Left to right: Dagmara Larsen, AIA, and Daniel Yudchitz, AIA
 

Congratulations to the two Minnesota architects who received the 2021 AIA Young Architects Award. The AIA Young Architects Award honors individuals who have demonstrated exceptional leadership and made significant contributions to the architecture profession early in their careers. 
 
The Minnesota architects honored this year are:
 
Dagmara Larsen, AIA
MSR Design
Dagmara Larsen, AIA, has long championed an integrated design approach for every project, which quickly positioned her as a practice and thought leader in the holistic design of libraries and educational facilities. She has shaped lauded libraries in Madison, Tulsa, and Missoula, among many others, and led the collaborative process that delivered the Visual Culture, Arts, and Media (VCAM) building to the campus of Haverford College in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Closer to home, she was instrumental in the design of MSR’s new offices, completed in 2019. Currently, both Larsen and MSR CEO Traci Lesneski have become majority owners of the firm and are certifying it as a women-owned business.

“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,” wrote Karen Lu, AIA, NOMA, the 2020 AIA Minnesota president, in a letter nominating Larsen for the Young Architect Award. “Dagmara leads by example in her day-to-day practice, her professional work, and her many volunteer commitments.”
 
Daniel Yudchitz, AIA
LEO A DALY
Daniel Yudchitz, AIA, facilitates project interviews, client presentations, and the design approaches the firm’s teams should employ. He is a critical member of LEO A DALY’s team that focuses on pro bono projects for underserved communities and is currently assisting Big City Mountaineers in constructing a new base camp that will allow a greater number of children from inner-city settings to experience the outdoors. In 2019, Yudchitz was named one of the emerging leaders in environmental design at the Design Futures Council Leadership Summit on the Future of Environmental Responsibility.

“Service is inherent in who he is and how he sees his role in the world. His design sensitivity is personal, intimate, and responsive to socio, cultural, and societal conditions,” Cindy McCleary, AIA, managing principal and vice president at LEO A DALY, wrote of Yudchitz. “Dan explores the world through making and serving, which reflects directly for the people who experience it. Whether through traditional design or his swinging of a hammer on weekends, for Dan, design responsibility and community service is his vehicle for exploring and impacting the world.”
 
Read more about the 2021 recipients »