Commercial Archives | AIA Brooklyn

PEM Studio is a Brooklyn-based architectural design support and project management firm focused on making buildings more energy-efficient through expert, transparent, and approachable design. Our work is rooted in collaborative, care-driven, transparent, and reuse-focused processes that support long‑term resilience and environmental responsibility.
We are certified NYS & NYC Women/Minority-Owned Business (W/MBE)
Closed‑loop informed design : From performance to reuse

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Featured Events

Apr 20, 2026 • Women in Architecture (WIA)

5 Steps to Becoming Principal or Partner at Your Firm

12:00 pm–1:00 pm

Virtual - held on Zoom

This event is hosted by the AIA Brooklyn Women in Architecture committee.

1.0 AIA LU

Are you interested in becoming a principal or partner at your firm, but you’re not sure what the pathway to the role is, what you need to do to be qualified, or how to be chosen?

Whether you’re in a large firm with a formal process or firm that operates like the Wild West – with no clear advancement process – in this training, you will learn the five steps any woman can take to become a principal at her firm.

You’ll learn how to position yourself for principal or partner and how to create a step-by-step promotion plan to the role (with buy-in from your leadership!) You’ll learn about the “unwritten rules of advancement” that exist in every organization – and how to uncover them in yours.

If you want more from your career, but have wondered how to get there…and also want to ensure being a principal or partner is compatible with your life outside of work, this session is for you!

Presenter Bio:

Maya Sharfi helps women in design, technology and innovation rise into senior executive roles and thrive once there. Her clients have landed executive roles, launched innovative initiatives, and achieved salary increases of $40k, $80k, and even $100k. A former Harvard Innovation Lab resident, Maya was named a 40 Under 40 by Impact Design Hub. She loves graphic nonfiction, the color yellow, and reading to her daughter.

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Apr 27, 2026 • AIA Brooklyn COTE + WIA

Celebrate Earth Month: Passive House Tour with Jane Sanders

6:00 pm–8:00 pm

Park Slope, Brooklyn

This Earth Month, experience first hand how skillful design and construction can save the planet. This 1870’s Park Slope row house was retrofitted in 2015 to achieve Passive House EnerPHit certification.

The house is airtight, well-insulated, and has a constant supply of fresh filtered air through its energy recovery ventilator. Other energy saving components include triple glazed high performance windows and skylights, solar hot water, induction cooking, and an ethanol burning fireplace.

Architect Jane Sanders will walk us through the design principles of Passive House Construction and reveal how they were implemented in this retrofit by sharing construction photos and details.

Note: The house is located in Park Slope, Brooklyn. The exact address will be shared with registrants.

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Upcoming Events

April
Apr 20, 2026 • Women in Architecture (WIA)

5 Steps to Becoming Principal or Partner at Your Firm

12:00 pm–1:00 pm

Virtual - held on Zoom

This event is hosted by the AIA Brooklyn Women in Architecture committee.

1.0 AIA LU

Are you interested in becoming a principal or partner at your firm, but you’re not sure what the pathway to the role is, what you need to do to be qualified, or how to be chosen?

Whether you’re in a large firm with a formal process or firm that operates like the Wild West – with no clear advancement process – in this training, you will learn the five steps any woman can take to become a principal at her firm.

You’ll learn how to position yourself for principal or partner and how to create a step-by-step promotion plan to the role (with buy-in from your leadership!) You’ll learn about the “unwritten rules of advancement” that exist in every organization – and how to uncover them in yours.

If you want more from your career, but have wondered how to get there…and also want to ensure being a principal or partner is compatible with your life outside of work, this session is for you!

Presenter Bio:

Maya Sharfi helps women in design, technology and innovation rise into senior executive roles and thrive once there. Her clients have landed executive roles, launched innovative initiatives, and achieved salary increases of $40k, $80k, and even $100k. A former Harvard Innovation Lab resident, Maya was named a 40 Under 40 by Impact Design Hub. She loves graphic nonfiction, the color yellow, and reading to her daughter.

