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Perkins+Will's Jon Penndorf Named to Building Design + Construction Magazine's 40 Under 40 Class of 2014

Washington, D.C. (May 21, 2014) – The Washington, D.C. office of global architecture and design firm Perkins+Will announces today that Building Design + Construction has selected Jon Penndorf, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, for its 40 Under 40 Class of 2014.

For the ninth-annual honor, the magazine’s editors chose Penndorf and 39 others – ranging in age from 31 to 39 – based on their career achievements, service to their professions and their communities, as well as their participation in charitable work.

Penndorf, 36, joined Perkins+Will two-and-a-half years ago. He is a Senior Associate, Project Manager and Sustainability Leader in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office.

Penndorf spends much of his time involved in the design and management of academic, civic, commercial, corporate, government and mixed-use projects for a range of clients.

Currently, he is working on a number of commercial office building repositioning efforts, as well as corporate interiors and broader workplace assignments, for multiple projects throughout the Washington metropolitan area. Among these are: Vornado/Charles E. Smith’s Courthouse Plaza in Arlington and Fairfax Square in Vienna, as well as Brandywine Realty Trust’s 7101 Wisconsin Ave. in Bethesda.

He is also managing the LEED certification efforts on a variety of projects, including the John Edward Porter Neuroscience Research Center at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda and The George Washington University Law Learning Center. Penndorf co-chairs the Perkins+Will D.C. office’s Sustainable Design Initiative, working to bring high-performance design into the design vocabulary of the entire staff.

“Designers have an amazing responsibility, and opportunity, to create spaces that delight people and respect the natural environment,” he says. “I keep both goals in mind with every project that I work on.”

He is a member of the American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) Washington, D.C. chapter and served as its President in 2012, and on its board of directors from 2008 to 2013, while also participating in several other committees. Penndorf is also the 2014 Chair of the AIA’s Young Architects Forum, previously serving as the Regional Director for the mid-Atlantic (D.C., Maryland and Delaware).

Penndorf is also extremely active in other professional endeavors. He has served as a volunteer for the DesignDC Conference and Expo, including as planning committee chair in 2013 and 2014, and as a member of the planning committee from 2008 to 2011.



Penndorf, along with Steelcase Furniture, helped launch work+dc, a multi-workshop study dedicated to the future of workplace design. He will join colleagues from Perkins+Will and Steelcase in presenting their findings at NeoCon 2014 in Chicago this coming June, and at DesignDC in October.

A self-described foodie and travel aficionado, Penndorf earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in architecture from The Catholic University of America.

About Perkins+Will
Perkins+Will is an interdisciplinary, research-based architecture and design firm established in 1935 and founded on the belief that design has the power to transform lives and enhance communities. Each of the firm’s 24 offices focuses on local, regional and global work in a variety of practice areas. With hundreds of award-winning projects annually, Perkins+Will is ranked as one of the top global design firms. Perkins+Will is recognized as one of the industry’s preeminent sustainable design firms due to its innovative research, design tools, and expertise. The firm's 1,600 professionals are thought leaders developing 21st century solutions to inspire the creation of spaces in which clients and their communities work, heal, live and learn. Social responsibility is a fundamental aspect of Perkins+Will’s culture, and every year the company donates 1 percent of its design services to pro bono initiatives. For more information, visit www.perkinswill.com.

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