Speakers

Lira Luis, FRIBA, FRSA, RA, NCARB, CEM, LEED AP, is Chief Collaboration Architect of ALLL and recipient of two prestigious Fellowships. She is the first and youngest Filipino American architect elevated as Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects. On the heels of that honor, the Fellowship of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce also recognized her contributions to architectural social progress and development. Her commitment to advocating for women and BIPOC resulted in her becoming the first recipient of the Women in Architecture and Design (AIA) ATHENA Young Professional Leadership Award. Trained as an architect by Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin Fellowship, she spent nights sleeping under the stars in lightless and heatless shelters in order to evolve while learning the Organic Architecture Principles, because she can apply this knowledge to improve the lives of people and communities worldwide. She became the first Taliesin Fellow from the Philippines since its founding. These days, she's been spotted paragliding into a construction site to supervise the progress of her project. She's also known to have zip-lined into a conference to deliver a speech.

Statement:

Remember the Oscar-winning movie "Hidden Figures"? Because Architecture and Construction is kind of like that, it's important for everyone to have diversity, equity, and inclusion be seen as significant figures in our industry.