A YEAR IN REVIEW

Join us as we reflect on a journey through I-NOMA's 2023—a year where our membership and community made collective strides toward a more inclusive and vibrant future in the field of architecture.

A HUGE thank you to every person who dedicated their time to volunteer at our youth programming, every professional who took the time to speak and share their expertise, and every firm or organization that graciously hosted and supported our events. Your contributions are invaluable to fulfilling the I-NOMA Mission.

MEMBER HIGHLIGHTS:

A big welcome to our new board members! We are pleased to introduce your 2024 Executive Board (new members in bold and corresponding pictures are from left to right) :

President, term ending 2025 - James Holland

Vice President, term ending 2024 - Vada Kornegay

Secretary, term ending 2025 - Chelsea Jackson Greene

Treasurer, term ending 2024 - Marcus Hebron

Parliamentarian, term ending 2024 - Krystofer Pinnock

Director, term ending 2025 - Alex Sanchez

Director, term ending 2025 - Doug Williams

Student Liaison, term ending 2024 - OJ Ohuaregbe

Historian, term ending in 2025 - Mike Rogers

Congratulations to all the newly licensed I-NOMA members!

Licensure

Morgan Embt
Richie Hands
James Holland

Notable Mentions

I-NOMA celebrates the historic inauguration of Kimberly Dowdell, AIA, NOMAC, who will be the one hundredth AIA President! She is based in Chicago's HOK office and she will serve as the first Black woman to fill the position in AIA’s 166-year history.
In 2023, NOMASiit began a podcast and new show "Beyond the Surface.” The podcast highlights minority voices to humanize architects and discuss their values and who they are as people. Episodes are released on the 15th of every month. The show is available on Spotify, Amazon Music, and Google Podcasts. Find the episodes at the link bit.ly/nomasiit_podcast
Congratulations to I-NOMA member Douglas Williams who was among six selected for the 2023-24 Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) Fellowship for Innovation and Leadership! Douglas Williams, Lecturer and Film/TV Artist, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, will use ethnographic methods (involved-participant observation, emersion interviews and Grounded Theory) to film, document, and analyze programs and events aimed at building interest in youth from K-12 for a career in landscape architecture.
Congratulations to KOO for winning the AIA Chicago Firm of the Year Award! KOO was founded in 2005 by Jackie Koo, AIA, and works to craft buildings and interior environments that create a unique identity. The firm leans on every member of the team to contribute to a given project and I-NOMA’s outgoing President Ashlen Williams has been a valuable member of the firm as an architect for a number of years.

2023 EVENTS

January 28th | I-NOMA’s Annual Advance Workshop was held at the SOM Chicago Office. During this in-person working session, board members introduced the 2023 initiatives and programming as membership laid out the foundation for another successful year! This was a great opportunity for participants to join a leadership committee and take part in the initial planning to set the stage and calendar for the year to come.

February 23rd | Pioneering Black Architects in Illinois: History & Heritage | I-NOMA Historian Michael Rogers, AIA, NOMAC provided a very powerful presentation honoring the legacy of trailblazing Black architects from Chicagoland. The lecture highlighted the untold stories of 8 architects: Charles Duke, Walter Bailey, Robert Robinson Taylor, Robert Rochon Taylor, Kenneth O'Neal, Beverly Green, Louise Harris Brown, John Moutoussamy, and Wendell Campbell.

We were also joined by special guests that were descendants or spouses to a few of the highlighted Architects: Brian O'Neal (son of Ken Roderick O'Neal), Susan and June Campbell (Daughter and Wife of Wendell Campbell), and Gail Dugas (grand-daughter of Robert Rochon Taylor). They each brought memorabilia, and after the lecture they provided deep insight into the lives and work of their loved ones. This was an unforgettable event and I-NOMA would like to thank CannonDesign for hosting.

February 25th | Museum of Science and Industry’s Black Creativity Career Showcase | I-NOMA had an amazing time at the Black Creativity Career showcase which boasted over 700 student registrations! The spaghetti and marshmallow exercise was a big hit with the youth participants. The Mission of the Black Creativity Career Showcase is to inspire African-American children to pursue educational opportunities and careers in scientific and creative fields.

