JoAnn Wilcox

Partner

AIA, NCARB, LEED AP

JoAnn combines sensitive listening and agile problem-solving skills to craft innovative and rigorous architectural solutions that influence national K-12 and higher education design. For more than 20 years she has focused her practice on design for life-long learning, collaborating closely with students and educators to co-create spaces that amplify curriculum, maximize resources, foster community belonging, strengthen student agency and uplift learning outcomes. Through robust community engagement, JoAnn’s design approach weaves empathy and advocacy, and works to bring each voice to the table—creating equitable, high-performance environments rooted in social justice and sustainable well-being.

JoAnn’s built work highlights a balance between persistent curiosity and a quiet sensitivity to culture, place and experience, and has been recognized with more than 60 awards for design excellence including a 2019 AIA Institute Award of Honor. For her design leadership and contributions to the profession, she was recognized with a national AIA Young Architect Award. She serves as Co-Chair of the AIA Committee on Architecture for Education K-12 Sub-Committee and recently contributed to the AIA pandemic-response guide, “Re-Opening America: Strategies for Safer Schools,” and the “National Summit on School Design Report: A Resource for Educators and Designers” by the American Architectural Foundation. JoAnn volunteers, juries, mentors, facilitates, publishes and lectures on regional and national levels—engaging civic issues that speak to the transformational power of design.

Education

  • Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute — Bachelor of Science in Building Science
  • Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute — Bachelor of Architecture

Memberships And Accreditations

  • American Institute of Architects
  • LEED Accredited Professional

Community

  • AIA Architecture Award and Twenty-five Year Award Juror, 2021
  • AIA Committee on Architecture for Education (CAE), K-12 Subcommittee Co-Chair
  • AIA Committee on Architecture for Education (CAE), Past Honor Awards Juror
  • AIA Minnesota Honor Awards Juror, 2023
  • AIA Seattle, Past Design for Learning Forum Co-Chair
  • AIA Seattle, Past Honor Awards Committee Co-Chair
  • Association for Learning Environments (A4LE), Member
  • Boston Society of Architects / AIA, Past Honor Awards Juror
  • The Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture (ANFA), Member
  • University of Washington College of Built Environments, Studio Critic and Thesis Juror