May 3rd, 2023
Ilana Judah AIA, OAQ, LEED AP BD+C, CPHC Leadership, Associate Principal, Arup
Ilana Judah is an Associate Principal at Arup, a global collective of designers, engineering and sustainability consultants, advisors and experts dedicated to sustainable development. She serves as Arup’s East Resilience Leader and Climate and Sustainability Discipline Team Leader, taking an integrative, systems thinking-based yet pragmatic approach to translating climate objectives into viable solutions.
Ilana was previously co-chair of AIANY COTE and currently serves on the board of AIANY. She previously served on AIA National’s Resilience and Adaptation Advisory Group, multiple New York City sustainability task forces under Mayors Bloomberg and DeBlasio, and was a board member of NY Passive House.
Prior to Arup, Ilana was a Principal and Director of Sustainability at FXCollaborative Architects in New York, founder of ACORN Resilience & Sustainability in Vancouver, and a practicing architect in Montreal. She holds a B.Arch from McGill University and an MSc. in Resources, Environment and Sustainability from the University of British Columbia. Ilana is a frequent lecturer on sustainable and resilient design and has taught at Cornell University and the University of Pennsylvania.
the value & power of purpose-driven Leadership
As architects and designers, we have the opportunity to serve as leaders within our organizations, our profession, and our communities. Effective leadership can be elusive and difficult, given all the demands and competing interests that we face. However, accessing our core values enables us to define our unique purpose and strengthen our leadership path. Ilana Judah shares her story of reconnecting with her environmentalist upbringing after becoming an architect – and how forging her design interests with these values have empowered her to become a better leader.
In Cho RA, CPHD, Founder, ChoShields Studio
In Cho, co-founder of ChoShields Studio, is an internationally-certified Passive House Designer, an industry leader in sustainable architecture and education, and a registered architect. She is also co-founder of ‘Passive House for Everyone’ (PHFE), an education nonprofit and recognized partner with the NYC DOE Office of Sustainability that provides Passive House knowledge for K-12 schools and post-secondary architecture institutions to shape the next generation of leaders in climate action.
In Cho’s dedication to strengthening all communities through environmental and social resiliency engages her in a wide-ranging practice, encompassing the architectural design and technical aspects of energy-efficient construction, policy support, and the creation and teaching of educational initiatives that convey Passive House knowledge to a broad audience – from youth to AEC industry professionals. She lectures internationally and locally on Passive House projects and has served as an industry expert advisor for the recent update of the NYC Energy Conservation Code.
Through her education nonprofit, ‘Passive House For Everyone’(PHFE), In Cho popularizes Passive House concepts through fun, hands-on, creative explorations, thereby increasing environmental literacy to empower everyone to take concrete action toward climate solutions. Through her architectural practice, In Cho works to further a multi-disciplinary layered and focused exploration of the built environment, developing designs to foster the creation of beautiful, healthy, and resilient architecture that serves people and the environment most productively and equitably.
what does it mean to be an architect for you?
Our architectural profession has so many facets, parameters, and layers of specialization. How do we choose among so many areas of architectural exploration? Harnessing the power of self-reflection, compassion, and open heart provides us with a framework through which we can help define the type of architect we want to be. In Cho shares her experience embracing her role as an architect who serves to improve the well-being of everyone’s lives through environmentally and socially sustainable architecture and education.