MINNEAPOLIS, September 5, 2018 — John Dwyer, AIA, is the 2018 AIA Minnesota Louis Lundgren Award for Service recipient.

Each year, the Louis Lundgren Award for Service recognizes one Minnesota architect for their outstanding contributions in the area of community and professional service. Through their work as citizen architects, recipients of the award are regarded by the peers for their prolonged and effective volunteerism.

As a practitioner, educator and humanitarian, Dwyer pursues architecture as a cause. He aspires to expand the capacity of both the profession and academia toward service to the underserved, locally and globally.

In 2013, Dwyer initiated the Bachelor of Architecture degree program at Dunwoody College, helping to develop its mission, vision and curriculum, along with building the student body and faculty and moving the program toward accreditation. He has also collaborated on design projects in the Lower 9thWard in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and led teams to help with recovery in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. He is an active volunteer for many local design-oriented causes.

The AIA Minnesota Louis Lundgren Award jury included representatives from a host of AIA Minnesota committees and award winners, including Griff Davenport, FAIA, Chief Executive Officer, DLR Group; Philip Koski, AIA, Miller Dunwidde Architects; and Jody McGuire, AIA, Principal, SALA Architects and Associate Adjunct Professor, University of Minnesota College of Design.

The jury noted how both his work with Dunwoody and the service projects he completes serve to raise the profile of the role design plays in communities with the public, and to make architecture more accessible to all, which embodies the spirit of the award.

Dwyer will receive his award at the annual AIA Minnesota Awards Event on December 7, 2018 at the McNamara Alumni Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Learn more about the Louis Lundgren Award for Service here.

The American Institute of Architects Minnesota, founded in 1892, is dedicated to strengthening our communities, improving our built environment and providing exceptional design. For more information on the organization and Minnesota architectural firms, reference our website, visit our Facebook page and pick up a copy of Architecture MN, our award-winning magazine.