One of 20 architects across the country (and one of only two Minnesota architects) to receive a national American Institute of Architects (AIA) Young Architects Award this year, MSR Design principal Dagmara Larsen, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP, is being recognized for her commitment to designing equitable, sustainable, and human-centric, award-winning projects for a wide range of organizations and individual clients. The AIA Young Architects Award honors individuals who have demonstrated exceptional leadership and made significant contributions to the architecture profession early in their careers.
Promoted to MSR Design firm principal in 2019, Dagmara champions an integrated design approach on every project. She believes that an architect needs to evaluate each project through different lenses in order to bridge aspirational, programmatic, and performative goals as part of the design solution. An example of this holistic approach in her work includes the transformation of Madison Public Library’s Central Library in Madison, Wisconsin (certified LEED Gold). Dagmara is committed to design excellence and achieving project success in terms identified by individual users, as exemplified in the Tulsa City-County Library Central Library renovation project, winner of an AIA/ALA Library Building Award, and Haverford College Visual Culture, Arts, and Media (VCAM) Building, winner of an AIA CAE Education Facility Design Award of Excellence and AIA Minnesota Honor Award.
In her letter nominating Dagmara for the AIA Young Architects Award, AIA Minnesota president Karen Lu, AIA, NOMA, states “Over the past several years, Dagmara has become well known in our community as a champion for design excellence, particularly in the form of regenerative and inclusive design.” Karen continues, “Dagmara leads by example in her day-to-day practice, her professional work, and her many volunteer commitments.”
This year’s jury included John Castellana, FAIA, TMP Architecture, Inc., Bloomfield Hills, Michigan; Frances Halsband, FAIA, Kliment Halsband Architects, New York, New York; Peter Kuttner, FAIA , CambridgeSeven, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Ivenue Love-Stanley, FAIA, Stanley Love-Stanley, Atlanta, Georgia; Ryan McEnroe, AIA, Quinn Evans, Washington, DC; and Chris-Annmarie Spencer, AIA, NOMA, Wheeler Kearns Architects, Chicago, Illinois. The award recipients will be recognized at the annual AIA Conference on Architecture in June.