-- Lance Hosey, FAIA, LEED Fellow, is the 2018 recipient of the Sarah Booth Conroy Prize for Journalism and Architectural Criticism, from the Washington Chapter of the AIA. He is an architect in HED's San Diego office, as well as a prolific author, speaker, and widely published critic. The prize rewards critical or reportorial excellence in fostering a better public understanding of architecture and urbanism in Washington, DC, where Hosey was based before joining HED last year.

Hosey oversees design for HED's San Diego office and chairs the firm's Design Excellence effort nationally. Hosey's speaking and writing (The Washington Post, Architect, Architectural Record, The San Diego Union-Tribune, Huffington Post, and The New York Times) has focused, broadly, on how design impacts society. Specifically, he has looked carefully at the importance of merging design excellence with sustainability—or how form and performance are intimately connected. His 2012 book, The Shape of Green: Aesthetics, Ecology, and Design, studies how to bridge the gap between standards of good design and green design. Almost all of Hosey's writing and speaking has been about the relationships between image and impact, which correlates directly to HED's mission to have a positive impact.

"At HED, we are continually looking at how to integrate the idea that image can—and does—have an impact," Hosey said. "The purpose of design excellence is to advance the world of the clients and communities we serve."

Hosey's public voice about design's impact is one example of how HED is seeking to elevate dialogue in the industry and how the broader understanding of the possibilities of design impact can be brought to bear on clients and communities.