Calendar

Awards are more than marketing collateral—they serve as a catalyst for a continuous pursuit of quality and rigorous critical inquiry. However, the path from a successful project to an award-winning one requires strategic foresight. Join the Design Excellence Committee and invited panelists in a discussion on the value design awards recognition brings to a firm, and using the submission process as an opportunity to grow a design culture and celebration of great work. In addition to the panel discussion, this session will move beyond the basic submission requirements and focus on key design decisions that informed the preparation of an Awards entry.

Learning objective 1:
Describe the value architecture awards offer with respect to Business Development, Firm Recognition and Visibility, Staff Growth, Validate Architect

Learning objective 2:
Produce an awards submission that seamlessly integrates the ten principles of the AIA Framework for Design Excellence into the project story and submission.

Learning objective 3:
Apply a constructive editing process when preparing an awards submission to enhance narrative clarity and visual impact.

Learning objective 4:
Analyze past instructions to jurors to identify their influence on the evaluation process and award outcomes.

About “The Path to Excellence" Workshop Series 

Are you ready to showcase your best work? Join the AIA|DC Design Excellence Committee for "The Path to Excellence," an accelerated three-part workshop series designed to demystify the 2026 AIA|DC Design Awards. We are breaking down the anatomy of a winning submission—from firm strategy and narrative curation to an evidence-based analysis of past winners—equipping your team with the tools to craft a competitive entry ahead of the September submission openings. This series is structured to appeal to members of all experience levels, firm size, and specializations.

Panel Speakers

Bart Shaw, FAIA

• Email: bart@ibanezshaw.com
• Affiliation: Adjunct Professor, University of Texas at Arlington | Contributing Editor, Texas Architect Magazine
• Bio: Bart Shaw, FAIA creates architecture of striking conceptual clarity that illuminates the highest aspirations of his projects. While he was born, raised, educated and practices in Texas, his distinguished portfolio has received national and international attention for an approach to design that goes beyond program to express the full power of architecture. His extraordinary body of work led to his elevation to the prestigious AIA College of Fellows in 2019. In addition to his practice, Bart is mentoring the next generation of architects and actively shapes the discourse on design in the region. A sought-after lecturer, he has been a featured speaker at Facades+ and AIA Conferences on Architecture in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. His commitment to design excellence and thought leadership continues to inspire the profession and broader communities alike.

Rick Schneider, FAIA

• Email: rschneider@istudioarchitects.com
• Affiliation: Founder, IStudio Architects
• Bio: Rick Harlan Schneider employs an innovative approach to architecture and urban design—considering the broader needs and long-term impact of design on local communities and the healthy functioning of their natural ecosystems. This forward-thinking approach is complemented by a firm, pragmatic grasp of the building industry itself. A graduate of Virginia Tech, Rick spent the better part of the 1990s developing this process through practice, writing, travel and research. He began ISTUDIO in 1999 to engage communities with visionary civic, educational, commercial, and residential architecture and planning. His work as both a partner with ISTUDIO and a leader in the architecture community has placed him at the forefront of industry-wide changes in sustainable design. Rick promotes the discussion and development of sustainable building issues through his work with the AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE), and with the US Green Building Council (USGBC). He teaches community-based sustainable design in lectures and seminars with organizations such as the Catholic University of America, the Kresge Foundation, the National Building Museum, the Urban Land Institute, and the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum.

Elizabeth Emerson, AIA

• Email: eemerson@elstudioarch.com (Updated)
• Affiliation: Principal, EL Studio | Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs, Catholic University School of Architecture and Allied Arts
• Bio: Elizabeth Emerson’s architectural interests spring from the social and cultural. A native of the Washington DC area, Elizabeth’s research in design has engaged issues of social and environmental sustainability, individual and collective identity, and privatization. Elizabeth's project experience prior to founding EL Studio ranged from multi-tenant residential and hospitality projects to institutional and government projects including the Syracuse University School of Architecture and the US Embassies in Rabat, Morocco and Vienna, Austria. She serves on the Board of Visitors for Catholic University of America School of Architecture and Allied Arts and the Advisory Council Board of the Hillwood Estate Museum & Gardens, both located in Washington, DC. She is a licensed architect in New York and Washington, DC.

Mark lawrence, AIA

Email: mark@elstudioarch.com

Bio: Mark Lawrence’s architectural interests stem from the place where he lives and works. The alley-based studio in Washington DC serves as a testbed for researching a variety of scales from questioning urban infrastructural issues to materiality and detail.

