Virginia Associates Award: Akhila Arakkal, Associate AIA
Virginia Associates Award: Akhila Arakkal, Associate AIA, for Mentorship, Inclusion, and Public-Impact Practice
AIA Virginia’s Virginia Associates Award recognizes outstanding Associate AIA leaders and creative thinkers whose contributions have significantly benefited their communities and the architecture profession. Akhila Arakkal, Associate AIA, has distinguished herself remarkably early in her career by bringing together professional practice, research, education, mentorship, and service. She is an emerging professional whose global perspective has become a platform for helping others find their own place in architecture.
As a project coordinator in Gresham Smith’s Aviation Studio, Arakkal contributes to major public infrastructure at Richmond International Airport and Norfolk International Airport. Her academic path is similarly wide-ranging: after earning a Bachelor of Architecture in India on a full academic scholarship, she completed a Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design at Cornell University, where she received a Mellon Urbanism Fellowship. Her work and research have crossed international contexts and explored urbanism, social justice, cultural identity, sustainability, and community-centered design.
What most clearly distinguishes Arakkal, however, is how consistently she turns her own experience into support for others. She mentors emerging and internationally trained architects through the AIA International Associate Committee and the Immigrant Architects Coalition, helping them navigate licensure, professional networks, cultural transitions, and career development. Her educational service has included teaching at Cornell, mentoring through a Virginia Tech partnership, and participating in AIA Project Pipeline programs introducing high school students to architecture. She also volunteers with Habitat for Humanity in Richmond.
Nominator David King, AIA, says Arakkal distinguished herself in a remarkably short time through “leadership, intellectual curiosity, and professional service,” adding that her global perspective and commitment to inclusion have already made a meaningful impact. She embodies “a new generation of architectural leadership” defined by curiosity, inclusion, service, and innovation. Those qualities—paired with a growing body of professional accomplishment—make Arakkal precisely the kind of outstanding leader and creative thinker the Virginia Associates Award was established to celebrate.
We will celebrate Akhila Arakkal and the other AIA Virginia 2026 Honorees at Visions for Architecture, November 5, 2026. Buy your ticket when you register for ArchEx at www.aiava.org