“People do not buy goods and services. They buy relations, stories, and magic.”

— Seth Godin (American author and a former dot-com business executive.)

Every project an architect works on is not simply a service, but rather a meaningful relationship. The best way to let your potential clients know about this is through sharing it effectively. Most people refer to this step as “Marketing.” However, it takes years of practice to perfect this skill, as your potential client easily neglects it.  

When architects are investing rigorous time and effort in tailoring their client preferences, it is equally important that it reaches the right audience. Digital Marketing is one such effective tool that will set the stage to convey the full potential of an architect’s work. There are countless tutorials and guides on best practices in digital marketing, but we will be focusing on the challenges that are actually transforming architectural marketing.

5 Challenges and its Solution

Challenge 1: Elevating your website – Low Website Traffic

Now that every architect and architectural practice has understood the importance of a website, it’s essential to know how it works. It is also crucial to utilise the website’s tools to their fullest extent. One of the most common issues every architectural practice faces is low website traffic. Although a practice may be doing well with visitors, converting them into clients can be challenging. There might be multiple reasons for a website to be abortive. However, with a few tweaks and effective tools, it is possible to give a complete makeover.

Solution: – Invest in SEO and website optimization

Challenge 2: Supercharge Your Email Interaction

Nurturing a client-architect relationship takes multiple stages to succeed, especially if it’s an online interaction. Sharing updates through emails for architects is becoming more sophisticated, focusing on personalized content, visual storytelling, and integration with broader marketing strategies. One of the best ways to keep your clients engaged and enhance your digital marketing is to use personalized email content.

• Interactive Email Design
• Automated Drip Campaigns

Solution: Email Marketing

Challenge 3: Engage Your Audience Through Social Media

As digital marketing grows, client-architect interaction has taken on new dimensions. Architects leverage social media to showcase their projects, reach potential clients, and build their brands. These platforms have become especially popular because of their focus on imagery, which aligns well with the visual nature of architecture. 

Solution: Sharing Effective Stories on Social Media  

Identifying your target audience is important when sharing progress with these platforms. The top 3 most-used platforms by architects are:

• Instagram – Its visual focus makes it ideal for sharing high-quality images of architectural work, design concepts, and creative processes.
• Facebook – architects use Facebook to share projects, engage with a wider audience, and participate in architecture-related groups and discussions.
• LinkedIn – It’s a platform for connecting with industry professionals, and potential clients and staying updated on architectural trends and news.

Challenge 4: The First Best Impressions / The Proof of Trust

One of the widely faced challenges among freelance architects is making the first best impression. As important as networking events are, it is equally important to make a good first impression on a potential client. We classify this as an ‘elevator pitch’ or ‘business proposal’. 

Architectural proposals are a strategic compilation of your practice’s history, philosophy, mission, and vision statements. The perfect balance of including this information and not making it too monotonous is a skill every architect learns through experience. 

Solution: 

• Tailor your pitch to show how your expertise can address their specific needs.
• Instead of listing services, explain your approach’s benefits to the client, such as maximizing space, enhancing sustainability, or delivering projects on time and within budget.
• Focus on highlighting your USP (Unique Selling Point) sets you apart from other architects. This could be a particular design philosophy, specialized experience, innovative use of technology, or a strong portfolio in a specific niche.

Challenge 5: Effective Publicizing for Digital Marketing

Digital Marketing‌ consists of two functional aspects – strategies and tools. Earlier we discussed some effective strategies, we will now discuss the tools to implement them. The idea of running a creative business means keeping with the current trends in spreading your USP. A good way to do that is ‘effective publicizing’. But what exactly is effective publicizing? 

They are nothing but paid ADs or in marketing it is known as pay-per-click advertising. It is the digital version of brochures and pamphlets. Present-day architectural business owners have started using multiple social media platforms apart from Google and Facebook.

