Kubik Receives AIA Associates Award 

Gail Kubik

Boston, MA – Finegold Alexander Architects recently announced that Gail Kubik, architectural designer, associate AIA, has been awarded the AIA’s Associates Award, given to individual members to recognize outstanding leaders and creative thinkers for significant contributions to their communities and the architecture profession.

In addition to her role at Finegold Alexander, Kubik serves as a committee officer for the AIA National Disaster Assistance Communications Task Force and is spearheading the formation of a disaster response network with the support of the Boston Society of Architects.

Deeply engaged in building resilient communities, she is an advocate for programmatic development to equip design professionals to serve as stewards of urban environments. Her commitment demonstrates that the profession can and should lead the way in rebuilding communities.

Kubik was profoundly affected by Superstorm Sandy and left the security of her architectural internship to immerse herself in New York’s hardest-hit outer borough communities. For more than two months, she performed damage assessment evaluations for the city and captured the stories of residents living in Red Cross shelters.

Later, she joined Architecture for Humanity as its coastal hazard mitigation specialist, convinced the organization to establish a regional field office in New York, and served as its design fellow.

In 2013, when post-Sandy rebuilding efforts were largely stalled, Kubik co-created the Sandy Design Help Desk from which, through a series of pop-up shops, residents and business owners could seek design services. In 2014, AIA New York honored the program and its collaborators with a special citation for establishing a long-term community-based planning infrastructure post-Sandy.

She promotes the development of community-driven advisory boards to assess climatic risks and institute policies to support community resilience. And as a member of the AIA’s 2017 National Disaster Assistance Program Communications Task Force, she helped create a series of guides to introduce stakeholders to the AIA Disaster Assistance Handbook and produced content for the AIA’s Digital Transformations website.

“As a member of the Disaster Assistance Committee for the past three years and very active in the preparation of the latest edition of the Disaster Assistance Handbook, I have had the opportunity to review and comment on these guides while working with Gail,” wrote John A. Robinson, AIA, in a letter supporting Kubik’s nomination for the AIA Associates Award. “I believe her passion for resilience forms an integral part of AIA National’s effort to inform the public and the profession of the Institute’s goals in this vital area.”

“We are very happy that Gail has been recognized with this prestigious award,” said Rebecca Berry, Principal and Director of Sustainable Design at Finegold Alexander Architects, “We have been impressed by her passion for this work since joining the firm and it has been our pleasure to support her with forming the task force for disaster response in Massachusetts.”

Kubik’s work embodies the generous, socially minded spirit that designers aspire to bring to every project they work on. Her actions prove that architecture can improve community spaces and, more importantly, provide hope to residents.