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Apr 22, 2026 • AIA Brooklyn & City Tech

Lecture: Detailing Worlds

6:00 pm–8:00 pm

City Tech
Voorhees Hall - 2nd Floor Lounge
186 Jay Street
Brooklyn

A Conceptual History of Architectural Detail with author and professor, Eric Bellin
In the 21st century, the word “detail” appears constantly in discussions of building, used in many different ways—yet just over 250 years ago, it held no particular meaning for architects, engineers, or builders. Drawing on the recently published book Detailing Worlds, this talk examines the origins and evolution of “detail” as a concept specific to practices of building. By exploring how past meanings and roles were ascribed to detail in different “worlds of practice”–those of academics, technicians, students, engineers, and architects – the talk illuminates the ways disciplinary knowledge and the concepts on which it is based evolve and change over time. It offers a story about how such concepts are slowly but constantly reconceived, redefined, and transformed by individuals as they interact with one another, and how this process is shaped by the ever-changing sociocultural and technological dimensions of the world around us. Through this lens, the talk develops the notion of “detail thinking” as a specific mode of design thought, framing detail as inherently ecological, multi-scalar, and a catalyst for understanding the designed environment in more deeply interconnected ways.
Speaker: Eric Bellin (Thomas Jefferson University)
Moderator: Elena M’Bouroukounda (City Tech)
Location: Voorhees Hall 2nd Floor Lounge

1.5 AIA Learning Units

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Apr 23, 2026 • YAF Young Architects Forum

Shaping the Future: Professional Education Reform in Architecture

4:00 pm–5:30 pm

Virtual - held on Zoom

Join the Young Architects Forum (YAF) for an engaging and candid Open Mic Night exploring the future of architectural education & licensure.

Register at – Zoom Webinar

Featured Speakers:
Jeremy Fretts – Assistant Vice President, Education & Certification, NCARB
Devora Schwartz – Project Architect, Liscum McCormack VanVoorhis
James Wesala – Architect, SmithGroup
Jack Whalen – Regional Director, South, ACE Mentor Program of America

Moderator:
Mi Zhang, AIA, CPHD, NCARB, GPro | AIA Brooklyn

CE- LU – 1.5

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Apr 23, 2026 • AIA Brooklyn

Exhibition & Public Brooklyn NOW! Panel

6:30 pm–8:00 pm

L10 Arts & Culture Center, 10 Lafayette Avenue, Second Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11217

Public Brooklyn NOW! Panel: How Public Spaces Shape Neighborhood Life

Thursday, April 23 · 6:30–8:00 PM

Brooklyn Public Library – Library for Arts & Culture

10 Lafayette Avenue, Second Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11217

1.5 AIA CEUs (pending)

This panel explores how public space in Brooklyn is shaped not only through design, but also through policy, community advocacy, and the forces that determine who a space is truly made for. From parks and waterfronts to sidewalks and under-elevated corridors, Brooklyn’s shared spaces are continually contested and transformed. The conversation brings together planners, designers, and advocates to ask what it really means to design for belonging.

This event is one in a five-part series; learn more here.

Brooklyn NOW! 2026, presented at the Brooklyn Public Library – Library for Arts & Culture, celebrates the design forces actively shaping our borough today. Opening in April 2026, the exhibition highlights how architects, builders, and visionaries are reimagining Brooklyn’s streets, homes, and civic spaces. The exhibition will be accompanied by five in-person public programs, including a gallery opening that invites visitors to engage directly with the ideas and people behind the work.

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Apr 27, 2026 •  AIA Brooklyn COTE + WIA

Celebrate Earth Month: Passive House Tour with Jane Sanders

6:00 pm–8:00 pm

Park Slope, Brooklyn

This Earth Month, experience first hand how skillful design and construction can save the planet. This 1870’s Park Slope row house was retrofitted in 2015 to achieve Passive House EnerPHit certification.

The house is airtight, well-insulated, and has a constant supply of fresh filtered air through its energy recovery ventilator. Other energy saving components include triple glazed high performance windows and skylights, solar hot water, induction cooking, and an ethanol burning fireplace.

Architect Jane Sanders will walk us through the design principles of Passive House Construction and reveal how they were implemented in this retrofit by sharing construction photos and details.

Note: The house is located in Park Slope, Brooklyn. The exact address will be shared with registrants.

