Alumni Awards 2022 - University of Houston
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ANNOUNCING THE 2022 ALUMNI AWARDS

The University of Houston Architecture and Design Alumni Association and the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design are pleased to celebrate another exceptional group of accomplished alumni award winners. The jury, consisting of Anica Landreneau ’05, Trent L. Perez ’05, and Christy Sepulveda ’14, accepted the challenge of selecting the 2022 award winners.

The awards were presented at the alumni association's annual meeting on September 14, 2022

Congratulations to our 2022 Alumni Award Winners! Scroll down to meet the winners and learn about their exemplary careers.

Meet the Jury

Anica Landreneau, Assoc. AIA, LEED BD+C, WELL AP, BREEAM, fitwel ’05

Anica Landreneau, Assoc. AIA, LEED BD+C, WELL AP, BREEAM, Fitwel ’05


Global Director of Sustainable Design, HOK

Anica Landreneau is HOK’s global sustainable design director, serving on the firm’s board of directors and design board. Based in Washington, DC, Landreneau is appointed to Mayor’s Green Building Advisory Council and Co-Chairs the Building Energy Performance Standard Task Force. Landreneau is serving a third term on the DC Green and Energy Codes committee.  She also serves on the national AIA Government Advocacy Committee, is Vice-Chair to the USGBC LEED Advisory Committee, and a Senior Fellow of the New Buildings Institute. Landreneau is a former Chair of the AIA Codes and Standards Committee, and was appointed to the AIA Blue Ribbon Panel on Codes, co-authoring Disruption, Evolution, and Change: AIA’s Vision for the future of Design and Construction. Landreneau also co-authored with the US General Services Administration The New Sustainable Frontier: Principles of Sustainable Development. Her testimony before Congress and policy recommendations are included in the Majority Staff Report, Solving the Climate Crisis: The Congressional Action Plan for a Clean Energy Economy and a Healthy, Resilient, and Just America.

Trent A. Perez, P.E. '05

Trent A. Perez, P.E. '05


PRD Land Development Services, LLC, Owner

Trent A. Perez graduated from the University of Houston Cullen College of Engineering in 2005 with a Bachelor of Science in Civil and Environmental Engineering. Since graduation, Perez has continuously given back to the University of Houston. After being invited to serve as a board member of the UH Engineering Alumni Association (UHEAA), he was quickly promoted to become the board’s president. Perez also chaired several committees for UHEAA and served as the emcee for the UHEAA Awards Gala for a decade. He now serves as a board member of the UH Alumni Association Foundation Board and is the liaison to the UH Architecture + Design Alumni Association.

Perez owns PRD Land Developments Services, LLC, a civil engineer design firm. He has also served as a City Council Member for the City of Pearland for six years.

Christy Sepulveda '14

Christy Sepulveda '14


Consumer Experience Design Manager, Memorial Hermann Health System

Christy Sepulveda is an interdisciplinary senior designer with a focus in CX and Industrial Design. She has created and integrated user-focused solutions for a wide range of industries, including sports experiences, healthcare, additive manufacturing, consumer electronics, and more. Sepulveda has a knack for facilitating discovery efforts, creating conceptual visuals, and executing solutions at a global scale. She is currently working for Memorial Hermann Health System where she creates and integrates patient-focused experiences for one of the largest non-profit health systems in Texas.

2022 ALUMNI AWARD WINNERS

Margaret Wallace Brown '83

DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD – MARGARET WALLACE BROWN, AICP, CNU-A '83

Director, Department of Planning & Development, City of Houston

After graduating from the University of Houston College of Architecture in 1983, Margaret Wallace Brown began her career in the private sector with Interfin Corporation. Later, inspired by John Ruskin’s quote in the Houston City Hall rotunda, “When we build, let us think that we build forever,” she became a public servant in 1986 joining the Planning & Development Department. She was appointed Director in 2019.

As Director, Margaret has a direct impact on improving Houston’s urban form. Currently, she is refocusing the City towards more walkable and context-sensitive developments. With support from the professional community, neighborhood activists and elected officials, she is changing the City’s development regulations giving architects and developers more freedom and opportunities to design safer streetscapes and more compact, multi-modal developments. Because of her efforts, the City of Houston is creating new programs that encourage the preservation of naturally occurring affordable housing. It is also assessing rules to ensure that past inequities are not continued.

