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Headshot photo of Nea Maloo FAIA,NOMA, NCARB, LEED AP, ICC
Faculty
Faculty

Nea Maloo, FAIA, NOMA, LEED AP, ICC

Assistant Professor

  • Department of Architecture, CEA
  • College of Engineering and Architecture (CEA)

Biography

Nea Maloo primes HBCU students for leadership, creating an essential pipeline for diversity and environmental justice. Her inclusive teaching integrates global equity with climate action and transforms architectural education to advance the profession worldwide.

She is an assistant professor at Howard University and teaches environmental systems, decarbonization, and professional practice classes at Howard University. Her research includes the intersection of reducing carbon footprint and environmental justice. Nea is an educator currently teaching Design Studio, Structures, Environmental Systems and Professional Practice classes at Howard University. She also believes that architecture is contextual and encourages her students to travel to gain experience, initiating a travel led education to South Asia. Her research is Architectural resilience, Biomimicry, structures, building science, climate, sustainability for all, equity in health and biophilia in Architecture. She is published several papers and spoken in both local and national seminars. She is a robust role model and has presented at several local and national conventions on architecture, women, equity, decarbonization, and sustainability and was recently elevated to the Fellow is AIA.

Nea Maloo is the founder and principal architect of Showcase Architects, an award-winning practice focused on environmental architecture, carbon planning, and biophilic design. The firm's design philosophy explores modern architecture through a spatial, material, and. Her expertise is in providing innovative design solutions to complex technical projects. Her practice focusses on decarbonization of buildings and material equity. She is an active member of the AIA, NCARB, and NOMA and serves as a president of the Building Technology Educators' Society (BTES).

 

PAVE Educator Award 2022

Students imagine new life for New Bedford firehouse – with affordable housing and minimal carbon footprint | New Hampshire Public Radio (nhpr.org)

​CBS Interview: https://youtu.be/UDvjDlT6QF4

ACSA + Columbia Buell Center | Course Development Prize Winner 2022 |Architecture, Climate, and Society

Education & Expertise

Education

Architecture and Environmental urban planning

M.arch
Anna Univeristy, India

Expertise

Building Decarbonisation

Buildings emit to almost 40 % of emissions. Maloo teaches course and practices how to decarbonization of buildings and serve the community.

Practicing Licensed Architect, Inspector , Educator and Reseracher

Building Science and Technology, Biophillia, Ecology and Architecuture, Sustainability and design, Equity, Environment and Design , Women in Arhcitecture and Professional Practice

Academics

Academics

Building Science core courses - Structures, Environmnetal systems .

The core strength of Building is the structure and its systems. All the courses I teach arweaved with sustainbilty and applications in design .

Ecology and Architecture - Research and Lecturer course

It is the intersection of Ecology with buildings. We explore Biophillia, Urban ecology and Biomimcry.The class is reserch led to see how nature can inform to design healthy buildings and how buildings can be in harmony with nature.

Professional Practice

The core course, which molds the student to the real professional world. The course objective to give the student to be enterprenure and explore ethics . The course also explores the business of Architecuture along with the the law of copywright and professionalism with licensure.

Environmental Justice + decarbonisation

The course will be a new inter-disciplinary course in the College of Engineering and Architecture for architects, engineers, and environmental studies major students. This course is intended to bring principles of environmental justice to empower students with the knowledge, and expertise to be leaders in sustainability. The course aims to put sustainable building practice at the center of environmental health, justice, and social equity. The great Nelson Mandela said” Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” This course will create the Environmental justice by having students of color be leaders in the field of sustainability. There is a vital need for such a course at Howard University, to shape their careers in community as leaders of sustainability. The multi-disciplinary students will address social, economic, and practical methods for building and community design specifically for people of color

Research

Research

Specialty

Building Decarbonizations, material, Structures, healthy buildings, carbon neutral, energy and resilience, Biophillia, biomimicry , Women in Architecure, building skin, equity in design

Funding

PI ,“Howard University: Student Training in Applied Research (STAR) Program.”

Group Information

Clean Energy Community

High Performance buildings and Equity

Decarbonization

Ecology and Architecture

Accomplishments

Accomplishments

Fellow of American Institute of Architects

https://thedig.howard.edu/all-stories/howard-university-architecture-le…
Howard University architecture lecturer Nea Maloo was recently elevated to the 2023 College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects, a distinction only earned by 3% of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) members. There are currently over 95,000 AIA members nationwide.

“I am honored to be part of the college of the Fellows of American Institute of Architects. I am grateful to my wonderful students, administration, collaborators and peers who have always had trust in my work,” said Maloo.

