Virginia Emerging Architect Award: Michael Spory, AIA

Virginia Emerging Architect Award: Michael Spory, AIA, for Design Excellence, Consensus-Building, and Service

AIA Virginia’s Virginia Emerging Architect Award honors individuals who have demonstrated exceptional leadership and made significant contributions to the architecture profession early in their careers. Michael Spory, AIA, embodies that charge through a combination of design leadership, sustainability, professional service, and a commitment to engaging architecture for the benefit of others.

Michael is an architect who has built an unusually broad record of influence—on significant civic and institutional projects, within AIA Virginia, and among emerging professionals following behind him.

As a senior associate in VMDO Architects’ Washington, D.C., office, Spory has led or contributed to more than 350 million dollars in public and private work. His portfolio includes Stead Park Recreation Center, Washington’s first net-zero energy community center; Marlow Heights Community Center; and Johns Hopkins University’s first new residence hall and dining project in more than forty years. Across these projects, his work is distinguished by the ability to reconcile ambitious sustainability goals, difficult budgets, community engagement, institutional priorities, and design integrity. A Johns Hopkins representative praised Spory for navigating complicated processes while “bridging overlapping voices to drive better design.”

His influence extends well beyond his project work. As Associate Director on the AIA Virginia Board, Spory represented more than 500 Associate members, championed licensure, mentored emerging professionals, and launched the “Associated Thoughts” newsletter feature. As chair of the AIA Virginia Design Committee, he led the 2024 Design Forum; an event with record sponsorship and remarkedly increased engagement by students and emerging professionals. He also brought design education into Charlottesville schools, connecting students with architects and hands-on design thinking.

Those who have worked with Spory repeatedly return to the qualities behind the accomplishments. Michael is known as “cerebral, kind, and curious” and “a powerful champion of design excellence, an inclusive consensus-builder, and an inspiring communicator.” Together, those observations capture why Spory is receiving the Virginia Emerging Architect Award: he is advancing excellent architecture while creating the relationships, opportunities, and shared purpose that allow others to advance with him.

We will celebrate Michael Spory 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