MSR Design's director of sustainable practice, Simona is a sustainability expert who specializes in energy, materials, high-performance assemblies, and implementing the AIA Framework for Design Excellence into the workflow of architectural practice. She has completed LEED, B3, and Living Building Challenge Petal certifications and has consulted on facilities recommendations for multi-building owners to achieve sustainable built environment transformations. Simona currently serves on the Minnesota Buy Clean Taskforce and national AIA Materials Pledge working group, and she is cochair of the Carbon Leadership Forum Minnesota Circularity and Specification subgroups. She received a national AIA Young Architects Award in 2023.
Courses
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.