Principal of New York-based firm Jaklitsch/Gardner Architects and Director for the Parsons New School MArch program Mark Gardner, AIA, NOMA will serve as the jury chair for the 2020 Design Awards program.
About Mark Gardner, AIA, NOMA
Gardner takes a serious interest in the nexus of architecture and art — one of long-standing importance to both his professional practice and his writings. He is committed to practicing architecture as a socially beneficial art form.
Jaklitsch / Gardner Architects is an award-winning design practice with an international reputation for design excellence, material research, and its exacting commitment to craft. The firm has won an AIA National Honor Award and numerous AIANY, NOMA, and Architizer design awards. The practice is currently working with a non-profit partner on a Honey Bee Study Center in Dodoma, Tanzania.
Gardner is the Assistant Professor of Architectural Practice and Society at the School of the Constructed Environments, Parsons the New School. He’s on the Board of Overseers for the University of Pennsylvania Weitzman School Of Design, where he is helping the school study issues of diversity and inclusion. He also currently serves on the board of the Youth Design Center (YDC), a nonprofit on a mission to reduce the number of disconnected youth in Brownsville, Brooklyn by lowering their barriers to entry to the STEAM professions and increasing their relevant experience in the innovation economy.
He is Past President and former Advocacy Chair for nycobaNOMA, the New York Chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects. He is a member of the AIANY Exhibition Committee and Past Co-Chair and current member of the AIANY Diversity & Inclusion Committee. He is Vanguard Member of the Van Alen Institute’s Board of Trustees and a Fellow of the Urban Design Forum.
About the Design Awards
AIA Virginia’s Awards for Excellence in Architecture recognize outstanding design, built and unbuilt, from the past eight years. The location of projects is not restricted, but any built works submitted for consideration must have been completed after January 1, 2012.
There are five categories in the Awards for Excellence: Architecture; Historic Preservation; Interiors; Contextual Design; and Residential Design.
Each entry will be judged on how successful the project is in meeting its individual requirements, with particular emphasis on design excellence. In each category, consideration is given to aesthetics, social impact, innovation, context, performance, and stewardship of the natural environment.