship Task Group, through which she developed unique methods of fostering mentorships. For the past seven years, Grace also has served as a session presenter at Expanding Your Horizons, a conference for junior high and high school girls to foster an interest for professions in the math and science field.

Samuel Lasky, AIA
Samuel Lasky is a senior associate at William Rawn Associates,
Architects, Inc., in Boston, where his work over the past 10 years has focused on complex institutional projects and their relationship to the public realm. Recent projects highlighting his leadership include the new U.S. Courthouse in Cedar Rapids, Iowa (currently in the CD phase), the high-rise W Hotel and Residences in Boston's Theater District (under construction), and the College of Computer and Information Science and
Residence Hall at Northeastern University, which was awarded the Boston Society of Architect's Harleston Parker Medal for "the most beautiful building in Boston." He has had a particular interest in the role of glass in these buildings and has sought to advance his firm's curtain-wall work. Lasky has been increasingly involved in mentoring interns and recent graduates in his office, working on creating a staff of well-rounded architects and establishing William Rawn Associates' reputation as a great place to begin one's career. Lasky has taught during several semesters at Harvard University's Graduate School of
Design. Prior to joining William Rawn Associates, he gained extensive experience in affordable housing, including time spent working with Manna, Inc. in Washington, D.C. He is a graduate of Yale University and the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Michael J. Meehan, AIA
Michael Meehan, the 2007 chair of the Young Architects Forum (YAF) Advisory Committee, has focused on validating and redefining the mission of the committee. In practice, he is the professional development manager at BWBR Architects in Saint Paul, where he manages employee education, development, and evaluation processes. Meehan’s introduction to serving the architecture profession was in 1997, when he became co-chair of the AIA Minnesota Intern Development Program Committee. While working with the IDP Committee, Meehan began teaching ARE review seminars for AIA Minnesota. He has guided more than 400 interns through the graphic sections of the ARE. In 2006. Meehan served as co-chair of the YAF and also began his rotation as a member of the AIA/AGC Joint Committee, encouraging collaborations between the YAF and the Young Constructors Forum (YCF). As YAF chair, Meehan focused on activities that included the YAF 15 Summit (in recognition of the committee’s 15th anniversary) and creation of a 10-year strategic plan. Meehan recently worked with the Hazelden Foundation as project architect and project manager on their new Women’s Recovery Center in Center City, Minn. His other projects with Luther College (Baker Village Apartments), District Energy Saint Paul (Thermal Storage Tank and Chiller Facility), and Lawson Commons (Office Building and Parking Ramp) reflect Meehan’s passion for buildings and clients that contribute to society and the built environment. Meehan sits on the board of directors of a civic group formed in 2006 within his historic neighborhood of Northfield and is also a member of the Northfield Zoning Code Advisory Group.

David Montalba, AIA
David Montalba’s work, often executed in tandem with local builders and artisans, has garnered numerous design awards from AIA Los Angeles and AIA Treasure Coast in Florida and has been featured in numerous shows and exhibitions in his home of Los Angeles. Born in Florence, Italy, and raised in both Switzerland and California, Montalba earned his BArch at SciARC and an MArch at UCLA. He then worked for a number of architects in the LA area, including Frank Gehry and Pugh + Scarpa, before creating Montalba Architects Inc. in 2004. Montalba has been actively involved in local, regional, and international architecture communities as a member of the boards of AIA Los Angeles, Swiss Institute for Architects, Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects, and AIA Europe and also as a board member of the Architecture & Design Museum Los Angeles. He serves as co-chair of the LA/AIA Academic Outreach Committee, through which he has reestablished and invigorated the dialogue between the AIA and the schools of architecture and design at 10 local colleges. He has also been largely responsible for raising nearly $100,000 for student scholarships on behalf of the AIA and is very close to the goal of establishing a permanent endowed scholarship fund for the LA/AIA. For the last several years, David has also organized the highly visible LA/AIA annual 2x8 exhibit, bringing together the schools in an annual exhibit of work.

Robert Pasersky, AIA
In February of 2006, after closely following news reports of how 10 churches in rural Alabama were destroyed by arson at the hands of three college students, Robert Pasersky, a native of Atlanta, felt an ineffable need to volunteer his services, pro bono, to help the victims get their places of worship rebuilt. Two took him up on his offer, and, as a framework through which to offer pro-bono design services to both churches, as well as other projects, he established Open House Works. To define its commitment better, his company joined the 1%, a program of Public Architecture through which design professionals pledge a percentage of their time to working pro bono for their community. Pasersky earned his BArch from Tulane University, where he received the F.W. Lawrence Memorial Medal for design excellence upon graduation. After a few years of working for a firm in Chicago, he earned his MArch from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Pasersky joined Payette in 1999 and was named an associate of the firm in 2002. He has been actively involved in projects with several of the firm’s major clients, including the Pennsylvania State University, West Virginia University, Tufts University New England Medical Center, Brandeis University, and the University of Pittsburgh. Pasersky also has taught advanced studio and has served as a thesis advisor at Boston Architectural College since 1998. In 2000, Pasersky earned a certificate of achievement from the Boston Society of Architects Young Designers Professional Development Institute.

Tim Schroeder, AIA
Tim Schoeder was graduated cum laude from in Iowa State University 1994 and took with him the school’s Kocimski Award, the highest award available to graduating architecture students. Schroeder, in 2000 at age 30, became a vice president of Neumann Monson Architects and has led many of the firm's design and sustainability endeavors. An outstanding designer, his work has been honored by the AIA and other organizations and environmental groups at the local, state, and regional level. His most significant buildings in Iowa City include Tower Place and the Vogel House and Plaza Towers. Schroeder also is a leader in sustainability. He created Iowa’s first green roof project, the first LEED®-certified school, the first LEED-certified public building, and was the recipient of AIA Iowa’s first Sustainability Award. Schroeder also served on the Iowa Architectural Foundation Board and the editorial board for the award-winning Iowa Architect magazine, for which he recently became editor-in-chief. He also serves as a guest lecturer for his alma mater and leads building tours on behalf of the Cedar Rapids-Iowa City Architects Council. His recent community-oriented service activities include the Hickory Hill Park prairie restoration, the City of Coralville’s Iowa River Landing wetland restoration and planting, and the Iowa City tornado clean-up.