Nakita Reed Announced as Keynote Speaker at DesignDC 2023

Nakita Reed, AIA, CPHC, LEED AP BD+C, NOMA, an associate with Quinn Evans, will be the keynote speaker at the American Institute of Architects Washington, D.C. Chapter’s (AIA|DC) DesignDC 2023 conference taking place May 3-4, 2023. DesignDC’s Spring conference will focus on how architects work in historic buildings and neighborhoods in a way that promotes economic and social welfare for all residents, all with an eye on sustainability and resilience.

Reed is an award-winning architect with over twelve years of experience in the preservation, restoration, and adaptive use of historic buildings. Her innovative work focuses on high-impact sustainable strategies in architectural design. She was recently recognized in the ‘Who’s Who in Traditional Building’ list, was a 2022 AIA Young Architects Award recipient, was one of the Baltimore Business Journal’s “40 Under 40” class of 2021, and is one of the Baltimore Sun’s “25 Women to Watch.” She was the 2018 recipient of AIA|DC’s Emerging Architect Award.

Reed is eager to share her wealth of knowledge and regularly does so through emerging media, particularly podcasts. She has been interviewed and featured on more than a dozen podcast episodes throughout her career, discussing preservation and sustainability in a way that is accessible to the public. In 2020, as social justice became a prominent topic throughout the U.S., Reed launched her own podcast, Tangible Remnants, to explore the connections between architecture, preservation, sustainability, race, and gender. Reed centers her interviews on women and people of color, voices that are often missing from mainstream conversations about the built environment.

Reed is a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA), the Association for Preservation Technology International (APT), and the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP). She currently serves on the board of the Baltimore Architectural Foundation and co-chairs the Zero Net Carbon Collaboration for Existing and Historic Buildings (ZNCC).

Reed holds a Master of Architecture (2010) and a Master of Science in Historic Preservation (2010) from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Science in Architecture (2006) from the University of Virginia. She is a registered architect, a LEED AccreditedProfessional (Building Design + Construction), and a Certified Passive House Consultant.