The Architectural League of New York has announced the winners of its 2021 Emerging Voices Award, spotlighting eight North American individuals and firms "with distinct design voices that have the potential to influence the disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design," according to a press release from the organization. Beginning on March 11, each of the eight winners will share their design philosophies by participating in the Emerging Voices virtual lecture series.
This year's Emerging Voices are Pascale Sablan, FAIA, of Beyond the Built Environment in New York; Adib Cúre and Carie Penabad of Cúre & Penabad in Miami, Fla.; Chelina Odbert of Kounkuey Design Initiative in Los Angeles, Eastern Coachella Valley, Nairobi, and Stockholm; Lori A. Brown, AIA, educator and founder of ArchiteXX in Syracuse, N.Y.; Ryan Bollom, AIA, and DK Osseo-Asare of Low Design Office in Austin, Texas, and Tema, Ghana; Craig Borum, FAIA, and Jen Maigret, AIA, of PLY+ in Ann Arbor, Mich.; Sara Zewde of Studio Zewde in New York; and José Pablo Ambrosi and Loreta Castro-Reguera of Taller Capital in Mexico City.
This year's winners were selected from a pool of 50 entrants through a two-stage review process. The 2021 Emerging Voices jury comprised Daniel Barber, associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania Weitzman School of Design; Milton S.F. Curry, dean of the University of Southern California Los Angeles School of Architecture; Mimi Hoang, AIA, of nArchitects, in New York; Paul Lewis, FAIA, in New York; Rozana Montiel of Rozana Montiel | Estudio de Arquitectura, in Mexico City; Ronald Rael of Rael San Fratello Architects, in Berkeley, Calif.; Lola Sheppard of Lateral Office in Toronto; and Rosalyne Shieh, AIA, of Schaum/Shieh Architects, in New York.
Pascale Sablan
Beyond the Built Environment
From the League: Pascale Sablan is a New York–based architect and activist who works “to advance architecture for the betterment of society,” bringing visibility to issues concerning women and BIPOC designers. She is the founder and executive director of Beyond the Built Environment, an organization with the goal of addressing “the inequitable disparities in architecture by providing a holistic platform aimed to support numerous stages of the architecture pipeline.” As part of this work, Sablan has curated the traveling exhibition Say It Loud, which features work from underrepresented designers. She is an associate at Adjaye Associates.
Adib Cúre, Carie Penabad
Cúre & Penabad
From the League: Cúre & Penabad was founded in 2001 by Adib Cúre and Carie Penabad in Miami, Florida. Their work brings together the experience and culture of three countries: Colombia, where Cúre was born; Cuba, where Penabad has strong family ties; and the United States, where both have studied and practiced over the years. The firm emphasizes the importance of designing architecture and the city as an investigation “where inquiry and realization, poetry and practicality, history and invention are inextricably linked.” Recent projects include Escuelita Buganvilia in Guatemala; Oak Plaza in Miami; and MAG Corporate Headquarters in Guatemala.
Chelina Odbert
Kounkuey Design Initiative
From the League: Kounkuey Design Initiative was founded in 2006 by a group of Harvard Graduate School of Design students as a community development and design nonprofit. Cofounder and executive director Chelina Odbert leads a multidisciplinary team with offices in Los Angeles, Eastern Coachella Valley, Nairobi, and Stockholm. The firm structure includes four service areas: Design + Build, Plan + Program, Advocate + Educate, and Research + Test. Recent projects include Nuestro Lugar park in North Shore, Calif.; Kibera Public Space Project in Nairobi; and Play Streets in Los Angeles.
Lori A. Brown
From the League: Lori A. Brown is an architect, educator, and scholar. She is president of ArchiteXX, which she cofounded in 2012; principal of Lab Practices, a research and design firm founded in 2005; and a professor at Syracuse University. Her interdisciplinary practice draws on geography, art, law, and women’s and gender studies “to bring the work of architecture more substantially into social, political, and institutional arenas,” with the goal of “transforming spatial structures to promote equity and inclusivity.” In tandem with this effort, Brown strives to create more exposure and engagement for women in the discipline by exploring issues of social justice, gender, privilege, and patronage. She has published Contested Spaces: Abortion Clinics, Women Shelters, and Hospitals (Routledge, 2016) and is currently working on a proposal for Alabama Women’s Wellness Center in Hunstville, Ala.
Ryan Bollom, DK Osseo-Asare
Low Design Office
From the League: Ryan Bollom and DK Osseo-Asare cofounded Low Design Office in Austin, Texas, and Tema, Ghana, in 2006. Their work is guided by the principle that transformative innovation “most often originates when the creator must overcome limited means and resources to provide meaning in their work.” Working in the U.S. and Africa, the firm strives to deliver high-impact design through “low-resource, low-tech, low-carbon strategies,” with the goal of achieving an integrative systems approach to building in a process that bridges design and construction—what they call “low design,” realizing more with less. Recent projects include Dakota Mountain Residence in Dripping Springs, Texas; Agbogbloshie Makerspace Platform in Accra, Ghana; and Guadalupe River House in New Braunfels, Texas.
Craig Borum, Jen Maigret
PLY+
From the League: Founded in 1999 as PLY and reimagined under the new partnership of Craig Borum and Jen Maigret in 2016, Ann Arbor-based PLY+ situates its work, geographically and culturally, in the Great Lakes Basin. The firm responds to the urban patterns shaped by the natural features of this immense watershed, as well as to the area’s industrial tradition, which the partners describe as “a gritty ethos of making.” PLY+ emphasizes the integral role of design research in its work, “simultaneously broadening and deepening our understanding of possibilities and opportunities across programmatic, technical, and material considerations.” Projects include St. Mary Chapel in Livonia, Mich.; Michigan Animal Rescue League in Pontiac, Mich.; and Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit.
Sara Zewde
Studio Zewde
From the League: Sara Zewde is the founding principal of Studio Zewde, a landscape architecture, urban design, and public art practice based in New York City. Underlying her multidisciplinary design team’s work is the belief that narratives of people and place can serve as a guide toward shaping landscapes and materials into unique environments that resonate with those they serve. To this end, the firm endeavors to investigate each site’s cultural and ecological context to create meaningful, carefully detailed, enduring places. Recent projects include Graffiti Pier in Philadelphia; Midtown Activation in Seattle’s Africatown, Wash.; and Mander Recreation Center Campus in Philadelphia.
José Pablo Ambrosi, Loreta Castro-Reguera
Taller Capital
From the League: Mexico City–based architecture and urban design studio Taller Capital was founded in 2010 by José Pablo Ambrosi and Loreta CastroReguera. Their work “focuses on designing the city through densification and infrastructural public spaces.” With a particular attention to water, the studio has applied extensive research to the development of urban design projects that address water management in Mexico City and beyond. Recent projects include El Represo Colosio Dam and Public Park in Nogales; La Quemada apartment building in Mexico City; and the 2015 Eco Pavilion in Mexico City.
Read about past winners of the Emerging Voices award here.