The AIA fellowship program was developed to elevate architects who have achieved a standard of excellence in their profession and made a significant contribution to architecture and society on a national level.

In addition to a minimum of holding AIA membership for a decade, fellowship candidates demonstrate influence in promoting efficiency, advancing planning, building and living standards, architectural education and training standards, and/or increasing services to society.

Maloo primes HBCU students for leadership, creating an essential pipeline for diversity and environmental justice. Her inclusive teaching integrates global equity with climate action and transforms architectural education to advance the profession worldwide.

“Professor Maloo’s elevation to FAIA is a wonderful acknowledgement of her dedicated work to advance Howard University students in the field of Architecture,” said Bradford Grant, interim chair of the Howard University Department of Architecture.

With a strong focus on environmental justice and sustainable architecture, Maloo is also recipient of the 2022 Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture Course Development Prize issued in collaboration with the Columbia University’s Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture.

Her winning course proposal, Environmental Justice (EJ) + Health + Decarbonization, was offered for the first time this semester, along with her newly developed Equitable High-Performance Buildings course.

Through the development of Equitable High-Performance Buildings, a new, interdisciplinary course to teach the critical skills needed for sustainable design, climate change mitigation and equitable development, Maloo initiated the designation of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Zero Energy Design Designation for the Howard University Master of Architecture program.

Most recently, Maloo received the inaugural Planning and Visual Education Partnership (PAVE) Educator of the Year Award for her outstanding accomplishments and dedication to design education.

Watch the CBS special on how the Howard University architecture program is helping to reduce buildings’ carbon footprint.

Elevated to the Fellows Institute of Architects for the global notable contributions to the architecture profession.
https://www.aia.org/college-of-fellows

ACSA + Columbia Buell Center | Course Development Prize Winner 2022 |Architecture, Climate, and Society

2022 Course Development Prize in Architecture, Climate Change, and Society | Buell Center (columbia.edu)

 

The Environmental Justice (EJ) + Health + Decarbonization will be a new inter-disciplinary course in the College of Engineering and Architecture, Howard University, for architects, engineers, and environmental studies major students. The course aims to put sustainable building practice at the center of environmental health, justice, and social equity. This course is intended to equip the students with the knowledge of building decarbonization and environmental justice, to be the future leaders in sustainability.

Globally, the embodied carbon emissions from the building sector alone produce 11% of global emissions and has huge impact on the environment. It is also evident that climate change has differing social, economic, health, and other adverse impacts on underprivileged populations. Under the broad umbrella of climate justice, the inter-disciplinary education will offer an overview of the use of technology tools, including the energy simulation modeling, collected data, healthy building material and design approaches in architectural design. Additionally, the students will learn theory and practice of building decarbonization as foundational approach to environmental justice. The goal is to design buildings with holistic strategies with Decarbonization and healthy building material which promotes the climate justice within the architecture profession to the broader local and global community.

 

PAVE Educator Award 2022

Pioneer educator award from Planning and visual education for contribution to the society and design

Faculty Mentor -Solar decathlon winner 2023

The Howard University interdisciplinary teams Retro Booming and Team Revive successfully participated in the US Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon 2023 Design Challenge. The teams are comprised of 21 students from the architecture, clinical laboratory, engineering, environmental science, environmental studies, and sociology disciplines.

Nea Maloo, FAIA, Howard University architecture lecturer, served as faculty advisor for the teams. 

Retro Booming won third place in the retrofit housing division and Team Revive completed the finals. The Retro Booming team was selected as one of 57 finalist teams representing 44 global collegiate institutions.  Team members included architecture students El Adon Bey, Bianca Rochelle Briscoe, Darian Jacobs, Malik Johnson, Elijah McKinnie, and Ejovwokoghen Mushale, including clinical laboratory student Eman Munoz, and environmental studies students Sierra Gee, Beleil Lamb and Jayla Wade. Jacobs led the team to the win.  

The winning project focused on the revival of the Mary Church Terrell House with net zero strategies. Primarily centered around renovating the historic District of Columbia property purchased by Howard University in 2018, the team found this retrofit to be a perfect opportunity to open the property to the community for public use.  

With the intention of dedicating the space to ongoing social justice initiatives, exhibition areas will be created to display the remarkable historical accomplishments of Mary Church Terrell and other noted African American pioneers who resided in Le Droit Park Historic District where the property is located.  

“The teams addressed the importance of retrofitting historic buildings in both residential and commercial divisions. They worked in collaboration with other disciplines and produced a winning submission. They addressed climate change and embodied carbon and social justice in their design. I am very proud of the effort, perseverance, and team spirit they put into this competition,” said Maloo.   