March 4th | NextGen Career Development Day | Thank you to our guest speaker Davey Friday and Perkins & Will for hosting our annual Career Development Day that saw a great turn-out from both students and professionals. Our ongoing mission for the I-NOMA NextGen Career Development Day is to provide access for all of our tremendously talented members to tools and resources that help them prepare for the next step in their careers. Attendees were able to take part in a round-robin circuit of resume and portfolio reviews with industry professionals, mock interviews with Chicago design firms, and professional headshots.

June 15th | Equity in Architecture + Youth Education: Volunteer Fair and Mixer | I-NOMA, AIA Chicago and the AIA Chicago Foundation held an event to gather for a summertime mixer and the opportunity to learn about organizations and initiatives working to make architecture accessible to underserved minority K-12 students. We gathered on the rooftop of HED’s new office to catch up with old friends, meet new ones, and learn how to get involved with and support organizations that are bringing architecture to young people.

GENERAL BODY MEETINGS

March 14th | GBM 01 - I-NOMA March General Body | Our first General body meeting of the year was hosted at FitzGerald where we provided an overview of the 2023 planned I-NOMA programming and updates on open leadership opportunities, planning, and volunteer opportunities.

May 11th | GBM 02 - May General Body Meeting | Our May General Body Meeting at geniant + Eastlake featured guest keynote speaker Dawveed Scully,AIA, AICP,NOMA, who is the Managing Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Planning and Development (DPD). During his talk, Dawveed discussed how the City of Chicago is promoting inclusive and diverse design excellence through innovative programs and opportunities such as a community led Request for Proposal (RFP) process.

July 12th GBM 03 - July Mid-Year Summit 2023 | EXP Chicago hosted our July Mid-Year Summit. This meeting was an opportunity to network and provide updates, particularly about planning and volunteer opportunities for our Project Pipeline camp. .

September 13th | GBM 04- September General Body Meeting | The SM&W Chicago office hosted our September General Body Meeting. This meeting featured a special presentation from I-NOMA Secretary and City Planner Jasmine Gunn with the Chicago Department of Planning and Development on the planned CTA Redline Extension Comprehensive Plan. This was a great opportunity for our chapter to excitingly reconnect ahead of the National NOMA Conference in Portland, Oregon.

November 15th | GBM 05 - November General Body Meeting | Just as SOM hosted our first event of the year, SOM hosted our last General Body Meeting in November. In this meeting, an overview and updates on open leadership opportunities were provided. This was a chance for members to review and accept nominations for open positions, and provide details on how to vote in our 2023 I-NOMA election.

CEU & PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT EVENTS

March 9th | 5-7pm | Schluter Shower Installation Seminar w/ Daltile|. This architectural and design workshop was valued at 1 LU hours for AIA and discussed the challenges faced with traditional shower applications. New technologies were presented to improve installation and specifications. Participants also got to experience a live presentation and demonstration of a shower.

June 8th | Virtual Lunch & Learn | FenestraPro + I-NOMA: Effective Workflows for Dynamic Energy Modelling in Revit | Energy Analysis Models in Revit can be inflexible and not create space adequately. Performance can be slow and large models are often difficult to navigate. However, we have created new workflows that can improve and resolve issues relating to the envelope, giving modelers dynamic feedback on their façade design decisions. These workflows were discussed and demonstrated throughout this virtual course.

June 23rd | 360 N Green Construction Site Tour | I-NOMA members joined us for a construction site tour of 360 North Green, the future HQ for Boston Consulting Group. This development is a premier mixed-use development located in the heart of Fulton Market, one of Chicago’s fastest growing neighborhoods. Designed by Gensler, the approximately 500,000 square-foot building features creative amenities, retail and office spaces that exceed today’s standards for Class A development.

June 22nd |Equity in Architecture + Youth Education: Volunteer Fair and Mixer | A panel discussion hosted by the Illinois Chapter of the Construction Owner's Association of America and in partnership with I-NOMA. This event focused on diversifying institutional design and construction leadership and addressing the challenges, successes, and opportunities in creating a more representative industry. The panel discussion was an opportunity to hear from representatives of leading institutional construction owners and industry partners on topics such as program project pipelines, planning, designing, and building for diverse communities.

August 31st | I-NOMA End of Summer Mixer & CEU Presentation | We all gathered to kick-off the Labor Day weekend for a summer mixer hosted by the Virginia Tile showroom and equipped with heavy appetizers, beverages, an ice cream bar and goody-bag! This was a great chance to network and mingle with other I-NOMA members and allied professionals for the first half of the event. The second half of the event was a hands-on Double CEU presentation about Porcelain Tile Panels, their designs, and solutions for their usage.