RSVP

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Apr 30, 2026 • AIA Brooklyn

Exhibition Closing & Practicing Brooklyn NOW! Panel

6:30 pm–8:00 pm

L10 Arts & Culture Center, 10 Lafayette Avenue, Second Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11217

Practicing Brooklyn NOW! Panel: Working Locally in a Global City

Thursday, April 30 · 6:30–8:00 PM

Brooklyn Public Library – Library for Arts & Culture

10 Lafayette Avenue, Second Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11217

1.5 AIA CEUs (pending)

What does it mean to build a practice rooted in Brooklyn? This panel highlights architects and designers whose work is deeply embedded in Brooklyn’s neighborhoods. Speakers will discuss building a local practice, working with community clients, and balancing local impact with broader professional pressures.

Learn more about additional events taking place during the Brooklyn NOW! Exhibition.

Brooklyn NOW! 2026, presented at the Brooklyn Public Library – Library for Arts & Culture, celebrates the design forces actively shaping our borough today. Opening in April 2026, the exhibition highlights how architects, builders, and visionaries are reimagining Brooklyn’s streets, homes, and civic spaces. The exhibition will be accompanied by five in-person public programs, including a gallery opening that invites visitors to engage directly with the ideas and people behind the work.

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May
May 6, 2026 • AIA Brooklyn & City Tech

Lecture: Beside, Between, Beyond

6:00 pm–8:00 pm

City Tech
Voorhees Hall - 2nd Floor Lounge
186 Jay Street
Brooklyn

Michael Chen will present projects by MKCA studio that embrace community-engagement, advocacy and academic research.
The lecture will frame design and architecture as vehicles for or expressions of cultural values, and the role of identity in design and fabrication processes. Queerness and “queering” will be introduced as catalysts of disruption and incitement to “play”. Tensions of identity pertaining to client and professional relationships will be presented as impetus for “code switching”, which in turn may show up in design work as disciplinary slippage, multivalency, or genre-bending.
Michael Chen will present work by MKCA studio, community-engaged projects with Design Advocates, and academic research. Topics of identity, equity and representation will be discussed as relating to the work and the creative processes behind the work. Images will be analyzed as expressions of the studio’s values (and those of its clients), as well as expressions of identity and personal experience. Queerness as a disruptive device may be posited as a creative stimulus.
The lecture will be especially useful to the City Tech student body, who seek to find success in the field of architecture, and many of whom come from communities not well-represented in the field. Michael Chen represents an excellent example of successfully navigating disparate professional spheres while working in a manner that authentically reflects one’s values. Queerness in architecture is an important topic, and this lecture constitutes meaningful representation which will especially benefit queer-identifying students.
Speaker: Michael K Chen (MKCA)
Moderator: Will Fryer (Parsons School of Design, Will Fryer Interior Design)

Location: Voorhees Hall 2nd Floor Lounge

1.5 AIA Learning Units

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May 6, 2026 • AIA Brooklyn

POSTPONED: Human Connection Workshop: Bring Your Presentations to Life!

6:00 pm–8:30 pm

FXCollaborative Architects
235 Duffield Street, Brooklyn

A rare opportunity to learn from a premier communications coaching team.

Want to feel more confident when you speak in public?
Want to nail your next interview?
Want to command the room as you share your design vision?
During this fun and highly interactive 2.5-hour workshop, the legendary Graceworks offers us a strong foundation for presenting and communicating in large and small spaces.

In this workshop, you will:
• Discover how to gain self-confidence as a presenter.
• Learn to connect with audiences of any size.
• Experience a warm-up technique that whacks your jitters.
• Get the 7 practical Human Connection Must-Do’s.
• See demos of super-smart ways to use your slides.
• Experience how powerful your body language is – game changer!
• Walk away with A Preparation Process that WORKS!

After laying this foundation, you’ll get to see the principles in action! Two or three volunteers will get a chance to be coached through a short, on-the-fly presentation (no need to prepare anything!).

To wrap things up, Graceworks will want to know your biggest takeaways, and as time allows, open up to any unanswered questions. Come ready to have fun and walk away with valuable tools to make The Human Connection!

Sign up early – registration closes at noon on April 17
2.0 AIA Learning Units

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