Recognized as one of 57 finalist teams, Howard’s Team Revive included architecture students Nia Baptiste, Kai Dixon, Crystien Esters, Roshell Grant Wesley, Cameron Mack, Caden Norville, and Tynia Scott, civil engineering student Moriah Hamilton, environmental science student Davonte Douglas, environmental studies student Kennedy Wiliams, and sociology student Julius Dodson. Team Revive participated in the education division to retrofit the Myrtilla Miner Building.  

 

Howard University Teams Win at the DOE Solar Decathlon 2023 Design Challenge | College of Engineering and Architecture

Zero Energy Design Designation (ZEDD)

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy awarded its first-ever Zero Energy Design Designation (ZEDD) seal of recognition to Howard University for its Master of Architecture program with an equitable high-performance energy design concentration.

Earned by only 12 collegiate institutions worldwide, this inaugural designation distinguishes post-secondary academic programs that impart the best practices of zero-energy design on students and require them to apply those building science concepts in actual projects. These leading educational programs are recognized by the DOE for preparing tomorrow’s architectural and engineering leaders to design and build the most sustainable buildings possible.

Howard University architecture lecturer Nea Maloo, AIA, initiated the designation through her development of a new interdisciplinary course to teach the critical skills needed for sustainable design, climate change mitigation and equitable development. The course, Equitable High-Performance Buildings, will be offered beginning in Spring 2023.

The ZEDD Program supports the Biden-Harris Administration’s goal of a net-zero emissions economy by 2050. With buildings being one of the main contributors to carbon emissions, building professionals must be trained to design and construct high-efficiency, low-carbon buildings powered by renewables to achieve this goal.

“Our fight against climate change runs straight through our nation’s buildings, and the forward-looking college and university programs we honored today are paving the way for students to lead our net-zero greenhouse gas emissions future,” said Carolyn Snyder, deputy assistant secretary for energy efficiency. “Graduates of these programs will join the front lines of our fight against the climate crisis by designing sustainable buildings that bring the benefits of our clean energy future to all.”

Offered to qualifying programs of study for 3 years, the DOE program requires graduating students to complete a building science education curriculum that uses DOE’s Solar Decathlon Building Science Education learning modules or otherwise meets ZEDD’s learning objectives. Students must also participate in a Zero Energy Design Practicum, either by completing the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon Design and/or Build Challenge or by engaging in a real-world zero-energy design project that would earn the DOE Zero Energy Ready Home certification or more stringent energy and environmental performance standard.

Related Articles

Speaker

Maloo, N. “Open and nature guided, healthy buildings”, ,Summer Academy Howard University (A’20),  Maloo, N. “Virtual Ethics”, NCARB pro-practice roundtable, Innovative Teaching (A’20), Maloo, N. & Dahlia (2019-20) “Strategic methods of Integrating Building science and Design ? ” , published at the 108-annual meeting ,ACSA Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (A’20), Maloo, N , Accepted and Presented “ Biophilic design for positive health outcomes “, NOMA national conference, 1.5 HSW, speaker, Brooklyn, New Yok Maloo, N.  & Onyango, J. , University of Notre Dame); “Analysis of impact of Window design detail on energy demand profile of typical hotel” presented at the 4th International Sustainable Buildings Symposium (ISBS2019) Dallas/ Texas July 18-20  Maloo, N , Accepted and Presented “ Biophilic Architecture- for better outcomes “, Howard Research week 2019, Education and Outreach Maloo, N & Alfonzye Chisholm ( Director, Office of Sustainability, Howard university)  “Sustainability from university to students”,  Architecture Exchange East taking place Nov. 7–9, 2018, at the Greater Richmond Convention Center in Richmond, Virginia. Maloo, N & Katherine Williams “Architects roadmap for being developer”,  Architecture Exchange East taking place Nov. 7–9, 2018, at the Greater Richmond Convention Center in Richmond, Virginia Maloo, N, " Healing of patients with Nature's positivity and Social distraction " has been accepted for 2018 HIBR Conference. - Health in Buildings for Today and Tomorrow, NIH(National Institute of Health) Making Connections July 17,2018

PUBLISHED ARTICLES

Maloo, N. & Dahlia (2019-20) “Strategic methods of Integrating Building science and Design ? ” , published at the 108-annual meeting ,ACSA Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (A’20), Maloo, N.  & Onyango, J. , University of Notre Dame); “Analysis of impact of Window design detail on energy demand profile of typical hotel” ,peer reviewed and published.2019http://mts.intechopen.com/articles/show/title/isbs-2019-4th-internation…, chapter 54 Maloo, N, " Healing of patients with Nature's positivity and Social distraction " Poster published at HIBR- NIH(National Institute of Health) 2018