Celebrate Architecture 2026

Roberto de Leon (AIA Fellow) is a partner and co-founder of de Leon & Primmer Architecture Workshop (DPAW). His work is recognized for its contextual sensitivity, innovation in material applications, and the holistic integration of sustainable strategies rooted in regional specificity. His research spans a range of scales and environments - both urban and rural - exploring relationships between local and global building traditions.
Roberto holds a Master in Architecture from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from the University of California at Berkeley. In 2016, he was elevated to the College of Fellows of The American Institute of Architects.
Through his work at DPAW, Roberto has been recognized through selection for the 2010 Design Vanguard by Architectural Record and the 2011 Emerging Voices by the Architectural League of New York. In 2023, he received the prestigious Architecture Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has been published widely in national and international design media and exhibited at numerous international venues, including the 2025 & 2021 Venice Biennale, the 2012 & 2014 Istanbul Design Biennial, the 2011 Beijing International Design Triennial, and WOOD 2010 in Småland, Sweden.
Roberto has lectured extensively at design conferences and universities, including the 2022 Place of Practice Symposium with the University of Arkansas, the 2017 ARQfestival in Guadalajara, the 2016 Modern Lecture Series at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, and the 2015 AIA Convention in Atlanta. He has also served as a visiting critic and educator at several institutions, teaching graduate and undergraduate studios at Syracuse University, the University of North Carolina Charlotte, Auburn University’s Rural Studio, the University of Kentucky, and the J. Irwin Miller Architecture Program at Indiana University.

Soo Jeong Jo is an assistant professor of architecture at Louisiana State University (LSU) and a licensed architect in France and South Korea. She is also a recipient of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) New Faculty Teaching Award, the Architectural Research Centers Consortium (ARCC) Best Journal Article Award, and the LSU Lillian Bridwell-Bowles Innovative C-I Teacher Award in 2025, and the juror of the ACSA|AISC Steel Competition in 2022. She received her Ph.D. in Architecture and Design - Building Science at Virginia Tech. Her doctoral study focused on high-performance building design based on airflow simulations using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for the early stages of architectural design. Prior to her research and teaching, Soo Jeong practiced architecture in Paris, New York City, and Seoul after her studies at the National School of Architecture of Paris-La Villette (ENSAPLV) at Ewha Womans University. 

 ALYSEN HILLER FIORE, ASSOC. AIA principal at REX, co-managing the office with Joshua Ramus. She currently leads Domino Site B, a pair of 53-story residential towers on the Brooklyn waterfront that will complete the redevelopment of the Domino Sugar Factory site. Preceding Domino, Alysen directed the design team for the Perelman Performing Arts Center at the World Trade Center from its competition stage in 2014 to its opening in September 2023. Alysen was also a project leader on the re-cladding and renovation of Five Manhattan West, a Brutalist landmark straddling New York Penn Station’s rail yard; the Necklace Residence on New York’s Long Island; and the Wakefield School Performing Arts Center in Virginia.

Before joining REX in 2012, Alysen worked on a wide range of architectural projects with several world-renowned architectural firms. At Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) in Copenhagen, Denmark, she worked on the House of Culture & Movement in Frederiksberg, Denmark, and TEK, a mixed-use proposal including retail, hotel, and exhibition space in Taipei, Taiwan. While at Zago Architecture in Los Angeles, she worked on the proposed development of a multi-unit social housing complex as part of Foreclosed: Rehousing the American Dream, a MoMA-commissioned project exploring new architectural possibilities for cities and suburbs in the aftermath of the 2008 foreclosure crisis. The exhibition opened at MoMA in 2011.

Alysen recently served on the Industry Advisory Group of the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Overseas Building Operations. She is also an Open Door Mentor with AIA New York and has been a visiting professor at The Cooper Union. She holds a Master of Architecture, summa cum laude, from the University of Illinois at Chicago (where she received a full tuition scholarship), as well as Bachelor of Arts degrees in Art & Design and Journalism, both with honors, from the University of Iowa. 

ADAM CHIZMAR, AIA, NCARB With REX since 2011, Adam is a principal and has been core to the firm’s design and intellectual rigor for over a decade. He is currently leading a hybrid retail and cultural hub for Kia Motors in Seoul, South Korea, as well as 9 & 15 The Esplanade, a pair of mixed-use towers under construction in Perth’s Elizabeth Quay, Australia. Adam is an expert in performing arts centers, having served as project leader for REX’s designs of The Lindemann Performing Arts Center at Brown University, the Shenzhen Opera House, the Komische Oper Berlin Expansion, the Wakefield School Performing Arts Center in Virginia, the Mercedes-Benz Future Lab & Museum in Stuttgart (which houses several performance components), and—until leading the design of The Lindemann—the Perelman Performing Arts Center at the World Trade Center with Alysen Hiller Fiore. He was also a key team member for the Yongsan International Business District “Project R6” Tower in Seoul, South Korea, and the transformation of Five Manhattan West in New York.

Adam makes frequent public speaking engagements about REX’s work, including a lecture at the Boston Architectural College at the beginning of each semester, where he also serves as a jury member four times a year.

Adam graduated from The Ohio State University with a Master of Architecture and a Bachelor of Science in Architecture, both with honors. He is NCARB-certified and licensed in New York.