Maria Papiez, AIA is the Director of Sustainable Design for EwingCole. As an architect and environmental biologist, she facilitates firm-wide efforts, including the AIA 2030 Commitment and Materials Pledge, participates in goal-setting and client interaction on project teams, and developed and leads the Thrive@EC sustainability group.
Maria’s professional experience has been in healthcare, education, and workplace. She is an active participant in the AIA Large Firm Roundtable (LFRT) and the Sustainable Design Leaders (SDL) network, and she has been an adjunct Professor of Practice in the School of Architecture at NC State University, teaching design studios. She received her Master of Architecture from NC State University, her Master of Science in Environmental Chemistry from the University of Nevada, Reno, and her Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Portland.
Courses
A&D Materials Pledge By the Numbers (RY23): Key Insights into Holistic Materials Specification
This year’s inaugural Materials Pledge reporting reveals key data and insights into the industry’s progress in holistic materials specification. The A&D Materials Pledge, a key AIA climate signatory program, boasts a community of over 275 architecture and design firms. This first year of reporting included required firm-level data and optional project- and product-level data from signatory firms. Upon the release of the first ever Materials Pledge By the Numbers (RY23) progress report, join us for a conversation on high-level takeaways—highlighting the program’s advancements in data quality and quantity. We’ll discuss how firms can enhance their engagement with the Materials Pledge program through a Materials Action Plan and deeper project-level reporting.
This course was recorded live on December 3, 2024.
Living in a Material World: The Architects’ Role in Responsible Materials Selection
Wednesday, November 12, 2025 | 2-3pm EST
How can architects and designers take action in selecting holistically responsible materials? With competing priorities from clients and project teams to a whole world of product and project-level certifications, responsible material selection is hard to navigate – and one that has to be done on a daily basis. The AIA Materials Pledge provides a framework for architects and designers to begin to chart progress in data transparency and optimization across the five impact categories: Human health, Social health and equity, Ecosystem health, Climate health, and Circular economy.
Join AIA Materials Pledge leadership for this webinar where speakers will focus on beginner steps for designers to take in thinking about holistic material health. They will then speak about how the AIA Materials Pledge reporting framework can support firms at any stage of their materials journey. Finally, they will provide an overview of this year’s second annual Materials Pledge By the Numbers (RY24) report, looking at reported materials data from over 100 signatory firms.