Ian Smith Design Group receives an Honor Award in the small project category for their work on Tufas Boulder Lounge.
The National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) recognized architecture and leadership excellence at the NOMA Awards Banquet, which featured the inaugural Phil Freelon Professional Design Awards, hosted in Brooklyn, New York, on October 19, 2019. The conference was NOMA’s largest event yet, with more than 1,200 registered conference attendees.
NOMA President Kimberly Dowdell, AIA, NOMA, NCARB, LEED AP, presided over the evening, recognizing award-winning work and acknowledging NOMA leaders and NOMA’s last surviving founder, Mr. Jeh Johnson. They recognized the passing of industry leader and long-time NOMA member, Phil Freelon, who was formally acknowledged by NOMA renaming it’s professional design awards in his honor. NOMA also acknowledged long-time NOMA leader, Kenneth E. Casey with a new fellowship named in his memory, launching NOMA’s new Foundation Fellowship program for recent graduates. The Betty and Mort Marshall Scholarship Fund was also announced as a means to support Historically Black Colleges and University students studying architecture and engineering.
To recognize industry greats, including Phil Freelon and all those who came before us, is a way to remind us where we’ve come from and what we need to continue to strive for — in terms of design excellence and community leadership — to honor our founders’ strength, courage and vision.
—Kimberly Dowdell, President, NOMA