Atelier Mey: American Building Spirit | Pioneering Architectures of Place

AIA members: enter your member number into the Discount Field when registering in order to register at no-cost. An active AIA membership number required to complete registration without cost.

AIAS students: use your .edu email address to register and type AIAS into the member number field.

AIA Colorado Allied Members: use the same email address for RSVP that is listed in the Allied Member Directory and type Allied2026 in the Allied Member field.

$25 for all non-members who wish to receive educational credit.

Atelier Mey 

American Building Spirit | Pioneering Architectures of Place

Design is Optimism. It is the American building spirit—rooted in resourcefulness and innovation—that transforms constraint into possibility. Shaped by place and circumstance, architecture emerges from environmental, social, economic, and policy forces to carry cultural memory while projecting belief in what can be built. These works embed performance, ingenuity, and care within the built environment, offering architectures that respond not only to where we are, but to where we are going. We look for architecture in the proximity of culture to craft, in the energy of the environment, and in communities that actively produce placeness. By listening closely and observing carefully, architectural questions sharpen and reveal themselves. Each project participates in a broader discourse, contributing to shared knowledge while advancing design and construction practices beyond individual interventions. In this lineage, our work deliberately engages risk as a tool for progress—not as symbol or spectacle, but within the processes, policies, and material systems where meaningful change can occur.

Event has been approved for 1.5 LU|HSW.

Event: Spring 2026 ENVD Lecture Series, CU Boulder

Date/Time: March 2nd, 2026, at 5pm

Location: CU Boulder, Environment Design Building, ENVD 134.

1060 18th Street, Boulder, CO 80309

Photo credit: Timothy Hursley

Registration is required. Space is limited.

AIA members: enter your member number into the Discount Field when registering in order to register at no-cost. An active AIA membership number required to complete registration without cost.

AIAS students: use your .edu email address to register and type AIAS into the member number field.

AIA Colorado Allied Members: use the same email address for RSVP that is listed in the Allied Member Directory and type Allied2026 in the Allied Member field.

Due to the limited capacity of this event, if you are no longer able to attend, please come back to Humanitix and update your RSVP, as we will enable a waitlist should capacity be reached.

Questions? Contact AIA Colorado at office@aiacolorado.org

Atelier Mey is an architectural practice dedicated to creating buildings that thoughtfully engage their context and celebrate the generative potential of architecture. The practice approaches each project as a conscious act—where form, material, and environment come together to produce meaningful and enduring places. Design excellence is central to the work, defined by careful attention to craft, materiality, and the evolving relationship between people and the built environment. In 2022, Atelier Mey received the distinction of AIA Miami Small Firm of the Year. The firm's principals, Shawna and Christopher, were awarded the 2021 AIA Honor Award for Sustainable Architects of the Year by the Miami chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Atelier Mey's contributions have been featured in venues such as the Venice Biennale 2025 U.S. Pavilion Porch: An Architecture of Generosity, 'A South Forty' exhibition at the National Building Museum, Open House Miami, and CBS's American By Design program. Furthermore, projects have been recognized by ARCH Paper for the Emerging Architects Project Award, Arch Record, the Canadian Wood Council, and the AIA Honor Awards Program. 

Christopher Meyer, AIA is a founding principal of Atelier Mey, a design-driven practice based in New Orleans and Miami, and an Associate Professor at the Tulane School of Architecture, Funded projects include USDA U.S. Forestry Wood Innovation Grants, a Florida Forest Service LSR Grant, SFI Community Grants, and an Epic Games Mega Grant. The firm’s work integrates research-driven investigations with practical applications, achieving the objective of constructing buildings. Atelier Mey actively collaborates with industry leaders and manufacturers on speculative research endeavors and realized projects, underscoring a commitment to performance and craftsmanship. Recognized as AIA Miami’s 2022 Small Firm of the Year, Atelier Mey completed Miami-Dade County’s first mass timber structure. Meyer’s work has been featured in the Venice Biennale, the National Building Museum, and CBS’s American by Design. Christopher has previously taught at the University of Miami, Fay Jones School of Architecture + Design, and holds degrees from the University of Arkansas and Harvard GSD. Through his leadership in practice and academia, Meyer continues to advance environmentally focused design and architectural education.

Shawna Meyer, AIA is a founding principal of Atelier Meyer Architecture practice based in New Orleans, LA, and Miami, FL, and a Professor of Practice at Tulane University School of Architecture and Built Environment.  Her work in practice, teaching, and research exists at the confluence of social, cultural, economic, and environmental forces.  Through her practicing role as a principal of Atelier Mey and academic roles, she explores design as an act of questioning without perceived bias. In 2022, Shawna was inducted into the John G. Williams Fellowship at the Fay Jones School of Architecture + Design. Shawna holds a Bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Arkansas Fay Jones School of Architecture + Design and a Master’s degree in Architecture from the University of Minnesota College of Design. She is a licensed architect in Minnesota, Florida, and Montana, and has achieved LEED AP and NCARB certifications. Additionally, Shawna actively contributes her expertise as a member of the AIA National Committee on Design Advisory Group and Vice President of AIA NOLA.