Daria Pizzetta, FAIA
Daria Pizzetta, FAIA, was born and raised in Biloxi, Mississippi and holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Mississippi State University. In 1992, Ms. Pizzetta joined Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates to direct the interior design of Scholastic, Inc.’s New York City Headquarters and in 1994 was named director of HHPA's Interiors Department. When HHPA dissolved in August of 2004, Hugh Hardy asked Ms. Pizzetta to join a select group of staff to form H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture. She is now a principal at H3 where her projects have included the Botanical Research Institute of Texas’ facility in Fort Worth and the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Fisher Building. Her project for the Maritime and Seafood Industry Museum in Biloxi, MS received an MS/AIA Honor Award in 2015.
Daria has chaired the American Institute of Architects/New York Chapter Interiors Committee and was on the Board of Directors for the AIA/NYC. She has been a featured speaker at both the AIA and American Library Associations national conferences and chaired the joint AIA/ALA Library Design Awards in 2018. Daria particularly enjoys her yearly trips to Mississippi State for the College of Architecture AdvisoryBoard meetings. She has twice chaired the AIA/Mississippi Design Awards jury and was elevated to the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows in 2017.
Daria, her husband Charlie and two daughters reside on Manhattan’s Upper West Side where they enjoy living in a vibrant urban neighborhood.
Planning for a Lasting Career
May 6, 2021
Planning for a long lasting career requires you to continually refine and adapt your skill set. What is relevant and necessary as a junior designer may not be relevant as a firm principal. When are those junctures where you need to stop and assess the next phase of your career? What are the decision and influences that guide your path? And, what how do you acquire skills that keep your ideas and abilities relevant as you progress up the ladder? While Daria frequently tells her colleagues she is retiring in five years, she can't image not working and not developing projects. The investment of time, the confidence gained from years of practice and the desire to see each new project through to the end supersedes her desire to stay home and "organize the Tupperware". Daria will share personal experiences that shaped her 28 years at her firm, insight into how she guides her junior staff to develop their full potential and her thoughts on ways to combat burn out along the way.