CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS
Gloria Kloter, AIA, NCARB, CODIA
is a Registered Architect and Interior Designer in the State of Florida, and in the Dominican Republic. She established her firm in 2009 back in the Dominican Republic. Gloria and her projects have been featured in nationwide Dominican newspapers and architectural journals like Arquitexto, HOY, Listin Diario, Diario Libre, Arquitectura Radial, and many others.
Gloria has a passion for mentoring and helping others around her. From 2008 to 2015 she was a professor of Architectural Drafting and Design in the School of Design Altos De Chavon in Santo Domingo, this school is affiliated with the Parsons School of Design in NYC. She also volunteered with TECHO where she built houses for families who lived in extreme poverty in the Dominican Republic. Gloria is also the founder of the Facebook page Foreign Architects (click here), designed to help immigrant professionals to achieve a successful career in the U.S.
Gloria has recently been promoted as the NCARB’s Architect Licensing Advisor for AIA Florida after her efforts in supporting emerging professionals in their licensing journey. She was also honored the 2019 Sho-Ping Ching Women’s Leadership Summit Grant, a recognition to mid-career women architects who are advancing toward leadership roles and are making a positive impact within their communities.
Gloria currently serves as an Associate Director of the AIA Tampa Bay. Driven by her passion for Architecture and her community, she revived the Women in Architecture Tampa Bay and co-created the Young Architects Forum Tampa Bay, where she now serves as the chair of both committees. For several seasons, she also has volunteered in the program “Architecture in Education”, an 8-week program where architecture professionals teach 5th grade students about Architecture.
Natasha Espada, AIA, NOMA, LEED AP
is the founding Principal of STUDIO ENÉE, a women and minority-owned design firm with an expertise in architecture, urban planning, and interior design. She has over 25 years of design and construction expertise in both renovation and new construction of institutional, civic, and commercial buildings and has a special interest in design excellence and sustainability. The majority of her projects are for Colleges and Universities and Public Institutions, which require innovative planning and design, creative solutions, limited budgets, an extensive community process, and successful user/client/team collaboration.
Ms. Espada is the 2020 President of the Boston Society of Architects/AIA. Among many initiatives, her focus is on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the profession and in making Boston a Design City by promoting the value of architecture, design, and art equitably to all of the neighborhoods in Boston. She is a mid-career mentor for Women in Design and an adjunct professor at Northeastern University. As a Puerto Rican, she is dedicated to helping rebuild Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria as a collaborator with ResilientSEE and she serves on the board of the Town of Needham, Massachusetts' Permanent Public Building Committee.
Bea Spolidoro, AIA, LEED GA, WELL AP
is an Italian architect registered in Pennsylvania. She is a Principal at Fisher ARCHitecture in Pittsburgh, PA. She is an active member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) at a local level, and she has served as a judge for the Institute Honor Awards of AIA National in 2016. Bea is passionate about building sustainable, healthy environments. For her, good design should improve both the physical and mental health of people. This goal is pursued regardless of the building typology or the age and the social and economical background of the occupants.
Marcella Massa, Int'l Assoc. AIA, Assoc IIDA, LEED GA, APA
has a bachelors in architecture and urban planning degree from the University of Cuiaba in 2010 and a master in interior design and lighting in 2012, both in Brazil. She became a licensed Architect and Urban Planner in 2011 in Brazil, and is working towards getting licensed in the United States. Marcella has extensive experience with retail, mixed-use projects, interior design, space planning, and master planning. In 2013, she and a partner received the best project award for Social Interaction in Milan Italy, which made her more passionate about the holistic approach for designing and sustainability. Most recently, Marcella and a group of five Emerging Professionals women from Dream | Design | Activate won the 2019 AIA Baltimore Design Excellence Award for Social Equity and Honorable Mention. She is an active AIA Baltimore member and is passionate about helping others to achieve professional success and achieve licensure.
Katya Siemoneit, Assoc. AIA
is Ekaterina, but I go by Katya. I live in Anchorage, Alaska and I absolutely love and adore this land. I was born and raised in small town in Russia, graduated with my Bachelor of Architecture from State University of Land Use Planning in Moscow in 2016 and currently pursuing my Master of Architecture in Boston Architectural College, expecting to graduate in Spring’21. I work as an Architectural Designer in NorthForm Architecture, where I am responsible for project documentation, coordination with other design disciplines, BIM modeling, rendering, preparation of Project Documentation and plan review applications. I also do project analysis and construction administration. I am AIA Associate member and one of the contributors to the creation of new chapter in AIA for Immigrant Architects in
the United States. My hobbies are very typical for an Alaskan: spending most time outdoors, travelling and hiking. I am very passionate about animals particularly about cats. I have two chubby cats and I volunteer at a local animal shelter.
Nour Alhussaini, Assoc. AIA
Is an emerging professional, originally from Syria, moved to the United States upon her graduation from Damascus University in 2015 with a Bachelor in Architecture. Nour started her career path working for an architecture firm in Richmond, Virginia as a project designer besides her volunteer engagement with AIA Virginia and the Branch Museum of Architecture and Design. She has also provided interpretive services for several agencies specializing in English/Arabic interpretation.
In 2018, Nour sought positions in association management and has been working for the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) since then. Besides, she serves as an NCARB licensing advisor and is currently a student at Southern Illinois University, pursuing her Master's in Architecture since 2019. Nour is passionate about design and believes that having a community to support immigrant architects is essential to achieve diversity and inclusion in the architecture profession where everyone is effectively participating in the built environment.
Apurva Purandare
is an internationally experienced Architectural Designer with over eight years of experience working in Architecture and Planning.
She is a UCLA Architecture and Urban Design, M.Arch. alum and was part of the research studio led by the Architect, Thom Mayne in 2014. She was a recipient of the JN Tata endowment for higher education in 2013. As a licensed Architect in India, she is currently pursuing her Architect's license in the State of California.
She is particularly skilled in the design and execution of large-scale architecture across a variety of project typologies. Ranging from mixed-use residential to health, wellness and commercial offices and currently works at Gensler. Prior to Gensler, she has worked at award-winning architecture firms in Los Angeles and Mumbai and was a researcher focused on the documentation and discourse of informal settlements in Mumbai. At present, she volunteer's her time at AIA Urban Design Committee's local chapter.
She recognizes the acute shortage of resources in modern cities and hopes to build experience as an Architect and advance her passion for urban theory and research.