Solution: 

• The most recent platform of advertising that architects have adopted is LinkedIn Ads.
• To make advertising more natural, Youtube Ads is one of the best tools these days, as it has become one of the most visited platforms for potential clients.

Instagram Ads: As a visually driven platform, Instagram is ideal for architects to showcase their work. Instagram’s advertising is integrated with Facebook Ads, allowing for seamless targeting. Instagram Ads often drive strong engagement, making it easier to connect with prospective clients.

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Digital marketing streamlines the process of networking and maintaining a healthy relationship with clients in this digital age. As it is, the most cost-effective method compared to the traditional way of printing brochures or billboards. Understanding and leveraging digital marketing will have a distinct advantage in an increasingly competitive market. 

These effective platforms offer detailed analytics, allowing architects to understand what content resonates with their audience, which campaigns are effective, and where adjustments are needed. This data-driven approach leads to more informed decisions and better results.

The post How Architects Can Conquer Common Digital Marketing Roadblocks appeared first on Archipreneur.

The report covered 39 different positions across 26 U.S. states and 17 cities. However, according to the 2017 AEC Industry Salary Survey, there are major differences in pay in different countries. As well as across different fields of the AEC industry. “Eighty-five per cent of AEC executives in western Europe make less than $75,000 per year versus 92 per cent in eastern Europe, and 41 per cent in the US and Canada”.

In order to make an informed career decision, it’s good to know where you stand in terms of your architecture salary. If you’re working in the United States, you can start by checking out the AIA Compensation Survey Salary Calculator. Here you find out what the market says your skills are worth.

Here’re some tips on how to get that raise:

#1 Have Regular Performance Reviews

In architecture firms, it can be challenging to communicate the value you add as an employee. However, it is important to highlight that your firm has profited on account of your performance in order to justify a salary increase. Having regular performance reviews can help keep track of progress and growth over time. Reviews can also be great opportunities to discuss your overall contribution to the firm and its future. Before your performance review, have specific examples of professional accomplishments at hand and focus your discussion on the tangible value you bring, as well as your ambitions for the future within the company.

#2 Get Licensed

According to Architect Magazine, “more firms are now rewarding staff for attaining licensure than there were just a couple of years ago: 80 per cent, up from 74 per cent in 2017”. As a licensed architect you provide greater value to your employer and have a higher earning potential than an unlicensed architect. More than half of architecture firms offer higher salaries to licensed architects.

#3 Get Other Credentials

In addition to getting licensed, gaining other credentials such as LEED and CDT certification will give you a significant competitive edge. LEED is currently the most recognized certification program for sustainable building design, while CDT stands for Construction Documents Technologist and is a certification from the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI). These specialist qualifications will allow your company to charge more to the client for your time and expertise. With additional credentials you may be able to negotiate a salary increase with more confidence.

#4 Think Outside of the Box

Create an internal system, an app or piece of software that solves a problem for you or your employer. This is what Steven Burns did when he created a project management software that helped his architecture firm streamline many of their internal processes. This tool eventually became ArchiOffice, a time tracking, billing and project management tool used by some of the most renowned architecture firms out there. You can also create e-book or courses that help other architects. These can add significant value to your work and introduce other income streams. It is always good to diversify.

#5 Change Firms

If none of the above tips help, and your firm is not willing to negotiate or acknowledge your value, it might be time to change employers. In any case, it’s important to be objective and make your expectations known.

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Bringing in new work while handling the daily ins and outs of running a company requires a combination of talent, skill, team effort, a great business plan and smart organization. Particularly in the moments that call for scaling up, it becomes apparent that architecture is an industry in which technical knowledge, management, and business understanding are as important as good design.

The Hinge Research Institute recently released their new their 2018 High Growth Study which took an in-depth look at AEC firms in order to determine why some grow faster than others. More than 1,000 companies participated in the study and architecture, engineering and construction services firms made up more than 21 percent of the sample.

