Serena Losonczy, AIA LEED AP is a Principal and Design Leader in DLR Group’s New York office. For over 30 years, she has devoted her career to designing vibrant and memorable learning environments. She has a nuanced understanding of the constantly evolving challenges academic institutions are faced with, and her expertise ranges from master planning and design of new buildings to complex, multi-phase renovations and intricate adaptive reuse projects.

Several of her projects have involved historic contexts. Using a people-centered and contextual approach to design, she is adept at inspiring engaged teamwork throughout the life cycle of a project to create versatile spaces with enduring quality. As a strategic thinker and imaginative problem-solver, Serena collaborates closely with clients to identify project goals and deliver meaningful architecture that reflects each institution’s unique pedagogy and vision.

Serena’s projects have won numerous local and international awards, as well as been featured in books on school design, and exhibited in the Museum of the City of New York. She frequently shares her knowledge through conferences, publications, juries, and school design charrettes. During the pandemic, she provided pro bono design services to local schools, including a special needs charter school, to plan reopening strategies.

She strongly believes in environmentally responsible design and was the lead designer for Fellows Hall, a Net-Zero Energy residence hall at Williams College that earned the 2021 Architizer A+ Popular Choice Award for Architecture + Sustainability as well as a 2022 Green Good Design Award from The Chicago Athenaeum and the European Centre for Architecture, Art, Design and Urban Studies. Her early initiatives include New York State’s first K-12 LEED-certified school, Poly Prep Lower School.

Ms. Losonczy received her Masters of Architecture from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She co-chairs the AIA NY Committee on Architecture for Education and is a Fellow of the Urban Design Forum. Passionate about preserving the city’s wetlands and parks, she regularly volunteers with the NYC Parks Department.