Volunteer Spotlight: Kristen Wisniewski

This month NDC would like to feature one of our young volunteers.  For recent graduates, NDC offers young architects and designers, through our pro-bono services, an opportunity for both professional development and giving back to the community.  Volunteering is also a chance to learn more about your local communities, meet other design professionals, and have the chance to work with outstanding community leaders.

Kristen Wisniewski, RA, CDT, LEED AP
Kristen is a Registered Architect with experience in sustainable design and professional practice in higher education, interiors and commercial architecture.  She is a USGBC LEED Accredited Professional (LEED AP), and a recipient of a CSI Construction Documents Technologist certificate (CDT).

Kristen completed much of her early internship with Barry Kaplan & Associates of Philadelphia, PA, an architecture and interiors firm specializing in commercial design.  After graduating from Syracuse University in 2005, she moved to Baltimore to expand on ideas that she investigated in her thesis; a Linguistics Institute for the Deaf in Montreal, Quebec.  She is currently a project architect in the Student Life Facilities studio at Ayers/Saint/Gross Architects and Planners.  Her work focuses on college and university master planning and academic buildings, specializing in sustainable student housing. Recent projects include a Teacher Education and Technology Center (TETC) in Salisbury, MD and a student housing complex at Minnesota State University Mankato that will include health services, residences, and food service facilities .

Kristen first volunteered for NDC in 2005 as part of the Red Line Community Workshops in Baltimore, where she helped community members explore different options for the proposed transit project.  In 2005 – 2006 she next teamed up with colleagues Naomi Susman Cataldo, Neil Murphy, and Anne Dutton to develop plans for the expansion and renovation of the former Brentwood Fire Department into a new town center.  The project included site analysis, programming, and the development of conceptual plans and phasing studies.  As a result of her work, and the work of her team members, the Town of Brentwood received over $100,000 to implement the project.  The project was also recognized as NDC Project of the Year in 2006.

Kristen is currently volunteering on another fire house project – the renovation and expansion of a multi-use building for the Hyattsville Volunteer Fire Department.  This is a revision to earlier plans developed for the Hyattsville VFD, and Kristen is again working with Seth Harry on the project.

Kristen notes, “NDC’s mission is realized when a diverse group of people coalesce and influence the world around them.  It allows for firefighters, mayors, developers and architects to come together to share knowledge and create places that give back to their community."

Thank you Kristen and we look forward to working with you for many years to come!