Nicole Hollant-Denis is an American architect, founder and principal of Aaris Design Studios. She is best known for her work on the African Burial Ground National Monument in New York City,[1] for which she won the NOMA (National Organization of Minority Architects) Design Excellence Honor Award.[1] Hollant-Denis's other projects include the redesign of La Marqueta Plaza in Harlem, New York.
Nicole Hollant-Denis | |
|---|---|
| Born | Brooklyn |
| Education | B'Arch, Masters in Design |
| Alma mater | Cornell University, Harvard University |
Early life and education
editHollant-Denis grew up in Brooklyn as a first generation American. Her parents immigrated from Haiti and Martinique.[2][3] Her mother worked as a teacher at the Lyceum Kennedy, and her father was a TV repairman and the father of Haitian Americans United Progress (HAUP).[2] She earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Cornell University and a Masters in Design from Harvard University.[2][3]
Career
edit
After graduating from Cornell University in 1989, Hollant-Denis worked at the Port Authority of NY & NJ and then later went on to establish Aarris Architects in 2001.[4][5]
In 2004, Hollant-Denis and Rodney Leon, her partner at Aarris Architects, won a competition to design the African Burial Ground National Monument in downtown Manhattan.[6][7][8] The monument serves as a memorial to the estimated 20,000 enslaved and free Africans buried on the site between the 1690s and 1794.[7] The monument was opened in February 2006 by then president George W. Bush.[9][10]
In 2019 she was the lead architect for the redesign of La Marqueta Plaza in Harlem, an open-air marketplace that re-imagines the urban public space.[11][12][13]
Her Haiti House for Life, a prototype house done in collaboration with Taller Larjas, is a 2011 design for sustainable residential housing in Haiti.[14]
Awards and honors
editReferences
edit- ^ a b Boyd, Herb (7 February 2019). "BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2019: Ancestors at rest in Manhattan's historic African Burial Ground". nydailynews.com. Retrieved 2021-04-25.
- ^ a b c "Bringing Back Beauty: Aaris Design's Nicole Hollant-Denis on Cultural Identity, Her Circle of Sisters, and Healing". Madame Architect. 29 April 2021. Retrieved 2021-04-30.
- ^ a b McCallister, Jared (13 September 2020). "CARIBBEAT: 'Phenomenal Black Boy' children's book encourages, educates and combats harmful stereotypes". nydailynews.com.
- ^ Staff, T. N. J. (2020-09-04). "Nicole Hollant-Denis, AARIS Design Studios PLLC". The Network Journal.
- ^ "20 Inspiring Minority Architects, Designers and Advocates for a More Diverse Profession - Architizer Journal". architizer.com. 2019-01-18.
- ^ Araujo, Ana Lucia (2020-10-15). Slavery in the Age of Memory: Engaging the Past. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-350-04847-8.
- ^ a b "African Burial Ground National Monument | The Cultural Landscape Foundation". tclf.org.
- ^ Godfrey, Brian J. (2021-04-28). Preserving Whose City?: Memory, Place, and Identity in Rio de Janeiro. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-5381-3663-8.
- ^ Araujo, Ana Lucia (2014-08-07). Shadows of the Slave Past: Memory, Heritage, and Slavery. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-01197-0.
- ^ "Establishment of the African Burial Ground National Monument". georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov.
- ^ McCallister, Jared (17 November 2019). "CARIBBEAT: Public Advocate Jumaane Williams' high profile gives hope to others with Tourette syndrome". nydailynews.com.
- ^ "Architect Nicole Hollant-Denis Renovates East Harlem's LaPlacita Site Of Harlem Night Market". Harlem World Magazine. 2019-12-13. Retrieved 2021-04-25.
- ^ "NYCEDC Reopens Renovated La Placita at East Harlem's La Marqueta". edc.nyc. Retrieved 2021-04-25.
- ^ "Haiti: House for Life by TALLER LARJAS, LLC architecture & design". Architizer. 2012-01-27.
- ^ "100 Women to Watch in Architecture | Baubible" (in Swiss High German). Archived from the original on 2021-04-24. Retrieved 2021-04-25.
- ^ "WBC 2018 Outstanding and Next Generation of Women Builders". wbcnyc.org. Retrieved 2021-04-25.
- ^ "The Haitian Roundtable » 2015 Inductees". Retrieved 2021-04-25.
- ^ "Minority Architects Mobilize to Help Haiti". www.architecturalrecord.com. Retrieved 2021-04-25.
- ^ "Building of the Day: African Burial Ground National Monument - Calendar - AIA New York / Center for Architecture". Calendar - AIA New York | Center for Architecture. 2018-08-23. Retrieved 2021-04-25.