Today, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) identified four AIA members to receive the 2017 Associates Award. This award recognizes individuals at the associate level that have shown excellent leadership skills and have assisted in developing the architecture and design industry and their communities. All the recipients will be awarded at the 2017 AIA Conference in Orlando.
Je'Nen M. Chastain, Assoc. AIA
Chastain is a designer at San Francisco–based Heller Manus Architects. She obtained a B.Arch. at University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and a master’s degree in business administration at Mills College in Oakland, Calif. She has previously held marketing coordinator positions at the San Francisco offices of Perkins+Will and Kwan Henmi Architects.
Michael Friebele, Assoc. AIA
Friebele is a senior associate at Irving, Texas–based FTA Design Studio. Previously, he was an associate at international firm CallisonRTKL and a project designer at New York–based Laguarda.Low Architects. He is an at-large member of the board of directors for AIA Dallas, and writes for architectural publications including The Architect’s Newspaper and Texas Architect.
Linsey Graff, Assoc. AIA
As a campus planner associate at Ayers Saint Gross Architect’s Tempe, Ariz., office, Graff helps plan projects for large-scale colleges. After receiving her M.Arch. at the University of New York at Buffalo, she was a scholarship committee member in the AIA Buffalo/Western New York chapter and has received the AIA Buffalo Community Service Award in 2015, along with the AIA New York Associates Award in 2014.
Mona Zellers, Assoc. AIA
Zellers joined Seattle-based LMN Architects in 2011, and as one of the firm’s designers, she has worked on multiple commercial, academic and cultural projects including the award-winning Octahedron. Zellers serves on AIA Seattle’s board of directors and has previously co-chaired the 2013 and 2014 Seattle AIA Honor Awards Committee.
The 2017 award jury comprised chair Illya Azaroff, AIA, of New York–based +LAB architects; Hans Butzer, AIA, of Oklahoma City–based Butzer Architects and Urbanism; Damian Farrell, FAIA, of Ann Arbor, Mich.–based Damian Farrell Design Group; Jared Edgar Mcknight, Assoc. AIA, of Philadelphia-based Wallace Roberts & Todd, and Lynn M. Perkins, AIA, of Seattle-based Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Read ARCHITECT's coverage of the 2017 AIA Honor Awards, as well as past coverage of the AIA Associates Award.
