The AIA has selected five outstanding Young Architects, defined as professionals who have been licensed 10 years or fewer regardless of their age, to receive the 2005 Young Architects Award. This award honors individuals who have shown exceptional leadership and made significant contributions to the profession early in their careers. This year’s recipients are impressive in their broad range of contributions—mentoring and teaching, sustainability, chapter leadership, and design excellence.

F. Michael Ayles, AIA
The extraordinary commitment F. Michael Ayles, AIA, displays toward the profession—emerging architects in particular—is a hallmark of his character. An active member in the local and national chapters and passionate advocate for intern and associate architect issues, Ayles’ career is defined by his dedication to “leadership, fellowship, and mentorship,” the mantra of the Young Architects Forum Advisory Committee, of which Ayles was the chair in 2004.

Ayles has served the interests of emerging professionals through the Intern Task Force, ArchVoices retreats, the 2002 Internship Summit, the AIA Connecticut Associates Commission, and initiation of the Antinozzi Continuing Education (ACE) program. In its fourth year, the program now is led and organized by interns in the office and includes seminars, attendance at AIA conventions, and project field trips. According to Paul Antinozzi, AIA, president, Antinozzi Associates, “It has also directly influenced several of our interns to become mentors to area high school students through a national program called the ACE Mentor Program.”

In his letter of support, C. James Lawler, FAIA, wrote, “Michael puts his heart and soul into everything he does, and the members of AIA Connecticut, The New England Regional Council, national AIA, and the Council of Architectural Component Executives have all benefited from his participation and leadership. Michael has packed an enormous amount of energy into the last nine years. He has proven himself a consummate professional and an incredible attribute to AIA at all levels.”

Jeffrey DeGregorio, AIA
An architect of “exceptional initiative, intelligence, and commitment to the profession,” Jeff DeGregorio is both leader and mentor to his peers. “My own image of the [design] professional is grounded in the dual obligation to learn and to educate, while simultaneously practicing architecture at the highest possible level,” says DeGregorio.

While completing the Intern Development Program with Boston’s Payette Associates, DeGregorio co-founded the firm’s Young Designers Core to provide interns with in-house seminars, site visits, manufacturing facility tours, and Intern Development Program (IDP) and Architecture Registration Examination support. In 2002, Payette won the AIA IDP Outstanding Firm Award in recognition of their commitment to intern development.

DeGregorio next initiated the complementary Payette Mentoring Program (PMP) to focus on the individual interns rather than the collective. The PMP fosters communication, advances short- and long-term goals, and strives to provide each intern the best opportunity for success within the firm. DeGregorio also developed a new mentoring program for the Boston Society of Architects, assembling a team of young and veteran architects to shape a critical program for the component and membership that continues to grow in effectiveness and stature.

“Jeff is a true student of the profession,” wrote Associate Principal George A. Takoudes, AIA, Payette Associates, in his letter of support. “His aptitude is matched only by his sincere commitment to playing the many roles of an architect: student, teacher, designer, and leader . . . Moreover, he is aware of the potential of architecture and is poised to develop his talents in a manner that is rarely seen in young architects.”

Miguel Rivera, AIA
A principal at Miró Rivera Architects in Austin, Tex., “Miguel Rivera is one of the most talented and dedicated young architects I have known in my 25 years as a teacher and architect,” writes Frederic Schwartz, AIA, in his supporting letter. “Miguel is actively involved in the professional community, participating on and chairing AIA juries and design committees while also making time to attend student reviews at institutions across the country. He is also a fine person, concerned with both the artistic and humanistic dimensions of architecture.”

Rivera earned his BS in environmental design at the University of Puerto Rico and MArch at Columbia University. Drawn to the arts from an early age, Rivera won first prize in painting at the Puerto Rico School of Fine Arts. After high school, Rivera enrolled in a summer program at Cornell University, where he confirmed his passion for architecture. In 1991 he joined Mitchell/Giurgola Architects and became an associate at the age of 33—one of the youngest in the firm’s history. Steven Goldberg, FAIA, partner, Mitchell/Giurgola, notes that Rivera worked on some of the firm’s most complex and important projects during his tenure—many of which garnered national awards.

Of his skill as an architect, Charles Gwathmey, FAIA, principal, Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects, writes, “... though not large in scale, [his work] is poetic, thoughtful, rigorous, and varied. It is not about size but content and it exploits the idea that constraints afford design opportunities and invention.”

Rick Harlan Schneider, AIA
A graduate of Virginia Tech and the Washington Area Architectural Consortium, Schneider weaves social responsibility, community development, and smart design throughout the tapestry of his professional development and practice. Under the mentorship of Kent Cooper, FAIA, Schneider learned about community engagement and the practical application of conceptual design in the design process. While working with Cooper, Schneider became involved with CityVision, a National Building Museum education program for at-risk youth.

After completing graduate school, he worked for RTKL as a project architect and began teaching at the Catholic University of America. With the design of the Girard Street Playground in the neglected Washington, D.C., Columbia Heights neighborhood, Schneider launched his own firm committed to social and environmental responsibility in design. In 2003, he joined his practice with colleague Greg Kearley, AIA, to form Inscape Studio. Schneider promotes sustainability in practice and community through workshops, lectures, charrettes, and exhibits, and as chair of the D.C. Chapter of the AIA Committee of the Environment and a member of the board of advisors for GreenHOME.

“Whenever possible, [Rick] stresses the important role that true social responsibility should play in the lives and practices of architects—particularly amongst younger practitioners and students,” writes Gregory K. Hunt, FAIA, vice chairman and director of design, Leo A. Daly. “His is a life and professional practice that is based on values that go far beyond the idea of architecture as an art and focus on architecture as a fundamentally social act . . . he is dedicated to repositioning the profession so that it assumes a more meaningful responsibility for society as a whole.”

Eric Strain, AIA
After receiving his MArch at the University of Utah, Eric Strain founded Las Vegas-based assemblageStudio, Inc., an award-winning firm that has received recognition for more than 70 percent of its work—remarkable for any firm, but particularly impressive for a single practitioner. “As one of Southern Nevada’s most talented and provocative designers, he’s turned the heads of residents and given the public and private sectors out-of-the-box options,” says Phil Hagen, editor, Architecture Las Vegas.

At the Las Vegas Chapter, Strain has served as chapter president and chair of the design and communications & publications committees. Through his efforts, the chapter established Architecture Las Vegas, its yearly publication showcasing the best of the city’s architecture. In addition, Strain was instrumental in developing programs that provide art education, recognize design excellence, and honor contributions to the profession. For his unswerving commitment to the profession, Strain received the AIA Nevada Young Architect Citation in 1996 and the AIA Nevada Service Award in 1999. In 2004, he was selected to receive the AIA Western Mountain Region Young Architect Award.

“Eric is generous in sharing his time, knowledge, and experience with students, interns, and young architects . . .,” says Randy Lavigne, executive director, AIA Nevada/AIA Las Vegas in her nomination letter. “He is the first to recognize and applaud design excellence in work by his peers and he actively supports programs that honor and showcase quality design . . . Eric is tireless in his dedication and totally committed to bettering his community through the AIA.”
—Heather Livingston

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