NAKITA REED
Quinn Evans
SAY IT LOUD - MARYLAND Exhibitor
Maryland Based Designer
Who or what inspires you professionally?
Helping to make connections across professions and get designers out of silos. Deep green retrofits and reusing existing buildings.
NAKITA REED
Bio:
The great designer, Nakita Reed is an award-winning preservation architect who focuses on sustainability. She’s a registered architect, LEED AP, and a certified Passive House Consultant. She serves on the boards of Preservation Maryland, the Baltimore Architecture Foundation and is the host of the Tangible Remnants podcast, which explores the intersection of architecture, preservation, sustainability, race & gender. She has a MArch and a MS in Historic Preservation from the UPENN and a BS in Architecture from UVA.
How did you first learn about architecture and when did you decide that built environment profession was an area of interest for you?
Seeing homeless people outside of vacant buildings in DC planted the seed for wanting to work with buildings. A high school teacher brought in a Architecture pop-up book that completely blew my mind. I started taking AutoCAD classes soon after.
What do you do?
I’m an Associate with Quinn Evans in our Baltimore office. I work on projects that contain aspects of historic preservation, sustainability and/or affordable housing. I also have a podcast to discuss the intersections of all the fields.
What excites you in the work you do?
Exploring the interconnectedness of architecture, preservation, sustainability, race and gender in the built environment.
Who or what inspires you professionally?
Helping to make connections across professions and get designers out of silos. Deep green retrofits and reusing existing buildings.
What is your proudest professional accomplishment or achievement?
There’ve been many but the most recent one would be getting invited back to UPENN to speak about the work I’m doing and the intersection of architecture, preservation, sustainability, race and gender. It was a pretty cool full circle moment for me.
Featured Project Name:
Hyacinth's Way
Featured Project Location:
Washington, DC
Featured Project Completion Date:
2023
Role in Featured Project:
Project Manager
Featured Project Description:
Hyacinth’s Way will be 71-unit affordable residential development for formerly homeless individuals with a mental health diagnosis aged 55 and older. The building is targeting net zero energy usage and will include horizontal and vertical solar panels. The building is stepped to accommodate the steep slope of the site. The building will include a clinic, multi-purpose room, large common area kitchen and other support services for the residents.
