Bio:

The Great designer, Andrea was the owner of ABLB Architecture, LLC. Over the past 24 years, her work has focused on the Healthcare, Corporate and Public Education markets. She is a principal with Lobo Insurance Agency in Hebron, CT. Prior to pursuing her MArch (UM/BAC), she was an Underwriter for The Hartford. She’s a member of the Town of Wethersfield CT DRAC, and recently a PWC Mentor, Co-Chair CANStruction CT, Member of Arch. for Humanity, Member of the CI’s YP Council, and an ACE Mentor.

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How did you first learn about architecture and when did you decide that built environment profession was an area of interest for you?

I loved drafting/art in school, but didn’t actively pursue a career in architecture until, through an insurance Risk Management LU, I became aware of the critical impact of design within Assisted Living facilities on the quality of life of residents.

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What do you do?

I’m an Architect /PM with a national Architectural firm. I’m a contributor to our DEI effort and AIA CT’s WiA committee. I enjoy working within my local community serving on my town’s Design Review Board and co-leading my daughter’s Girl Scout troop.

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What excites you in the work you do?

I find helping clients identify ways that their spaces can be ones occupants enjoy using, while simultaneously proving efficient, is very rewarding. I always look forward to that moment when a space becomes REAL to its users. It’s where they BELONG.

 

Who or what inspires you professionally?

My Master’s Thesis was titled: The Social Form of Architecture. To this day, regardless of project scope, I’m always conscious of the FEELING of a space. Simple design decisions can completely alter, for better or worse, the experience of a space.

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What is your proudest professional accomplishment or achievement?

Any time my professional opinion is sought out and respected! But especially when young people, like the girls in my Girl Scout Troop seek out my input on drawing, technical, or design related career matters.

 

Featured Project Name: 

CANSTRUCTION® CT

 

Featured Project Location: 

Connecticut Food Bank & Foodshare

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Featured Project Completion Date: 

2012 - 2016

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Role in Featured Project: 

Co-Chair & Past Team Member

 

Featured Project Description:

This AIA CT sponsored annual program works to raise awareness of the national and worldwide hunger epidemic. Teams of 5-12th graders and an architect mentor, design and build extraordinary structures using canned foods as their primary building material. The self-supporting works of art can be as large as ten feet tall. The colors of the product labels become the artists’ palette utilizing building blocks as small as tiny tuna cans and as big as industrial-sized tomato sauce containers.

 

Photography Credit:

2013-2015 from AIA CT archives/ 2016 Photography donated to CT Foodbank by Criscara Jewelry | http://criscara.com

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