The study showed that the habits and priorities that drive higher than average growth numbers can be broken down into three categories. High growth firms are:

• Focused on understanding the marketplace and are nearly four times more likely to perform regular research on their target markets.
• More likely to specialize and recognize skills that set them apart from the competition.
• Quicker to adopt digital marketing tactics and content marketing. They also attend more conferences and events.

#1 – Develop Policies and Procedures

In today’s competitive market, effective strategic management is paramount for sustaining a business. Committing to a new strategy can be daunting and seem at risk of somehow cutting off possibilities and options. To avoid this, firms are advised to develop a structure that will increase the odds of success. To start, create a list of shared, general goals which are then broken down to specific, measurable objectives with precise targets. These decision-making processes should relate to organizational structure, staff recruitment, sales message, pricing, management, leadership and marketing approach. By setting office standards, you make the onboarding process for new hires faster and more efficient. This will save time, cost and avoid the frustration of training simple processes and answering repeated questions.

#2– Research Markets for Growth Opportunities

In an interview with Architect Magazine, new HOK CEO Bill Hellmuth explained the firm’s recent foray into sport and hospitality: “We re-established our sport practice a little over a year ago when we merged with 360 Architecture, which had some original HOK-ers in it. So, we’re back in the sport practice. Where growth opportunities occur is not just in sport but the intersection of sport and master planning and what happens when you add a sport venue to an urban district… We also recently merged with a [global] hospitality firm [BBG-BBGM] and we’re now looking at the intersection between hospitality and healthcare.”

Don’t be afraid to enter a new sector. Architectural thinking and project experience can be valuable across various building markets and you may surprise yourself by offering more than you think.

#3 – Work on Your Brand and Market Positioning

In order to differentiate themselves from the competition, business owners need to understand what they do and where they want to go. What will naturally emerge from this understanding is an idea of marketing as a natural extension of their company’s work ethics, company culture and service quality. Sheela Maini Søgaard, CEO and Partner AT Bjarke Ingels Group, confirms this stance in her piece for Design Intelligence: “As long as we continue to create stories from the way we genuinely approach design, our marketing will be organically derived rather than contrived. Once you have originality and integrity in your communication it is simply a question of finding the right tools and outlets.”

#4 – Strike a Balance between Exploitation and Exploration

In a popular TED Talk business strategist Knut Haanaes identifies the main reasons why companies fail. According to Haanaes successful companies create a balance between exploration and exploitation, competently doing more of the same as well as doing what’s new. Focusing only on exploitation–providing the same proven services or product–may not be risky in the short-term, but it is a risky strategy in the long-term. Investing in research and development is crucial, as it will allow you to stay on top of business, technology and marketing trends.

#5 – Hire Smart

Once in position to take on larger projects, hiring new people can make a huge impact on the stability of the firm. If the firm plans to work on several larger projects simultaneously, it needs reliable employees who understand the company culture and project managers that can help come up with realistic goals and set achievable deadlines. It could be useful to create a list of essential competencies for new hires and a set of responsibilities for each position within the firm. The way you select new hires will have an impact on whether your firm’s culture thrives or crumbles. In fact, CB Insights found that among the top three reasons why startups fail is not having the right team.

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It’s important to remember that there is no one-size-fits-all strategy for scaling up. Read up on the experiences of successful archipreneurs, talk to experts in scaling up, friends and colleagues who have done it before, and come up with a solution custom-tailored for your business.

The post 5 Tips to Make Your Architecture Firm Ready for Growth appeared first on Archipreneur.

Architects in general have a tendency to underestimate the importance of marketing in creating and running a successful business. Even those who claim to understand the role of marketing in acquiring clients and building relationships, they often fail to fully utilize its potentials. Principals of small architecture firms often get caught up in trying to keep their practices afloat and end up treating marketing as a luxury that they will be able to afford once they achieve stability, thus missing the true role of marketing as being a catalyst for growth. Architects need to apply marketing to their practices from the onset and treat it with the same amount of dedication as they do with their floor plans, sections and 3D models of their building designs.

