Architect LoriAnne Jones Shares Her Journey from NJIT to DIGroup Architecture

LoriAnne Jones ’06 developed her architecture interest very early on, as she accompanied her father to work sites. Later, she would find out that her grandmother practiced architecture back in her parents’ home country, Guyana. She was happy to realize that her grandmother was an architect, and was equally proud that she developed interest in architecture without knowing that part of the family story. 

Jones is currently a senior project manager at DIGroup Architecture and recently has been named among the 40-Under-40 Class of 2023 “rockstars” in the architecture, engineering, construction and real estate development fields by Building Design + Construction magazine.

She holds an MBA from Rutgers University, and in addition to AIA certification, her credentials include NOMA and LEED AP BD+C. Her advice to students is to get themselves out there and be noticed: “Find a mentor, find someone who is able to talk to you, even if it's for a brief time, get an experience, get out there, put yourself out there is really the best thing.”

Can you tell me about your journey in the field of architecture? What ignited your curiosity to become an architect.

Growing up in general, I was always interested in a lot of hands-on things. We played with LEGO bricks growing up, did a lot of building projects and erector sets. In middle school and high school, I was part of a program called Odyssey of the Mind, which does a lot of engineering type projects. But then when I got into high school, I was also just interested in floor plans and homes. And I thought, “Okay, I want to do residential architecture.” I ended up taking an architectural drafting class in high school, and it kind of just went from there. My father develops a number of projects as an owner's rep, so we got to go to construction sites as kids with him and see that, and in high school, in addition to doing the architecture elective, I got to work in an architecture office that kind of cemented the whole thing. 

At that point in time, I decided to go to school for architecture and was told that my grandmother had been an architect back in the day, so I didn't know that growing up. But when my interest peaked in architecture, they told me “Oh, your grandmother worked in an architecture firm.” She started as a draft woman, and then ended up running the office in Guyana, my parents are from the West Indies. It just came together from there. 

Tell me about your time at NJIT, what do you take from your time here?

It was really great, having NJIT as an option to go to school for architecture within the state. I remember when I was first on campus for an open house, and we were at the School of Architecture, the dean at the time, Urs Gauchat, said: “Architecture is the beginning of studying everything.” I thought that was a really great way of putting it because as design professionals, we really have to get into the mindset of whoever we're designing for. It's a great way to start thinking about how space influences behavior, how space responds to people's mission, how space reflects people's professional workflows and things like that. It can be very personal if it's a residential space, it could be just a business mission forward type thing if it's an organization that you're designing for, so I thought that was a really great sentiment and really enjoyed my time at NJIT. 

Being part of the 40-Under-40 Class of 2023 for Building Design + Construction magazine is a huge achievement. What accomplishments or projects do you feel have been instrumental in earning this recognition?

I connect it back to my start in architecture, and how it was related to my father's work developing community health centers and being out and about with him. As a professional coming out through NJIT and getting my license, I was fortunate to be able to work on a construction site where I attended grade school. So that was a great kind of full circle moment.

I've had like a ten-plus year history working with them just doing community health centers, and I really appreciate that type of work because you can directly see the mission, it's not necessarily a for-profit kind of thing. You're seeing real people, having their communities benefited, having this place that they can go to, seeing this organization grow over time, meeting the needs of their community, and us just being able to have a part in it by providing the spaces that they can do their delivery of services in. 

The DIGroup is a place where they're very focused on architecture for change, doing projects that are really impactful. So that was one piece of it, being able to continue doing health centers, but also expanding to other community facilities like libraries and schools and things like that. And then also the support to do other types of work, like being part of ACE Mentor Program, mentoring, doing internships, really just supporting our profession in that way to make sure that we have the next generation of people.

Representation and diversity are important topics in architecture. How do you see the industry evolving in terms of promoting diversity and inclusion, and what initiatives or changes would you like to see in the future?

So when I came out of school, there was an article published about how African-American women in architecture are less than one percent, they're less than half a percent. And unfortunately, that statistic isn't much different, it’s not quite 20 years but coming up on the time since I've been in NJIT, it hasn't changed. It really is a challenge. I think the profession is changing in terms of its ability to offer a different path to licensure because if you look at it, the numbers in architecture school are much more diverse than in the profession.

So the problem is we're not even keeping the people who initially decided to go into architecture, and we have interns in our office from NJIT. I understand the culture at NJIT is changing, trying to move away from this live-in studio, around the clock kind of thing, try to have a more balanced work and life arrangement, relationship with architecture. I think some of the cultural things that are happening with architecture and how the work takes place will help with that. Also just how the profession is responding to different paths to licensure will help. 

What advice do you have for young professionals aspiring to make a difference in the architecture field? Being a mentor for high school students and what you take from that experience?

I think it's really important to have experience with it, whatever it is that you're interested in. One of the things I found with the ACE program is that some students come in saying, “Oh, I don't want to be an architect because it's too hard. And there's too much math, I'm just going to be an engineer.” And so in my head, I'm like, wait a minute, hold on. I think I'm doing less math than the engineers are, we kind of like broad brush, big picture, design concepts and things like that. 

Make sure that you understand what it is that you're interested in, so if you're coming to the ACE profession, let's say as a whole, and you want to be somewhere in there, just really getting in and figuring out what those careers actually are. It's hard for a young person to get experience in an office, but you might get the ability to visit an office, you might get a day to shadow, or an hour to shadow, whatever it is, try to connect to actual professionals that have that potential experience that you're looking for and reach out to them. I always tell my ACE students, we want to help you, there are professionals out there who are willing to help people and teach them about what we do. Students should really capitalize on that. Find a mentor, find someone who is able to talk to you, even if it's for a brief time, get an experience, get out there, put yourself out there is really the best thing.

Questions and answers have been edited for clarity.