Principal Bio
Laura Heim FAIA, LEED AP, has over 35 years of experience in architecture and historic preservation as both practitioner and teacher. After years of working in other architectural firms, she opened her own office in historic Sunnyside Gardens in 2006. Since then, she has completed projects that are sensitive to the specific circumstance of site while skillfully and imaginatively resolving complex program issues.
Before establishing her own firm, Laura Heim Architect PLLC, Ms. Heim worked for various firms in Manhattan. In that capacity, she was the Project Manager / Architect for the LIRR Atlantic Terminal Pavilion in Brooklyn, NY, and Lead Designer and Project Architect for the new Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project in Northern Virginia. – Link
In the area of historic preservation and adaptive reuse, she was the Project Manager / Architect for the renovation and restoration of the New York State Capitol Assembly Spaces, including the extensively stenciled Gothic Revival Assembly Parlor, which received an AIA NY State Award of Merit in Design in 2003. – See Article
Ms. Heim’s experience in educational and institutional design includes the renovation and addition to the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in Manhattan to provide new classrooms and meeting spaces. She was the Lead Designer and Project Architect for the renovation and expansion of the Ruth Schilling Hennessy Alumnae Cottage at Rutgers University, adding a new wing of offices and meeting rooms around an existing exterior terrace. Other educational work includes Stafford Hall at the University of Vermont and the library at the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue.
A native of Northern Virginia, Ms. Heim received her Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Virginia where she received the Alpha Rho Chi Medal for Leadership and the Shannon Prize for highest academic standing. She received her Master of Architecture from Columbia University in 1984, where she was awarded the American Institute of Architects Medal for Design/Academic Excellence and a William Kinne Traveling Fellowship for postgraduate studies in Scandinavia. Her research topic was “The Transformation of the Nordic House at the Turn of the Century: A Study of Artists Studios.”
Ms. Heim has taught architectural design and history at the University of Virginia, University of Florida, Catholic University, SUNY Stony Brook, Pratt Institute and NYIT. She is a member of the American Institute of Architects and the Historic Districts Council. She served as the Chair of Architecture on the Steering Committee of the Sunnyside Gardens Preservation Alliance.
She served as president of the Queens chapter of the American Institute of Architects (2009-10) and was on the Board of Directors of AIA New York State (2010). Laura Heim was elevated to the College of Fellows in 2018. Architects who have made significant contributions to the profession and society and who exemplify architectural excellence are members of the AIA College of Fellows. She recently was honored to be the Co-Chair of the AIANY Fellows Committee. She now serves on the Historic Districts Council’s Board of Advisors.
She lives in Sunnyside Gardens, and enjoys painting landscape watercolors.