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The University of Colorado Boulder Program in Environmental Design has announced the recipients of the 2021 Environmental Design Alumni Awards. This year’s honoree for the Distinguished Alumni Award is Adam Harding and The Young Designer Award has been awarded to Ann Dang. 

The Environmental Design Alumni Awards honor individuals who have demonstrated leadership and made significant contributions to the design and architectural professions.

Join us in presenting the Alumni Awards during the Colloquium Lecture Series on Nov. 2 from 4 to 7 p.m. in ENVD 134 at the Environmental Design Building. The presentation will also be available via . On Wednesday, Nov. 3, please join us for an alumni open house to meet with the 2021 Alumni Award recipients, reconnect with classmates and engage with current students. Walk through the ENVD Gallery to view exhibited student work. Light breakfast snacks will be provided.

Distinguished Alum Awardee:

"My memorable takeaway will always be the late nights in the studio, working on projects, listening to music, hanging out with friends until we got the job done. Also, the pain of X-Acto blades. Never forget."

Adam Harding, AIA, LEED AP is a distinguished architect with a reputation for design excellence. With 17 years of experience, his practice has served his clients, the community, and the profession of architecture. His work has transcended architecture in the residential, commercial, municipal, and hospitality market sectors in Colorado and across the country.

Adam joined Roth Sheppard Architects in 2004 after graduating from the University of Colorado, Boulder with a Bachelor of Environmental Design. He became a licensed architect in 2011 and a second-generation firm owner in 2016. As a Partner and the design visionary of his firm, he has redefined the culture to foster individual growth and professional development.

He is actively involved with AIA Colorado, sitting on the Board of Directors for the past four years and chairing committees since 2012. As AIA Colorado’s 2020 President, he worked to lead his peers through a cultural transformation of the organization, clearly defining its mission, vision, and values.

His work has been honored with numerous design awards and has garnered local, national, and international press coverage. Personally, Adam has received several honor awards for his leadership and community involvement including recognition by AIA National as a 2021 Young Architect of the Year.

Young Designer Awardee:

"The most memorable takeaway during my time at Environmental Design was the relationships I had with the ENVD staff, faculty and students. I am the first one to go to college in my family, and I did not know what to expect when I first started, but the ENVD community welcomed me with open arms and became my extended family even after graduation.

I made long-lasting friendships and mentors who played an important role in shaping me into a better architectural designer. A lot of my research and internship opportunities stemmed from the ENVD staff and faculty's support. There are not enough words to express how grateful I am to ENVD for becoming a keystone of my architectural career."

Ann Dang received her Environmental Design degree in 2019. During her time at ENVD, she was involved in the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS), Student American Society of Landscape Architects (SASLA), Designers without Boundaries (DWB) and the Peer Mentorship program. Additionally, she worked with the Spatial Justice Design Collective (SJDC) to produce exhibits and creative works tackling race and gender inequities in architecture.

After graduation, Ann worked full time at LOA Architecture and was more involved in SJDC where she became aware of the lack of diversity in architecture. The scarcity of minorities in architecture affirmed her ambition to start her own architecture firm in the future and become an advocate for social equity within the design industry.

Currently, Ann is on a full-ride Sam Fox Ambassadors fellowship to pursue her master’s degree in architecture at Washington University in St Louis. At the same time, she is working part-time at Arcturis, a multi-disciplinary design firm that is certified as a Women's Business Enterprise. Outside of work and school, she was a part of the Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (J.E.D.I) committee for AIA St Louis, and a member of the Academic Organizing team in the Design As Protest (DAP) Organization. The J.E.D.I committee provides programming, training, volunteer, and community engagement opportunities to increase diversity and equity within the architecture field. DAP is a collective of designers mobilizing strategy to dismantle the privilege and power structures that use architecture and design as tools of oppression.