Raquel will be celebrated at AIA Chicago’s Designight 2026 event held on Thursday, October 1, 2026, at The Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park
For Immediate Release
Media contact: David Chase, dchase@aiachicago.org, 312-376-2745
Media Kit
(August 27, 2026) CHICAGO – The AIA Chicago Foundation, the charitable, independent not-for-profit organization that supports scholarships, grants, and awards to strengthen Chicago’s architectural community, has announced that Raquel Guzman Geara, AIA, an Associate and Design & Project Architect at SmithGroup, has been named the recipient of the 2026 AIA Chicago Foundation Dubin Family Young Architect Award. Raquel will be celebrated at AIA Chicago’s Designight 2026 event held on Thursday, October 1, 2026, at The Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park, Chicago.
“Raquel is a talented architect committed to creating community through design, advocacy, and service,” said Matthew Dumich, FAIA, a 2012 Dubin Family Young Architect Award recipient who worked alongside Raquel at SmithGroup for more than seven years. “I believe she represents the very best in the promising future of our profession.”
Raquel Guzman Geara, AIA, has built her career around three guiding principles: community, mentorship, and empathy. Arriving in the United States from the Dominican Republic, she has shaped her work as both a designer and an advocate, channeling her own experience of navigating a new country and profession into a human-centered approach to architecture and a lasting commitment to lifting up others.
A graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Architecture (2013, Magna Cum Laude) and a Master of Architecture (2014), Raquel joined SmithGroup in September 2014 and was promoted to Associate in 2021. She was licensed as an architect in Illinois in 2019.
Her impact extends through:
Human-Centered Design in Higher Education: As interior lead and project architect for the College of DuPage Student Success Center, Raquel prioritized engagement sessions with students and staff over decisions made solely by executive leadership, reorganizing the building around a centralized enrollment center and a new Multi-Cultural Community Hub. She has led design and construction of Aurora University’s new Learning Commons for the past three years, drawing commuter students into a library, career services, café, innovation hub, makerspace, and collaboration spaces built around two dramatic double-height volumes. Her other notable projects include the Northeastern Illinois University Education Building, the ASML Chandler Freeway Crossing office, the Levin & Perconti law firm workplace, and the Advocate Illinois Masonic Physical Therapy & Sports Health Center and Parking Garage.
Advocacy and Community Building: In 2020, Raquel co-founded Arquitina, a national nonprofit dedicated to raising the percentage of licensed Latina architects in the United States, currently near just 2%. As Vice President, she helped the organization achieve nonprofit status, built its board of directors, and established a virtual mentorship program that has since expanded nationwide. She also co-authored Latinas in Architecture, a book sharing the stories of multicultural Latinas in the industry.
Mentorship and Leadership: A cornerstone of her career, Raquel co-founded SmithGroup’s first Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) committee and co-led the firm’s Associates Group and Social Committee. Beyond her firm, she served as Co-Chair of AIA Chicago’s Young Architects Forum, sits on the AIA Illinois Board of Directors, and since 2023 has represented Illinois as the AIA National Young Architect Representative, contributing to advocacy initiatives, panels, and publications on justice, well-being, and career advancement.
“Raquel embodies the drive, talent, leadership and vision that define a deserving recipient of this recognition,” said Alzira Maldonado Protsishin, AIA, NCARB, a past Dubin Family Young Architect Award recipient who serves alongside Raquel on the Arquitina board and the AIA Illinois Board of Directors.
Raquel’s contributions have been widely recognized, including as a 2025 Crain’s Chicago Business 40 Under 40 honoree, a recipient of the 2022 AIA Building Together Leadership Award for her work with Arquitina, and among Negocios Now’s “50 Latinas in Construction” in its 2025 Who’s Who in Hispanic Business special edition.
The award is chosen by a jury comprised of AIA Chicago Foundation Board Trustees, a past recipient, and an at-large AIA Chicago member: Julia Mosqueda, Assoc. AIA, LBBA, AIA Chicago Foundation Trustee – Chair; Susan Conger Austin, AIA, Illinois Institute of Technology, AIA Chicago Foundation Trustee; Rana Lee, Assoc. AIA, Growth Strategist & BD Executive, AIA Chicago Foundation Trustee; Tom Lee, AIA, Tom Lee Studio, External Juror; Vladimir Radutny, AIA, Vladimir Radutny Architects, 2016 Recipient.
The Young Architect Award was originally established in 1983 to recognize excellence in ability and exceptional contributions by young Chicago area architects. In 2003, the award was renamed the Dubin Family Young Architect Award thanks to the generosity of the family of the late M. David Dubin, FAIA, the 1971 AIA Chicago President. The Dubin family continues to fund a cash prize for the recipient, and the award is administered by the AIA Chicago Foundation. Previous recipients include Sara Fetterolf, AIA (2025) and Emily Ray, AIA (2024).
The AIA Chicago Foundation is a 501(c)3 organization committed to investing in Chicago’s next generation of architectural changemakers by awarding scholarships, grants, and recognition. The AIA Chicago Foundation is affiliated with AIA Chicago, the collective voice of nearly 4,000 licensed architects, emerging professionals, architecture students, and allied professionals in the Chicagoland area.
Information about Designight 2026
Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park
205 East Randolph Street, Chicago, IL 60601
Thursday, October 1, 2026
6:00 PM to 7:30 PM with After Party to follow
Award Ceremony tickets will be available through the Harris Theater in the coming weeks:
Harris Theater Box Office: 312-334-7777
Harris Theater Website: https://www.harristheaterchicago.org
Harris Theater Address: 205 East Randolph Street
Theater rental and services have been underwritten through support of the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park.
Combined Awards Ceremony and After Party tickets are available for purchase now at: AIAChicago.org/Designight2026
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