Design Awards – Built Category Jurors

Michelle Addington
Dean of School of Architecture, The University of Texas at Austin

Michelle Addington is dean of The University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture, where she holds the Henry M. Rockwell Chair in Architecture.  Formerly, she served as Gerald Hines Chair in Sustainable Architectural Design at the Yale University School of Architecture and was jointly appointed as a Professor at the Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.  Prior to teaching at Yale, she taught at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, the Technical University of Munich, Temple University and Philadelphia University.

Originally educated as a mechanical/nuclear engineer, Addington worked for several years as an engineer at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center and for E.I DuPont de Nemours before she studied architecture.  Her teaching, research, and professional work span across these disciplines with the overarching objective of determining strategic intersections between the optimal domains of physical phenomena with the practical domains of spatial, geo-political, economic, and cultural systems.  Her books, chapters, essays, journal papers, and articles address topics ranging from fluid mechanics to the History of Technology to smart materials, and she has consulted on projects as diverse as the Sistine Chapel and Amazon rain forest.

Martin Finio, FAIA, LEED AP
Founding Partner at Christoff:Finio Architecture and Hatfield Group, and Senior Critic at Yale School of Architecture

Martin Finio, FAIA, LEED AP is Founding Partner at award-winning firm Christoff: Finio Architecture and Senior Critic at Yale School of Architecture. Throughout his career, Martin has explored who architecture is for, who is making it, and how it can effectively respond to 21st-century challenges around sustainability, inclusivity, and rapid urban expansion worldwide. A registered New York Architect since 1993, he spent nearly a decade at the office of Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, where he worked on the Cranbrook Natatorium, Neurosciences Institute in La Jolla, and Hunter Science Center at Emma Willard School. His firm was featured as one of 2004’s Design Vanguard by Architectural Record and as one of the Architectural League’s Emerging Voices of 2005. The firm’s projects have won many awards, including a 2008 International Design Award, a 2009 National Honor Award from the AIA, and a 2014 Arts and Letters Award in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Martin’s work has been widely published and exhibited, including at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., and at the Aedes Gallery in Berlin. Martin is a 1988 graduate of the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at the Cooper Union. As a result of his achievements, he was elevated to the AIA College of Fellows in 2016.

Brendan Connolly, AIA, LEED AP BD+C
Managing Partner, Mithun

Brendan is a design leader and managing partner for Mithun, an integrated design practice with offices in Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles, who has been leading the education and cultural design work for the firm over the last two decades.  Through high performing projects in higher education, museum and cultural institutions, and K12 and environmental education, Brendan’s work has explored how design and sustainability can be expressed legibly through mass timber, living building, passive house and zero carbon and energy solutions. His work has spanned traditional and alternative delivery methods and has achieved regional and national AIA and DBIA recognition. Beyond his work with Mithun, Brendan has been a board member and president of AIA Seattle and serves on numerous boards and commissions regionally and nationally devoted to advancing the profession and design thinking in education. Brendan is a graduate of Yale University and the University of Washington, where he continues to teach, jury and mentor at the College of Built Environments. Much of his work has also explored research collaborations with University partners and has helped produce resources R+D for the design and construction communities. Brendan is also an avid outdoor enthusiast and a youth climbing and cycling coach with the Seattle Mountaineers and the Washington Student Cycling league where he teaches skills and unfortunate dad jokes to impressionable high school athletes.

Next LA – Un-built Category Jurors

Roberto Sheinberg
President at AyD | arquitectura y diseño

Roberto Sheinberg has practiced architecture in Mexico and the US and is Founder and Principal of Arquitectura y Diseño, a collaboration-based design firm in Los Angeles.  Since the early 2,000’s, Roberto continues to design a variety of project types that involve fast, efficient, and impactful housing for unhoused individuals and for at-risk youths, ranging from large supportive housing developments to small-site studio units projects.  Roberto is co-chair of the Board of Directors of Would Works, a Los Angeles not-for-profit social enterprise that provides people experiencing homelessness or living in poverty training and work opportunities in hand-crafted wood working. Roberto served as Board President of the Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design.  He teaches Design Studio as a Lecturer for the Undergraduate and Graduate Programs at the Cal Poly Pomona Architecture Department. 

Oonagh Ryan, AIA IIDA
Founding Principal, ORA

Oonagh is the founding principal of ORA. Her holistic approach to design creatively marries architecture, interiors, and lifestyle. She represents diverse visions, often challenging conventions to create fresh perspectives and opportunities across various typologies and budgets. Fusing her practical knowledge of design and construction, Oonagh delivers accessible built outcomes that capture the spirit of Los Angeles and enrich experiences through the value of design.  Oonagh’s work has been acknowledged in the press and with numerous design awards including the AIA Los Angeles, Presidential Honoree, 2021 Emerging Practice, and 2023 AIA National Small Projects Award.  She served on the AIA Committee on Design, 2022 Los Angeles Design Conference Planning Committee, and several design awards juries including the 2022 AIA California Design Awards.  She was a speaker at the AIA California, 2021 Monterey Design Conference, AIA Los Angeles, Powerful IX Conference, and most recently at the AIA A’23 Conference.