2022 Career Achievement Award Honoree

Willy Zambrano, FAIA, is the Founder and Design Principal in Charge at Zambrano Architectural Design, an award-winning multidisciplinary design studio in Freeport, LI. Willy’s studio focuses on designing for diverse clientele and building typologies for the past 23 years. 

A graduate from City College of the City of New York and a first-generation immigrant, Willy began practicing in 1999 as partner at AHF Architects LLC, his former employer. In 2005, he established his own studio, Zambrano Architectural Design LLC, where he began focusing on health care facilities, multi-family, institutional and commercial design. His award-winning studio enabled him to pursue international projects such as the Lima 2019 Pan American Games (COPAL), to visualize the “look of the games” and envisioning a venue cluster for an Olympic events plaza. 

Willy has been a long-standing, active AIA member, participating and leading at the local, state and national levels to improve the quality for his fellow architects, elevate the role of the AIA at the grassroots levels and helping change the face of the next generation of professionals. He is the 2015-2016 AIA Queens Chapter President, 2017-2018 AIA NYS Chapter Vice President Knowledge and the 2019-2021 AIA Strategic Council NY Region Representative. He is the current President of the Queens Foundation for Architecture, the scholarship arm of the AIA Queens Chapter he helped stablished, to assist undergraduates and postgraduates’ financial restitution as well as creating K-12 programs.

Beyond the AIA, Willy is also committed to helping his own community. As a resident of Baldwin, Long Island, he knows first-hand the lasting impact of responsible, resilient architecture on a community—the type of grassroots design that lifts a neighborhood and improves peoples’ lives. He chairs the Baldwin Civic Association’s Economic Development Committee to help envision and create opportunities for the community’s vital economic growth and businesses’ prosperities. He also oversees and advice on the economic and vital impact of new developments within the community’s newly established mix-use zoning overlay by the Town of Hempstead. He is working on Baldwin’s own community bike route to connect all areas of the community. This last initiative is poised to be the first ever in Nassau County and a model for other communities to follow.

Each of Willy’s design embody resiliency, sustainability and enhance its community’s fabric while providing comfort and wellness to its occupants it serves. Aside from leading an award-winning practice, willy indefatigable devotes his time, through his advocacy and mentoring activities, to engage, drive and inspire the next generation of architects.