Paula Loomis, FAIA, MArch/MCM ’85 honored with the AIA Award for Excellence in Public Architecture 2024

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is honoring Paula Loomis, FAIA, MArch/MCM ’85 with the AIA Award for Excellence in Public Architecture 2024.  

The award recognizes architects, public officials, or other individuals who design distinguished public facilities and advocate for design excellence.

For more than 30 years, Loomis was an officer in the U.S. Air Force, where her leadership and specialization in military facilities resulted in buildings that will continue to serve future generations. A dedicated civil servant, she has also advanced the government’s sustainability and resilience strategies. Today, her work continues as the director of research, senior planner, and senior architect for The Urban Collaborative, an interdisciplinary firm that pursues public architecture in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.  

“As a public sector architect serving on the AIA National Board of Directors, Strategic Council, Board Knowledge Committee, Government Advocacy Committee, and numerous AIA organizations at local, state, and national levels, Paula is a model of the value of a lifetime of public and nonprofit service for the critical pipeline to practice and leadership for countless future generations of architects,” wrote Rona G. Rothenberg, FAIA, in nominating Loomis for the Excellence in Public Architecture Award.    

Loomis’ contributions to public architecture — which have received more than 50 awards — include developing more than 50 facility standards for a wide range of federal agencies and military branches that have shaped the character, resilience, and long-term viability of tens of thousands of facilities, maintaining 36 U.S. Air Force bases as command architect, and reimagining dormitories at Joint Base Langley-Eustis to better promote mental health, a project that earned a merit award from the American Planning Association.  

She was also recognized with a merit award from the APA for the design of the Department of Defense’s first LEED for Neighborhood Development project, the Monzen Housing Area Development Plan for the Marine Corps Air Station in Iwakuni, Japan. The mixed-use project features a commercial hotel and community spaces—a library, gym, and community rooms—surrounding a central square.

Loomis will be celebrated at the Awards Gala during the AIA Conference on Architecture & Design in June.

For more on Loomis and her contributions to public architecture, visit aia.org