
The annual Honor Awards recognize exemplary commitment and service to AIA, the community, and the architecture profession.
2021 Honorees

Oscar Harris, FAIA
Ivan Allen, Jr. Award
Oscar Harris stands as a giant in the history of Atlanta architecture. As a founder of Turner Associates Architects & Planners, his impact as an architect, mentor, author, and artist has transformed Atlanta’s skyline while expanding the perception of African American designers and their capacity to contribute to the profession. As a designer, Harris lays claim to some of the most iconic structures in the city. As a mentor, he has helped numerous architects build legacies of their own.
One of his most lasting impacts is founding the Atlanta Center for Creative Inquiry (now SPIKE Studio), which partners with Georgia Tech to provide underrepresented high school students mentorship, education, and exposure to AEC professions.
Harris is also a prestigious member of the AIA College of Fellows, a winner of AIA’s Whitney M. Young Jr. Award, and a recognized Small Business Leader of the Year by the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. AIA Atlanta rightly recognizes him with the Ivan Allen, Jr. Award for his legacy in mentorship, design excellence, and business leadership.

Garfield Peart, AIA
The Dorothy Spence Citizen Architect Award recognizes an AIA Atlanta member who has used their skills and mindset as an architect to address societal ills and problems, pursue public service, or serve other community-focused organizations.
Garfield exemplifies the spirit of this award for his broad and profound commitment to making metro Atlanta a better place – outside of his work hours role as a respected architect. He has served on the City of Atlanta Urban Design Commission for numerous terms, as the Co-Founder and Chair of the Spike Studio youth outreach program, the National Organization of Minority Architects national Board of Directors, President of NOMA Atlanta, as a jury member for numerous programs – including the 2021 HBCU Cultural Stewardship Grant, and as a panelist on numerous important issues related to the profession.

Theresa Ridley, AIA
The James G. Fausett Service to the Profession Award recognizes a member’s exceptional commitment to AIA and other architecture-focused organizations, elevating those organizations better to serve the needs and aspirations of its members.
Theresa Ridley’s commitment to the wide range of organizations serving the architecture profession is unsurpassed. Since 2013, Theresa has served as the Secretary of the Architecture Foundation of Georgia (AFGA) and President of AIA Atlanta, AIA Georgia, and the Architecture Foundation of Georgia.
In these roles, she has been a strong voice for addressing Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, and has made exceptional contributions to women’s roles in the profession, particularly involved in the founding of Equity in Architecture. She has also shown a strong commitment to political advocacy, including AIA’s indemnification law and the Integrated Path to Licensure. Moreover, her experience at both AIA Georgia and AIA Atlanta resulted in a smooth transition to an important cooperative agreement between the two, ending nearly a decade of distrust and lack of cooperation.

Heli Shah, Assoc. AIA
The John A. Busby Jr. Medal is given to a young emerging professional recognizing noteworthy achievements in one or more of the following areas: design, management, education, AIA service, or public service.
Heli Shah’s commitment to the broad definition of Emerging Professionals has been exemplary, with the engagement of the next generation of leaders from K-12 to the excellence of the Christopher Kelley Leadership Development Program (CKLDP).
As a leader, she has served on the AIA Atlanta Board of Directors, as AIA Atlanta YAF Chair, and on the Executive Committee of the CKLDP Program. She led efforts at an organization redesign of the YAF leadership pipeline and organized the involvement of dozens of AIA members in the creation of “The Soul of Reynoldstown” mural project. She has also served in key roles as a mentor, moderator, and panelist on important topics such as Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, and Women’s Leadership.
For her contributions to the profession, she is recognized and celebrated with the 2021 John A. Busby Jr. Medal.

Doug Hooker
The Kwanza Hall Award recognizes an individual from outside the field of architecture for exemplary leadership in improving the quality of community design and holding the architecture profession to a higher standard. It references the life-long interest in remarkable design by Kwanza Hall, a former AIA Atlanta board director, City of Atlanta councilman, and United States congressman.
Doug Hooker has built a career as an impressive polymath — an engineer, planner, business leader, finance expert, and devotee of great music as a singer, musician, and creator. That history has seen him lead the Atlanta Regional Commission, the State Road and Tollway Authority, and the City of Atlanta’s Public Works. His commitment to the importance of good design and the role of architects in these positions has pushed the profession to improve the quality of its work and to pursue better relationships with allied professions to deliver a better built environment for the region and the City of Atlanta. For these reasons and more, AIA Atlanta bestows this Kwanza Hall Award to Doug Hooker.

Mary Norwood
The Kwanza Hall Award recognizes an individual from outside the field of architecture for exemplary leadership in improving the quality of community design and holding the architecture profession to a higher standard. It references the life-long interest in remarkable design by Kwanza Hall, a former AIA Atlanta board director, City of Atlanta councilman, and United States congressman.
With her focus on transparency and effectiveness in city government, Mary Norwood has an unsurpassed commitment in environmental, preservation, zoning, transportation, public safety, housing, and homeless issues. Her impact on design has been felt most strongly in her work on neighborhood in-fill legislation, the Atlanta Secret Places initiative, Home Atlanta program, and a commitment to the value of parks across the city. Most recently, her involvement in a neighborhood-focused development and zoning codes process will yield benefits for decades to come. Because of her strong track record of harnessing good design and public policy to serve communities, neighborhoods, and people, AIA awards this Kwanza Hall Award.

Blueprint Midtown
Blueprint Midtown is a nationally-recognized master planning document and ongoing process that began in 1997 and unlike other similar efforts, it’s been implemented. The efforts have been the catalyst for new housing, desirable office space, transportation innovations, public safety initiatives, environmental cleanup, and a pedestrian-friendly platform for integrating retail, transit, and parks. Thousands of stakeholders have been involved, and the quality of the community, the excellence of design, and the health of its economy are testament to the impact of Blueprint Midtown.