He has worked on a range of project types of varying scale with architecture firms in both Washington, DC and Los Angeles, CA, including the US Federal Courthouse in San Diego and the UCLA Broad School Art Center reconstruction and expansion under Richard Meier and Partners. As a board member of the Washington Architecture Foundation, Mark works to expand the education and action of architecture to underserved areas in the Washington region. Mark is a licensed and registered architect in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Florida and Washington, DC.
 

Ken Wilson, FAIA, FIIDA, FASID, LEED Fellow

• Email: Ken.Wilson@perkinswill.com
• Affiliation: Global Design Director / Executive Committee, Perkins&Will
• Bio: Ken Wilson has a passion for creating sustainable living and working environments that optimize the health, wellbeing, and productivity of their inhabitants. His work includes a variety of project types in the areas of architecture, interiors, graphics, and product design, and his clients include some of the nation’s top socially responsible corporations, associations, nonprofits, law firms, and environmental organizations. Ken’s projects include headquarters offices for the American Society for Interior Designers (ASID), the International Interior Design Association (IIDA), and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) which was the first project to achieve triple platinum certifications from LEED, WELL, and TRUE rating systems. Most recently he completed the first all-electric net-zero energy home within the city limits of Park City, Utah. Ken’s projects have been published in eight different countries and have received over 140 national and local design awards. Ken is the only architect to hold fellowships in the AIA, IIDA, ASID, and LEED.

William Hodges Hendrix

• Email: whharchitect@gmail.com
• Affiliation: Founder, Hendrix Studio
• Bio: William is the founding partner of HendrixStudio, a collaborative design consulting firm whose field of action is architecture and design. In the past 40 years, he has led design at international firms, lectured on architecture, and was a regular jury critic at several universities. He holds a Master of Architecture from the University of Virginia.

Moderators

Moderator Bios

John Michael Day, AIA, LEED AP is a Principal at Cunningham Quill Architects and has spent more than 19 years creating a diverse and award-winning body of work, including single- and multi-family residential, infill mixed-use, commercial office, healthcare, hospitality, institutional, adaptive reuse and historic preservation.

Michael is an advocate for an innovative and thoughtful design process that supports diversity and team collaboration. Notable is his commitment to design excellence that elevates the physical environments of communities and enriches lives of their residents. 

Mr. Day is a Board Member for the AIA | DC Chapter and a Co-Chair for the AIA | DC Design Excellence Committee.  In addition, he served as the Juror Chair for the 2025 AIA Alabama Excellence in Design Awards program and  served as board member for the DC Building Industry Association (DCBIA) Community Improvement Day from 2010 to 2014. 

Carrie Kramer, Assoc. AIA

Carrie Kramer, Assoc. AIA, is the Founder and Design Principal of Carrie Kramer Design LLC, a newly launched strategic design practice aimed at evolving the value and potential of the built environment in an AI-infused world. Her award-winning international portfolio includes highly complex commercial, mixed-use, and master planning solutions for elite research, healthcare, and academic institutions, built upon 20+ years of architecture, design, and planning experience at top-tier global design firms.

Ms. Kramer champions a future-focused methodology she calls "Multi-Dimensional Design." This approach leverages the built environment's temporal lifecycle by operationalizing first-principles thinking: positioning "Beauty" as a premium valuation engine, enforcing "Truth" via uncompromised material and economic transparency, and utilizing "Joy" as the definitive metric for long-term asset retention and civic loyalty.

A dedicated member of the AIA|DC Design Excellence Committee, Ms. Kramer is committed to elevating the chapter’s discourse on architectural quality and design equity. Drawing from her own history of securing multiple local AIA design awards, she co-moderates "The Path to Excellence" awards discussion and workshop series, providing the nuanced, dual perspective of a rigorous practitioner and a discerning evaluator to demystify the anatomy of a winning submission.

Maggie Dunlap, Assoc. AIA

Maggie Dunlap is an architectural designer based in Washington, D.C.. She holds a Master of Architecture from Virginia Tech and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Savannah College of Art and Design. Her work is grounded in a strong focus on hospitality design, while her broader portfolio spans single family residential, mixed-use projects, K–12 and government facilities, as well as large-scale cultural and campus master planning initiatives.

Beyond her professional practice, Maggie is an active contributor to the architectural community, serving as Co-Chair of the AIA DC Design Excellence Committee and as a board member of the Uptown Community Initiative.