NOMA: The Latest Architecture and News

The American Institute of Architects has elected Evelyn Lee as the 2025 President-elect. During the AIA annual meeting, Lee has been selected to take the position of 2024 First VP President-Elect, and afterward to become president in 2025. AIA has also elected Heather Philip-O'Neal to serve as Treasurer between 2024-2025, and Latoya N. Kamdang as the elected At-large Director.

Evelyn Lee is the Global Head of Workplace Strategy and Innovation at Slack Technologies, Founder of the Practice of Architecture, and Co-Host of the Podcast Practice Disrupted. She is also a member of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA). From 2020 to 2021, she served as the first female Treasurer to the AIA National Board. She is also widely published, having managed a monthly column for Contract magazine, in addition to various other online publications, where she developed recurring content on the business of architecture. Additionally, Evelyn Lee has been featured as a speaker, panelist, and moderator at national design and architecture conferences, including AIA National Convention, Dwell on Design, and Women in Green.

The American Institute of Architects has elected Kimberly Dowdell as the 100th president of the organization, making her the first Black woman to hold the position in AIA’s 165-year history. Delegates at the AIA’s annual meeting voted Dowdell to serve first as vice president for 2023. Afterward, she will become president in 2024.

During her campaign for president, Dowdell has expressed her support for minorities, while also making clear that she wants to be an AIA president for all. Her platform is based on four key areas of interest: supporting architects in practice, creating a sense of belonging and ensuring access to the architectural profession and education, addressing climate concerns, and designing for the future, considering rapid technological advances. “I firmly believe that the AIA has the power and potential to better serve our profession” she declared in a video made prior to the election.

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Design justice is grounded in personal experience and built through everyday actions. Wandile Mthiyane is an architectural designer that embodies this idea, an activist that grew up in Durban, South Africa during the Apartheid. From an early age he was drawn to building and design, a background directly tied to his childhood. He realized he wanted to build a better future by working to undo the architectural effects of institutionalized racial segregation. Today, Wandile has become recognized for creating social impact, including his work to transform his hometown of Durban.

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Kimberly Dowdell, 2019-2020 NOMA National President, recently issued a statement on behalf of the National Organization of Minority Architects on the nature of NOMA's advocacy and mission. Her words follow protests seeking justice for the killing of Minneapolis resident George Floyd in the United States.

Bjarke Ingels Group has designed a cluster of buildings as the new home for Noma, one of the world’s most acclaimed restaurants. Situated between two lakes within the community of Christiania in Copenhagen. Built on the site of an ex-military warehouse once used to store mines for the Royal Danish Navy, the project is imagined as an intimate culinary garden village. With interiors completed in collaboration with Studio David Thulstrup, the project dissolves the restaurant’s individual functions into a collection of separate yet connected buildings.

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