Marketing is a complex discipline, but its fundamentals can be broken down to a few simple concepts. As long as you keep these in mind at all times, your marketing efforts will be more successful, and easy to analyze and adjust. You need to be able to answer these three relatively easy questions and communicate them effectively to your audience:

Who are You?

In order to define your place in the industry and your target demographic, you need to determine who you are and what you do. Vague phrases about quality services, multidisciplinarity and “cutting-edge design” on your About Us page will not provide any useful information on what your company actually does. What do you stand for? How is this vision reflected in your office culture, design, and the type of projects you take on?

What Need Do You Fulfill?

Answering this requires you to formulate a value proposition. A value proposition explains how your service or product can help to solve your client’s problem and must be formulated in a concise and clear way, showing concrete results where possible. Even if you offer great value, if you fail to communicate it, your business will not attract new clients.

How are You Different?

Being able to differentiate yourself from your competition is a huge advantage. This is not easy, but your efforts have to go beyond mere sound bites. It can be achieved either by simply offering services in a more organized, client-oriented and reliable way, or by creating a unique, game-changing product or service.

Once you can answer these three questions, your marketing efforts basically filter into four-step process:

1. Attracting potential clients
2. Converting visitors to leads
3. Closing the deal
4. Cultivating relationships

These steps may seem straightforward, but there are several schools of thought on how to apply them. With the recent widespread adoption of social media and online tools, marketing has expanded to exciting new ways that architects can engage with and build an audience, and then successfully convert them to leads.

Today’s users have much more control of their media, and this has leveled the “marketing playfield” by offering businesses the opportunity to organically reach audiences by using relatively affordable channels and winning them over with engaging content. This phenomenon has introduced the concept of  “inbound marketing,” which contrasts with the traditional “outbound marketing” in almost every significant way.

Before coming to a verdict as to which is better, let’s see what each entails:

Outbound Marketing

Outbound marketing includes traditional advertising practices, cold calling, email and newsletter blasts, sponsorship, and word-of-mouth referrals, to name a few. It is generally known as an interruptive marketing practice that has become less effective in the last few decades. Spam protection tools and blocking techniques, along with the development of new communication trends through social media, have empowered users and limited many of the elements of outbound marketing.

Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing embraces new media tools, and promotes creating and sharing content that appeals to specific demographics. Publishing the right content at the right moment is at the core of inbound marketing. It focuses on building communities and relies on organic search traffic. It uses blogs, social media, calls-to-action and landing pages to convert visitors to leads.

Data is also an important element of inbound marketing as it uses surveys and social monitoring to find out where your target audiences are and what they want.

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Most architecture firms will not have to choose between inbound and outbound marketing. Despite hyperbole from proponents of both concepts, they actually work best in combination. You will probably need to keep sending out newsletters and press releases, publishing in magazines, and attending seminars and conferences. However, inbound marketing will allow you to track your return on investment (ROI) more easily, and thus build your reputation. Just remember, there is no single marketing solution that works for everyone.

To learn more about how some of the leading architecture firms use social media, networking, blogging and other marketing tools, check out Archipreneur’s book on new business models for architects, “The Archipreneur Concept”.

The post How to Grow Your Architecture Firm through Marketing appeared first on Archipreneur.

This week’s interview is with Nina Freedman, a design industry veteran, educator and the founder of DREAMLAND. Acting as an intergenerational and cross-disciplinary hub, DREAMLAND facilitates an original design product and process.

Before launching her own practice, Freedman received her Diploma of Architecture from the Architectural Association in London and worked with many of the world’s leading architects. Her extensive resume includes the likes of Renzo Piano, Richard Meier, Paul Rudolph, and she recently left her role as Director of Projects for Shigeru Ban Architects America to launch her own practice.

DREAMLAND marks a new chapter in her already successful career in architecture. Read the full interview below for Nina Freedman’s thoughts on creativity, academia, professional practice, and emerging business models in architecture.
Enjoy!

