Miami Center for Architecture and Design announces Urban Warrior Award finalists

The Miami Center for Architecture and Design announced six finalists for its third annual Urban Warrior Awards. This year’s nominees in three categories include architects, a developer and a lawyer.

The center also named Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava as Chief Urban Warrior, a new award and a designation that will remain in perpetuity.

“We wanted to highlight people in the community who are urbanists or people in design who are doing things to make the community better, especially in the urban core,” said Cheryl Jacobs, executive vice president of the Miami Center for Architecture and Design.

Winners will be announced at a ceremony May 20 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. General admission for the online event is $25. An in-person event will be held for 20 VIP ticket holders at $50 each.

The awards ceremony is a signature event for the organization and its only fundraiser, Jacobs said. Around 20 nominations came in this year for the 2021 winners.

This year’s event includes a new category: the Young Urbanist award, a membership category for people under 35.

To purchase tickets and for event information, visit aia-mcad-events.org/

The finalists are:

Lifetime Achievement Award:

▪ Architect and historian Jorge L. Hernandez, a professor at the University of Miami School of Architecture and an avid preservationist.

▪ Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, former dean of the UM School of Architecture as well as an architect and urban planner who helped create New Urbanism and is co-founder and principal of DPZ CoDesign.

Visionary Award:

▪ Developer Avra Jain, who has worked to transform Miami’s urban core, especially with historic mid-century projects such as The Vagabond, South Pacific, and Gold Dust motels along the historic Biscayne Corridor.

▪ Urban Planner Tony Garcia, principal of Street Plans Collaborative and a nationally recognized architect, writer, speaker and advocate in the field of transit, pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure.

Young Urbanist Award:

▪ Daniel Balmori, senior associate at Hogan Lovells and an advocate for The Underline as pro bono counsel who has dedicated more than 200 hours of legal advice to lead the legal efforts of the group’s transformational public-private partnership with Miami-Dade County.

▪ Tom Pupo, co-founder and executive director of Moonlighter FabLab, a S.T.E.A.M. Learning Center and Fabrication Lab dedicated to empowering makers.

This story was originally published April 22, 2021 at 7:00 AM.