Paula Loomis, FAIA

Paula Loomis, FAIA

Paula Loomis, FAIA, has distinguished herself through substantial contributions to public architecture from three discrete perspectives. For more than 30 years, she was an officer in the U.S. Air Force, where her exemplary leadership and specialization in military facilities have resulted in quality buildings that will continue to serve future generations. A dedicated civil servant, she has also worked for the three federal agencies with the largest facility portfolios and has advanced the government’s sustainability and resilience strategies. Today, her work continues as the director of research, senior planner, and senior architect for The Urban Collaborative, an interdisciplinary firm that pursues public architecture in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.

Over the course of her Air Force career, which spanned six years of active duty and 24 years in reserve, she served in numerous roles, including base architect at Virginia’s Langley Air Force Base. At the base, which was designed by famed Detroit industrial architect Albert Kahn, she oversaw its overall development and architectural compatibility. Khan’s original design includes intricate brick and English Tudor details, and Loomis carefully ensured that each new building she developed adhered to Kahn’s intentions and architectural character.

Later, as command architect, she was responsible for maintaining the architectural character of 36 bases. To ensure each base was developed in the best interest of taxpayers, she created a slate of facility standards that could be adapted to each base’s climate and architectural context. Due to limited staff at each base, Loomis created and led assistance teams across the entire command based on AIA’s Assistance Team example. They helped create projects like the garden-style dormitories at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona and the community center at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana.

When she reentered civilian life, the majority of Loomis’ work remained in the government realm as she worked closely with the General Services Administration, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Homeland Security in numerous roles. She has developed more than 50 facility standards for a wide range of federal agencies and military branches that have shaped the character, resilience, and long-term viability of tens of thousands of facilities. For the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, she developed sustainability, measurement, verification, and life cycle cost analysis training for the organization’s more than 10,000 employees. She also established 21 centers of expertise to incorporate integrated design and sustainable features into Army and Air Force projects.

She continues to pursue similar work today at The Urban Collective. To better support members of the Air Force’s intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance team members, who spend long hours in secure, dark offices at Joint Base Langley-Eustis and have seen rising suicide rates, Loomis interviewed psychiatrists and physicians to better connect mental health and facility design. For a new dormitory there, Loomis’ team re-envisioned the standard building design to draw in more natural light while ensuring that the building’s character matched those she had designed there earlier in her career.

She also oversaw the design of the Department of Defense’s first LEED for Neighborhood Development project, the Monzen Housing Area Development Plan for the Marine Corps Air Station in Iwakuni, Japan. A challenging mixed-use project due to multiple funding streams, it features a commercial hotel and community spaces—a library, gym, and community rooms—surrounding a central square. Both this project and the one on Joint Base Langley-Eustis were recognized with merit awards from the American Planning Association, two of more than 50 such awards she has been associated with.

Loomis has been an active AIA member and leader since joining in 1987. She is also a lifetime member of the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) and was instrumental in developing and advancing SAME’s memorandum of understanding with AIA. Its establishment has allowed both organizations to pursue initiatives of shared importance, including the reversal of the National Defense Authorizations Act that limits architectural and engineering fees for federal projects.

“As a public sector architect serving on the AIA National Board of Directors, Strategic Council, Board Knowledge Committee, Government Advocacy Committee, and numerous AIA organizations at local, state, and national levels, Paula is a model of the value of a lifetime of public and nonprofit service for the critical pipeline to practice and leadership for countless future generations of architects,” wrote Rona G. Rothenberg, FAIA, in nominating Loomis for the Excellence in Public Architecture Award.