What are some the driving forces in the creative philosophy for DREAMLAND?

If I can use simple words to begin…connection, love, understanding….this is the seed of creative ideas. I don’t want to understand my client or a site as perfect. I want to see the stains, which perhaps they hide.… For me this is the real beauty and if I can capture this identity in a space, I suspect they, the place will be visible in ways they or the company wants to be seen…human…It is a kind of truth which connects. Mixing with this is the energy of very unexpected ideas. I feel this is needed in architecture. At least it is for me. So many unique ideas are imposed on clients. How to consider new ideas, to be unique and compassionate at the same time? This is an oxymoron in our industry. I speak a lot about this on my website, about emotional space… in the values section and in my letter.

I also feel that this cannot only be external. This needs to be internal in the company too…which is one of the reasons I was looking for a new business model…

You’ve described DREAMLAND as a design practice that embraces connections between academia and professional practice and acts as an intergenerational and cross-disciplinary hub. Could you describe the ways in which your business model differs from traditional architectural practices?

DREAMLAND is a really big mission, and it’s a testing ground for changing things that I have witnessed in my professional life. I often question the definition of creativity, not only in academia, but also in practice. There is very little generosity or tolerance in appreciation of the variety of creativity. One of the biggest questions we face always is, is this good design? Architects are a very judgmental crowd…I face this myself too.

Also, when students go out into the professional world, very often they’re never given anything creative to work on. This disconnection comes as a shock for students. They are very rarely given the the opportunity to be creative, or to take a project through from beginning to end at the early stages of their career.

Another issue is that the elders in the field have professional experience but don’t have digital experience. The students have digital experience, but they don’t have professional experience. This means that the idea of a top down business model, or hierarchy, in my opinion, doesn’t work anymore. There needs to be mutual respect where both sides are giving and getting something from the equation.

The other aspect to address is that there’s a large pool of people who are very proficient in architecture but are not happy with the long hours commonly seen in the profession, either by reason of necessity or just comfort. For example, parents cannot work those long hours and retirees who have such a knowledge base, are not working in the pool anymore. This means that there’s a large number of people who potentially can contribute and want to contribute; so why not utilize this capacity to work more flexibly? Can teams be curated differently?

Dreamland incorporates solutions for a number of these issues, aiming to provide something that’s unique and instilled with a sense of kindness. The firm is set up with three interconnected branches, Dreamland Learning, Dreamland Alliance, and Dreamland Building. For Dreamland Building (which are the projects), I’m interested in new solutions for workplace, housing, the integration of urban and country living, new living systems for elders, cultural institutions, landscape art, and the smaller scale of furniture and products. Dreamland Learning is where we like to attract people coming out of school in the early stages of their career. The goal is to give them authorship. This means that they would be learning the project from beginning to end, everything from sitting in meetings with the clients, to working with consultants, and being part of the contractual phase.

Young designers will be the face for many of the projects, and they would be very involved in the design. The challenge is that when students are coming out of school, they don’t know how to do most of these things. This is where Dreamland Alliance comes in, and it‘s set up as a series of councils, including a design council, an engineering council, a spiritual council, an admin council, and more. These councils are interdisciplinary and contribute to the various project types. The business model is based on a supporting, radial structure, rather than a top down approach. People ask me a lot about the business model. But the truth is that at the heart is creativity…the model just supports that…

What made you decide to start DREAMLAND? Was there a particular moment that sealed the decision for you?

My reasons for starting the firm have to do with challenges that I witnessed over the years, not only with the people that worked under me or with me in firms, but also the students that I’ve had, and watching them throughout academia and the beginning of their careers. These experiences, as well as those in offices, urged me to consider the questions that I had about the industry and its ingrained habits and practices. 

Launching my own practice was something I always wanted to do, and I had my own furniture design company in the past. After that I went back into architecture because I wanted to work on a variety of scales. It was something that was always in the background that I wanted to do, and by the time I decided to leave I had a network, and experience as the wings.