A died-in-the-wool Houstonian, she cheers on the Coogs and the Astros and spends as much free time as possible walking the bayou trails with her family.  

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ADU-HOU is Houston’s award-winning program to encourage the construction of more ADUs in Houston

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Inside spread of ADU-HOU; Houston’s Walkable Places standards are improving streetscapes for all road users

Mark S. Nolen '89

LEADERSHIP ALUMNI AWARD – MARK S. NOLEN, AIA, LEED AP '82

Ziegler Cooper Architects, Senior Principal and Senior Vice President

Nolen serves Ziegler Cooper Architects (ZCA) as Practice Area Leader of the Workplace Interiors Studio, dedicated to workplace design for clients in the accounting, consulting, energy, engineering, finance, insurance, law, and technology sectors. He has over decades of project management and design experience with corporate interiors, landlord services, and commercial architecture projects. Nolen’s clientele includes major corporations, real estate brokers, institutional owners, real estate developers, building leasing agents, and property managers.

Nolen is a graduate of the University of Houston with a bachelor degree in architecture, and is a member of several industry affiliated associations, including the National Council Architectural Review Board (NCARB), Texas Society of Architecture (TSA), American Institute of Architects (AIA), and the University of Houston Architecture and Design Alumni Association (UHADAA), where he served as president. He was an active member of the Hines College’s Leadership Council from 2015-2021.

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Endress+Hauser Training Center Exterior

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Endress+Hauser Training Center Lobby

Jake Donaldson '06

Successful Entrepreneur Award – Jake Donaldson, AIA, LEGACY LEED AP, NCARB '06

Managing Principal, Method Architecture

As Method's Managing Principal, Rayburn ‘JakeDonaldson oversees the firm's four geographic market offices in Houston, Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio representing $15mil+ in annual sales, three service lines, 75 staff members, and 800+ projects annually. He manages the firm’s business operations team and leads strategic growth initiatives including acquisitions and Method’s affiliate partner firm Blue Arrow Architecture, which specializes in native, tribal, and federal projects. Jake employs a servant-minded leadership style that embodies leading by example, collaboration, encouraging feedback, and empowering others.

Jake partakes in regular speaking engagements on mentorship, leadership, and entrepreneurship across architectural, commercial real estate, and craft brewing industries. He has served in numerous board and committee positions with NAIOP Commercial Real Estate Organization, Houston Food Bank, Urban Land Institute, American Institute of Architects Houston, Texas Society of Architects, Architecture for Humanity, and the Native American Business Association. Jake is the recipient of several national awards including NAIOP Developing Leaders, National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development 40 under 40, Texas A&M 12 under 12, and ENR 20 under 40.

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Buffalo Bayou Brewing Company

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M-K-T - A collaboration with Michael Hsu Office of Architecture. 

Rachel Wilkins '12

Outstanding Young Alumni – Rachel Wilkins '12

SWA Group, Associate

After completing her biology degree at Loyola University New Orleans, Rachel began architectural studies at the University of Houston’s Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design. She briefly worked as an architectural designer in Natalye Appels’ office before transitioning to Landscape Architecture at OJB. During her almost seven year tenure at OJB, she worked on a variety of projects including public infrastructure, streetscapes, parks, mixed-use, residential and corporate campuses.

In 2020, she made the transition to SWA where she continues to work on public parks including Brackenridge Park (San Antonio, Texas) and Alief Park (Houston, Texas). Over the course of her career she has collaborated with internationally recognized design firms including OMA, Bjarke Ingles Group, Kendall Heaton, and Pickard Chilton. She equally enjoys developing concept and narrative as well as a technical challenge, and she is especially passionate about park projects and mentoring the next generation of designers. She was a key member on the following award winning projects: Levy Park, a ULI Urban Space Award and ASLA Texas Chapter Honor Award for Design recipient; American Airlines Robert L. Crandall Campus, a ULI North Texas Impact Award; and Toyota North American Headquarters, a ULI award for Design Excellence and Sustainability.

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Brackenridge Park revitalization and rehabilitation plan

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Conrad Sauer Detention Basin Park designed to detain 32 acre feet of storm water