Richie Hands, AIA

Richie Hands, AIA

Throughout his 12 years of practice, Hands has demonstrated a staunch commitment to mentorship and advocacy. He is the associate director for AIA Chicago, the national chair of NOMA’s Project Pipeline, and a newly elected member of ACE Chicago Mentor Program’s executive board of directors. He has been a leader for NOMA since 2015, having served as the I-NOMA student liaison, secretary, and program director of its Project Pipeline. In his first year of leadership, he increased the size, impact, and duration of the Project Pipeline summer camp, growing it from a one-day workshop with less than 10 students to a four-day camp with more than 80 participants. Camp participants have been able to experience architecture through field trips to Willis Tower during its lobby renovation, where they also received early access to the building’s Skydeck. Those experiences left an impression on the group of aspiring design professionals.

Hands’ involvement with the ACE Mentorship Program began in 2015, and, just one year later, he co-led the ACE Chicago Team 6 to a win at the National Construction Industry Round Table competition. As an active leader for both ACE and NOMA, Hands was instrumental in shaping a national MOU between the programs that formalized a partnership to promote their programmatic offerings with the goal of increasing diversity in the profession.

Currently, Hands is a senior associate at Chicago’s Lamar Johnson Collaborative, which he joined in 2019 after several years with Gensler. He has been a critical member of several award-winning projects, including the renovation of Horizon Therapeutics’ headquarters in Deerfield, Illinois, which received the 2022 Illinois Real Estate Journal Award. More recently, he served as the job captain for the design and implementation of the Northwestern Medicine Bronzeville Advanced Outpatient Care Center in Chicago. As part of the initial pitch, Hands proposed incorporating NOMA’s Project Pipeline Summer Camp into the design process. He recruited a former participant who joined the project team and was involved in the planned development process.

Hands also leads the firm’s Culture Core Council, which focuses on mentorship, development, equity, diversity, and inclusion, as well as social outreach and enterprise integration efforts. In this role, he has increased the firm’s support of NOMA, ACE, and AIA.

Dedicated and inspiring, Hands is a catalyst for meaningful change and a role model for architects from all backgrounds. His contributions have had a tremendous impact on the profession, a trend that is all but certain to continue.