I waited until my son graduated university to leave, but up until that point I had been writing intensively for three or four years about what I wanted to do. This was prepared, and I was also teaching already so I had a basis from which to work once I left, and I always wanted that. I love the combination of teaching and working, inside the company, and outside the company as well. So, if there was a particular moment — it had to do with the graduation of my son and the financial risk that I could then take without impacting his right to an inspired education. 

What have you found to be the most fulfilling aspect of launching your own practice?

First of all, my work environment is less formal and I’m enjoying that. My office is currently located in a coworking space and I’m enjoying working around people who are not architects. I’m getting input from all kinds of people, and this particular place is about social elevation. You can’t work here unless you have some kind of social mission, whether it’s for profit or a non-profit. There is an incredible energy and a sense of community.

So it has a natural filter for certain kinds of organizations, companies and people and that is interesting to me. In most architectural offices are people sitting at desks silently with their earbuds in, looking at computers, and I think many of the offices look the same. There’s so little creativity in those workspace designs. So little conversation. I don’t necessarily think this coworkpace is super creative, I just think it’s very informal, which allows me to relax. I feel like my creative freedom is present finally. I work very hard, I work late, and I work on weekends. But if I want to spend the morning writing, I do it.

How has your leadership experience in high-profile firms helped you in the actual running of your business? What specific skills have proved the most useful?

Certainly I can take any project and make it happen from beginning to end…those skills are there. A lot of people think they can start their own firm coming out of school, and some try, and they go through many painful challenges. But I actually think people should not open offices when they’re very young. Perhaps if they came together with older people, and worked together it would work better. But there’s a lot of young people who start firms and its absolute chaos. They often don’t know what they’re doing, I’ve seen it over and over again. You can’t fault people for their eagerness to be independent, and the desire to put their creative stamp on something, but they’re working within the same business model of the one that they hate. And it’s worse, because they have no experience.

A few people, older people, have come to me from other industries, now that I’ve done this. And what’s been nice is that they say to me, I’ve been working for X number of years, and I’ve been wanting to make the switch, but I thought maybe I’m too old. But you’ve done it, so maybe I can do it too, and you know that’s been really nice for me to hear. Because particularly in architecture I’ve always heard that you have to open your firm in your 30’s, and I always wondered about it. It’s actually not a great idea to start that early, but it’s within the myth of the culture of architecture that if one is older it may be too late. I actually think that’s so incorrect. I lack in youthful energy, but maybe I’m wiser and faster, so there is value in everything.

You gained extensive experience in international firms and succeeding in rising to leadership positions within those firms. Most recently, you made the decision to leave your position as Director of Projects for Shigeru Ban Architects America shortly before he won the Pritzker Prize. Do you have any advice for architects like yourself who face the difficult decision to set out on their own after rising to senior positions in their respective firms?

Absolutely, I would say to do it! But think very carefully about why you’re doing it, because while it’s nice to put your creative stamp on something, there should be a good reason why you want to create a company. What’s different about what you’re going to do that you can offer, that a client can’t get somewhere else? How many architectural firms do we actually need out there? Unless it’s something that is uniquely your vision, and it’s something different, I recommend for people to think twice about it.

When launching a firm of your own, how might you develop and begin to manage your own financing?

Chances are that if you’ve been working for a long time, you’re not someone who’s got a trust fund, so there’s always the question of how you’re going to support yourself if you leave a long term position where you are salaried. That’s almost the single driver why people don’t do it. So I would recommend setting up something on the side before you take the job. And it could be side consultant work–you don’t have to have a project. Some people leave when they are gifted with small projects from their former firms. This is a wonderful thing for a firm to do…

You don’t necessarily need that, I think if you have some side consulting on a part time basis — a certain amount of hours of teaching could help, so try to set that up in advance, so there’s a cushion. And I would say get a lot of your main bills paid off before you do that. I’m speaking to people like myself who are doing it on a shoe string, not people who have money. It is good to live outside of one’s comfort zone….it’s exciting. 

