As part of a new initiative, the National Trust for Historic Preservation has named 40 people who are making a significant impact on protecting America's historic places. The honorees come from different backgrounds and professions, including architecture, community activism, storytelling, and business. Among those named on the National Trust's "40 Under 40: People Saving Places" are five people who practice in the architecture industry: Roy Ingraffia Jr., Assoc. AIA; Nina Mahjoub; Mark Stoner II, AIA; Zulmilena Then; and Sara Zewde; as well as designer and design justice advocate Bryan Lee Jr.
Roy Ingraffia Jr. currently serves as the director of industry development and technical services for the Philadelphia-based International Masonry Institute. "He is an architectural conservator with experience in design and contracting capacities, and his professional work primarily focuses on the preservation of historic masonry structures through research of traditional materials and methods, and the development of contemporary restoration techniques," according to the National Trust. Ingraffia is a graduate of Hobart and William Smith Colleges in New York and the University of Pennsylvania School of Design where he teaches the Masonry Conservation Seminar at the school's Historic Preservation graduate program. He also serves as the chair of the board of director at the Association for Preservation Technology, Delaware Valley Chapter.
Nina Mahjoub, an associate principal at Los Angeles–based Holmes Structures, has dedicated her career to retrofitting historic buildings. "She integrates thoughtful structural upgrades to meet modern day codes without sacrificing original architecture," the National Trust writes. Mahjoub is a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles in California; Politecnico di Torino in Turin, Italy; and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Previously she worked for Caltrop in Emeryville, Calif. and Robert Silman Associates in New York.
Mark Stoner is an associate historic preservation architect at Chicago-based Ratio Architects. "Stoner has supported a wide range of preservation projects, including the adaptive reuse and restoration of multiple hospitality, historic homestead, and mixed-use developments," according to the same news release. Throughout his career, he has worked on numerous National Register nominations, condition assessments, and historic structure reports for various historic landmarks. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and is member of Landmarks Illinois and Indiana Landmarks where he serves on the advisory board of the Sacred Places Indiana program.
Zulmilena Then is the founder of Preserving East New York (PENY), an initiative advocating for protection and preservation of historic buildings and places throughout East New York and Cypress Hills. She also works with New York–based architecture firm McCaw Michael Ivanhoe Architect. "Through PENY's educational programming and outreach, Then aims to demonstrate the potential of preservation as a tool that can benefit the neighborhood socially, economically, and culturally."
Seattle-based landscape designer Sara Zewde is a graduate of MIT and Harvard University, and has worked as both landscape designer and city planner. She was named the 2014 National Olmsted Scholar by the Landscape Architecture Foundation and a 2016 artist-in-residence at the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation. Her work has been featured at the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale. Previously Zewde worked for Asakura Robinson Co. in Houston and Gustafson Guthrie Nichol in Seattle.
Founding director of New Orleans–based multidisciplinary nonprofit Colloqate Design, Bryan Lee Jr. has dedicated his career to improving community access to design. Through his practice, Lee designs inclusive spaces that create "racial, social, and cultural equity," according to the National Trust. He is a graduate of Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University in Tallahassee, Fla.; the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio; and New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark, N.J. Previously he worked for nonprofit Arts Council of New Orleans and Eskew+Dumez+Ripple in New Orleans.
The full list of 40 Under 40 honorees can be found on the National Trust's website.
