Happy Hour Honoring Women AIA Fellows

Join the AIANY Women in Architecture Committee for its 9th annual happy hour to honor the recently elevated women AIA Fellows for 2024! This is an in-person, informal event hosted at the Cosentino showroom for architects and designers to connect with the AIANY Chapter members who have earned the distinction of FAIA for their significant contributions to architecture. We look forward to seeing you there!

Speakers:
Hana Kassem, FAIA, LEED WELL AP, NOMA, Principal, Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates
Nicole Hollant-Denis, FAIA, NOMA, NCARB, Founding Member & Principal, Aaris Design Architects
Erleen Hatfield, F.ASCE, PE, FAIA, Managing Partner, Hatfield Group Engineering
Catherine Seavitt, FAIA, FASLA, Professor and Chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Pennsylvania’s Weitzman School of Design
Gina Bocra, FAIA, LEED Fellow, Vice President of the Built Ecology team, WSP

About the Speakers:
Hana Kassem is a Principal at Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, with three decades of experience, leading the design of projects globally and in the United States. Her architectural approach centers on human-centric, and sustainable design, aiming to elevate well-being and meet societal needs. Her portfolio spans academic, research, cultural, hospitality, residential, and mixed-use projects in Brazil, the USA, France, the Philippines, and China. Kassem's work has earned awards and recognition in projects like the Red Hook Houses Resiliency and Recovery for NYCHA and the CUNY Advanced Science Research Center in NYC. Kassem serves as VP for Design Excellence on the AIANY Board of Trustees and on the Van Alen Institute Executive Board of Trustees, where she spearheaded the initiation of the Neighborhoods Now project, mobilizing architects during the COVID-19 pandemic to aid communities. Kassem was tapped to join the Mayor's Advisory Council for NYC's post-COVID-19 reopening. Kassem has taught at The Cooper Union, Yale School of Architecture and Parsons School of Constructed Environments. She co-edited the book Architect d.b.a | On Re-defining the Roles of the Architect Today, reflecting her passion for reshaping the architectural landscape

Nicole Hollant-Denis is a visionary architect whose work merges sculptural dynamism with the social responsibility and humanism. As a founding member and principal of Aaris Design Architects in New York, also known as Aaris Design Studios, her work has earned distinction for addressing the complexities of current socio-political issues. In 2024, Hollant-Denis was elevated to the prestigious College of Fellows at the American Institute of Architects (AIA), an honor that recognizes her exceptional contributions to the field and her leadership in promoting diversity and inclusion within the profession. One of her crowning achievements, the African Burial Ground National Monument in Lower Manhattan, embodies her profound understanding of history, seamlessly blending modern design with deep reverence for the past. Nicole and her team at Aaris worked as associate architect on other notable projects including the Columbia Business School with DSR and FXC a 500,000 sf and $420M and Terminal 6 $4.6B expansion at JFK with Corgan Architects. Nicole considers her design team and the design process/purpose/client as important if not more important than the executed design itself. Hollant-Denis is a graduate of Cornell University, B’Arch, and Harvard University, MDes.

Erleen Hatfield is Managing Partner of Hatfield Group Engineering. She is widely recognized as one of the industry's leading engineers and has over thirty years of experience in the structural design of buildings including stadiums, towers, cultural hubs, and academic facilities. She frequently speaks on innovative structural design, structural sustainability, advanced computational design methods, and the intersection of engineering and architecture at A/E/C conferences worldwide. In 2018, she launched Hatfield Group, a design-driven structural, MEP and facades firm founded by women, led by women, and committed to cultivating the talent that women engineers to the industry. She teaches at Yale University in the School of Architecture and is the Vice-Chair of the NYC Structural Code Update Committee.

Catherine Seavitt Nordenson is professor and chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania’s Weitzman School of Design, where she holds the Meyerson Chair of Urbanism. She is the faculty director of the McHarg Center for Urbanism and Ecology and creative director of LA+ Journal. She studies urban landscapes, resilient infrastructures, post-industrial sites, toxicity, and inventive plant knowledge, with a focus on actionable responses to the climate crisis and decarbonization. Seavitt is a graduate of the Cooper Union and Princeton University, a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, and a recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship and Graham Foundation grants for research in Brazil. She serves as a member of the US Army Corps of Engineers’ Environmental Advisory Board. Seavitt’s books include Depositions: Roberto Burle Marx and Public Landscapes under Dictatorship; Structures of Coastal Resilience, with Guy Nordenson and Julia Chapman; and Four Corridors, with Guy Nordenson and Paul Lewis.

Gina Bocra is a Vice President with the Built Ecology team at WSP, bringing over 28 years of experience in sustainability in design, policy, and development. Throughout her career, Bocra has been a champion for smart, safe, and resilient buildings that contribute to the health and wellbeing of their occupants and our planet. Bocra previously led NYC Department of Building’s team of architects and engineers tasked with implementing and enforcing New York City’s sustainability laws regulating buildings, including Local Law 97, NYC’s landmark carbon emissions law. Prior to her work in the public sector, Bocra was Director of Sustainable Design at two architecture firms, delivering sustainability and design services on higher education, commercial, institutional, government, cultural, healthcare, and master planning projects. Throughout her career, she has volunteered with the US Green Building Council, the American Institute of Architects, the International Code Council, and the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers.