Five accomplished women to be honored in Chicago for their outstanding impact across architectural design, sustainability, and education
NEW YORK CITY, NY / ACCESS Newswire / August 5, 2025 / Architectural Record unveils the recipients of its 2025 Women in Architecture Awards. Now in its 12th year, the program honors outstanding achievement by women across the architectural profession.
The five awardees are Gina Bocra, Emily McGlohn, Chandra Robinson, Roberta Washington, and Cynthia Weese. They will be celebrated at a ceremony on September 9 at the S.R. Crown Hall, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, on the campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago.
About the Awardees
Gina Bocra - As vice president of the Built Ecology team at WSP, Bocra has led efforts to deliver high-performance, safe, and resilient buildings over a 30-year career. She previously led New York City's Department of Buildings team responsible for implementing Local Law 97, the city's landmark carbon-emissions regulations. Her leadership roles include sustainable design positions at architecture firms, along with volunteer service with the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the U.S. Green Building Council, and the International Code Council.
Emily McGlohn - A registered architect in Virginia and Alabama, McGlohn is an associate professor at Auburn University's School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture. She teaches at the Rural Studio in Newbern, Alabama, where she engages students in designing and building homes for local communities. She is also collaborating with engineers at Auburn, the University of Alabama, and the University of South Alabama on a pilot decentralized wastewater treatment system for rural areas.
Chandra Robinson - Robinson, a past Women in Architecture Awards juror, is a principal at Portland, Oregon-based Lever Architecture. With the firm, she completed Meyer Memorial Trust's LEED Platinum headquarters as part of an all-women design-and-development team and is working with communities on transformative designs for affordable housing and libraries. A member of the Portland Design Commission, a founding board member and treasurer of the National Organization for Minority Architects (NOMA) Portland chapter, and an advisory board member of Hip Hop Architecture Camp, Robinson is passionate about creating beautiful spaces that are accessible to all.
Roberta Washington - Washington established her Harlem-based architectural practice in 1983 after several years spent designing health facilities and schools in Maputo, Mozambique. Her firm's projects include the interpretive center at the African Burial Ground National Monument in Manhattan and public schools in Brooklyn, Mount Vernon, and New Haven. She has also researched, written, and lectured about the history of New York State's earliest African American architects and the nation's first Black women architects. She has served on the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission and as president of both the New York AIA Foundation and NOMA.
Cynthia Weese - Weese is a founding partner of Weese Langley Weese. Her projects include Chicago's Chestnut Place Apartments, the Kraft General Foods Education Center at the Art Institute of Chicago, and recent work at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University. She served as professor and dean of the School of Architecture at Washington University in St. Louis from 1993 to 2005-the first woman named dean of any school at the university.
About the Jury
The 2025 jury included past honorees Carol Ross Barney (2022), founder of Ross Barney Architects, and Anne Marie Duvall Decker (2023), co-founder of Duvall Decker Architects, as well as Julie Hiromoto, partner and director of integration at HKS; climate strategist Yasemin Kologlu; and Mark Gardner principal of Jaklitsch/Gardner Architects.
Event & Programming
This year marks the first time the Women in Architecture Awards will be held in Chicago. The September 9 ceremony will be followed by the Sustainability in Practice Conference on September 10.
About the Women in Architecture Awards
Since 2014, Architectural Record has hosted the Women in Architecture Awards, a national program dedicated to honoring women in architecture across generations and disciplines. As of 2025, nearly sixty women have been recognized through the program.
About Architectural Record
Founded in 1891, Architectural Record is the leading source for architecture and design news, serving professionals with award-winning coverage of innovative projects worldwide. The publication offers expert commentary, technology features, and continuing education content, both in print and online, and explores a wide range of building types including residential, educational, healthcare, and interiors. Widely regarded as the authoritative voice in the profession, Architectural Record highlights top firms and emerging trends in design, urbanism, and sustainability.
For more information, please contact:
Carly Reimer
Event Specialist, BNP Media
248.490.5763
reimerc@bnpmedia.com
SOURCE: Architectural Record
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