What new business models can you see architects applying to the practice in the coming years?

There’s a big debate around charging for time, which has been standard practice, even when it is called something else. There’s the actual concept of the project, then there’s the production of the project, and usually the production involves a lot more time, and it’s a more expensive part of the process. But I think the idea is what has more value. If you get more fee up front, it helps to pay for the production afterwards. I really don’t want to charge for time, I’d rather charge for ideas than for time. It is about value. 

How do you see the future of architecture? In which areas (outside of traditional practice) can you see major opportunities for up and coming architects?

One thing I’ll say is that it’s totally unpredictable. I never would have guessed thirty years ago that the world would be what it is today. I would question if there is a way to manage change so that people who love the profession and have been working in it for years are not made obsolete by future changes coming in. So how does one keep current, and how do you deal with change? That’s a cross generational problem because it’s going to happen to everyone at some stage in their career. I do think that some of the questions that I’ve spoken about, people are going to start to wrestle with. We generally use an obsolete model that is irrelevant and non-modern, and I think we need to learn from other industries. Obviously 3D prototyping is going to play a huge role, and we don’t even know yet how much.

I’m very interested in creating spaces and beauty across the board, not just for the upper-class, but for the middle-class, the lower-class, and the developing world. I really believe that if people have spaces of equality, it completely changes their lives. In the same way education is a democratic equalizer between classes, I think space is as well.

 About Nina Freedman

In 2015, Nina founded DREAMLAND, a conscious spatial design laboratory that specializes in the impact of emotional space and how it shifts collective thinking. Prior to founding DREAMLAND, Nina was the secret wing under numerous world-renowned architects. As the long term Director of Projects for Shigeru Ban Architects America (SBAA), she liaised with the Tokyo and Paris offices and was responsible for executing the vision for all projects from concept through construction, as well as the direction and development of office policy, management, staffing and marketing. At SBAA, Nina led the award winning projects of the New Aspen Art Museum, Metal Shutter Houses and Camper Shoe Store, as well as the invited competitions for the National Library of Israel, Google HQ and the University of Chicago Business School in Hong Kong. Prior to joining SBAA, Nina was an Associate at H3 (formerly Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates) where she directed public and institutional projects including the GSA Federal Courthouse in Jackson, Mississippi as well as the Restoration of Central Synagogue, Radio City Music Hall and the Packer Collegiate Institute Middle School.

Nina’s international experience includes work with Renzo Piano, Richard Meier and Paul Rudolph. Projects in these highly inventive offices ranged from museums, subway stations, television headquarters and single-family homes. In the early 1990’s, Nina created “Point,” an instantly successful furniture design business with a table series called “Banana Split.” The series, launched at design shows in New York City and Tokyo, was featured in numerous international design magazines and presented in window displays along Fifth Avenue in New York City.

In the Fall of 2012, Nina co-founded ArchiteXX an independent, architectural organization to bridge the academy and practice, and to provide co-learning workshops and cross generational, individual and peer mentorship. Initiatives include university hubs, design actions, the subteXXt blog and advocacy. With Architexx,she has initiated a high school prep program to increase diversity in architecture through an affordable training program.

Since 2008 Nina has cultivated roots in the Hudson Valley of New York where she engages with community circles of empowerment, writing and spiritual practice. She has an keen interest in original methods of bridging urban and country environments. She was granted a Woman’s Leadership Residency at the Omega Institute Women’s Leadership Center.

At the Architectural Association in London, Nina earned a Diploma of Architecture and was the British and American Universities Scholar as well as the recipient of the Eileen Gray Scholarship. Nina earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Landscape Architecture from the City College of New York where she received the American Society of Landscape Architects Certificate of Honor, the highest award given to graduating students in Landscape Architecture.

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