PROJECT PIPELINE

Project Pipeline 2023 Summer Camp

IIT College of Architecture

The Project Pipeline Summer Camp Tradition continued in 2023 with a five-day(July 26th-30th) process driven architecture camp for students to work individually and collaboratively in order to address community-focused issues through creativity and design innovation.

I-NOMA’s mission is to empower young people to affect change in their community through design. By connecting young people to real world architects and planners, we foster the next generation of design professionals, civic leaders, and change makers. We advocate for fellowship, equity, and excellence in design.

The camp this year saw 50 student participants from around the Chicagoland region with students in grades 6 through 8. This year, we had a team build the tallest documented skyscraper in the camp’s history! Thank you to IIT for continuing to host the camp each year and being a great partner to I-NOMA.

DESIGN BUILD REIMAGINED: NEW 2023 TEEN PROGRAMMING

While we desired to host a full Design Build project this year, we did successfully develop and host an abbreviated program, reaching just as many high school students as before.

PROGRAM OBJECTIVE:

The Project Pipeline Teen Program intends to introduce and expose high-school students to Architecture and other Design Fields through an array of educational and participatory activities which includes guest speakers from various professions, firm visits, skills training, construction site/neighborhood tours, and more.

Every Saturday for 4 weeks, students will be introduced to a series of design tools and learn new ways to think critically about their community. The goal is to understand different types of design career paths, be exposed to the skills needed to excel, and learn more about the work behind a project proposal and development.

10/21 (Location: Perkins & Will): Session 01 Career Day : Students participated in engaging activities and learned about the different design professions: Urban Planning (Jasmine Gunn, NOMA, City Planner V at the Department of Planning and Development), Landscape Architecture (Ernie Wong, fASLA, Principal at Site Design Group, ltd.), Engineering (Shawn Waddell, Assoc. AIA, EIT, NOMA, Structural Engineer at SmithGroup), Architecture & Interiors (Deon Lucas, President at E.G. Woode)

11/04 (Location: Brook Architecture) : Session 02 Design Charrette : Students engaged in a design charrette where they designed either a personal, landscape, or community space. The students also learned about the different types of architectural drawings and produced hand-drawn plans of their designs.

11/11 (Location: HKS Architects ): Session 03 Skill Day : Students learned about the visual and presentation tools that make design projects come to life. Building off of session 2, the students took the drawings they created to build a 3D model of their designs.

11/18 (UIC Engineering Innovation Building): Session 04 Construction Site Tour & College Visit: Luther Lampkin from RG Construction led an informative tour of an active construction site and demonstrated the innovative technology he utilizes on project sites. The UIC architecture college and UIC NOMAS chapter graciously hosted the students by teaching them about college, providing a tour of the work spaces, and showing off student work. To close out the program, students enjoyed a pizza party and reflected on the program. The main feedback that was received from students was a desire to see even more expanded programming in 2024!

NOMA NATIONAL CONFERENCE

Portland, Oregon

The 2023 NOMA conference took place from October 11-15, 2023 in Portland, Oregon and drew 1,250 Architects and Designers–the most ever! I-NOMA had a great presence at the conference and we got to see our very own Mrs. June Campbell, wife of NOMA founder Wendell Campbell, inducted into the National Organization of Minority Architects Council (NOMAC). Additionally, we saw our newly licensed members receive their pins as well as NOMASiit and NOMAS SAIC compete in the Barbara G. Laurie student design competition.

BUILDING TOGETHER: AWARDS PROGRAM & HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE

I-NOMA participated in a holiday gathering with the seven architecture member-based organizations in Chicago: AIA Chicago, the AIA Chicago Foundation, Arquitectos, Arquitina, the Chicago Architecture Center (CAC), Chicago Women in Architecture (CWA), and the Illinois Chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects (I-NOMA).

Each organization has a series of honorees and I-NOMA recognized Eunice Augusto Ferreira for her work leading the Project Pipeline Camp, Caleb Kwok as a Rising Star in I-NOMA and the architecture profession, and Nicole Ginard for her volunteer work with the 2023 Teen Program.

STUDENT CHAPTER EVENTS

Our I-NOMA Student Chapters really stepped it up in 2023 to create a robust, insightful, collaborative, and diverse array of events and programming for the student members. Take a look below at some of the flyers for the events held in the past year.

NOMASiit