Our People

Venesa Alicea-Chuqui AIA, NOMA, LEED AP BD+C, WELL AP

Founding Principal

Venesa Alicea-Chuqui AIA, NOMA, LEED AP BD+C, WELL AP, a registered Architect in New York & New Jersey is wholly committed to civic architecture, and encouraging community engagement through design practices. Her interests converge in architecture, public policy and civic participation, where good design, both sustainable and socially conscious, can influence the development of buildings, communities, and neighborhoods. An alumna of the City College of New York, where she also teaches, she currently serves as president of the CCNY Architecture Alumni Group. She is founder and principal of NYVARCH Architecture, a NYC based collaborative Architectural Practice that blends her interest in Social Justice, Community Design with Sustainability and Resilience.

Formerly an Associate at Dattner Architects, where she worked for over 11 years on a diverse range of projects in New York City, she has over 15 years in the field and has worked on design and construction of numerous schools, community centers and sustainable affordable housing throughout the city. She is currently the Vice Chair for Outreach for the Small Firm Exchange of the American Institute of Architecture, an active member of the AIANY Planning & Urban Design, and Future of Practice committees of AIANY. A former co-chair of the AIANY Diversity & Inclusion committee, recently she has been an active contributor and core organizer with Design as Protest and Dark Matter University, two collectives focused on anti-racist design justice in the built environment.