About Us

Suman Sorg, FAIA, Founder

Suman Sorg is a leading voice for design excellence. Her body of work is diverse, including civic, mixed-use and multi-family developments, and education projects – both domestically and around the globe. Her work has been recognized with numerous honors, including multiple awards from the American Institute of Architects.

She has lectured extensively for the AIA, the National Building Museum, the Urban Land Institute, the Center for Architecture in New York, the US Department of State, several universities, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Suman is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, is a member emeritus of the Board of Trustees of the National Building Museum, and the Board of Directors of the DC Building Industry Association. She is a Peer Reviewer for the General Services Administration Design Excellence Program and is also a member of the Lambda Alpha International Honor Society.

Brandon S. Peters, Director

Brandon S. Peters is a Landscape Architect and business development leader whose career has included living and working in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America. His time in practice has included work on civic, mixed-use, multi-family, and single-family buildings. In each project, he seeks to maximize sustainability, accessibility, and the client’s program.

Founder’s Statement

Long before I became an architect my grandmother told me she thought I would become a doctor when I grew up. I was just eight years old at the time, yet the idea of helping people feel better, just as my own doctor did, held a special appeal for me.

Later my father met Louis Kahn in Ahmedabad, where they worked together on the Indian Institute of Management, and also met Le Corbusier in Chandigarh. At that time I was about to graduate from high school, so he suggested I consider architecture as a career. I did, and my artistic side fell in love. Ever since then I’ve known that I made the right choice.

Nonetheless, my grandmother’s prediction stuck with me. After graduating from architecture school, I joined the Peace Corps, because I wanted to use my skills as an architect to help people.

As my career progressed and I opened my own practice in Washington, D.C., I designed projects in underserved communities and for people in need. These were not the largest or most elaborate projects I was fortunate enough to design, but I have carried them in my heart because they made such a direct impact on people’s lives.

One example is the Anacostia High School renovation. A student had recently been murdered in the existing building, and many people in this African-American neighborhood wanted the building to be demolished. By contrast, in the city’s more affluent neighborhoods parents and residents vigorously supported the preservation of their historic school buildings. I convinced residents of the Anacostia community and school board members of the building’s merits and potential, and the structure was preserved and restored. The pride of the students and teachers alike when the renovated Anacostia High School reopened was gratifying for everyone involved in the project.

Another case in point is the Southern Regional Technology and Recreation Center in Fort Washington Maryland. This was a low-income African American community that had long been ignored and had been waiting for a new recreation center for 20 years. It had a high rate of truancy and drop-out among school aged kids and many of the residents were bordering on obesity. The older generation had no place to gather and meet with neighbors. If there ever was a place that needed a community center as a sort of watering hole, this was it.

Residents expected a traditional building with activity rooms separated by corridors, but we worked with the community to develop a more open plan that would string together various activity spaces along an arc to create a sense of togetherness. The building seems to embrace the neighborhood in its arms. I see people smile when they come in, surprised at entering a space that is so welcoming.

A recent project of which I am most proud is the John and Jill Ker Conway Building, a permanent supportive housing project designed especially for formerly homeless veterans. The first person to move into the completed building in 2017 had been a guitarist in Elvis Presley’s band. After Elvis died, he joined the Army and served in Vietnam. Hooked on heroin, and unable to locate his family, he landed in Washington, D.C., after the war, and was homeless until moving into the project.

A computer room at the project, funded in part by my own family foundation, helps residents acquire basic computer skills. It was here that staff helped him to reconnect with his family. The joy on his face, when he learned that his sister lived just a few blocks away, was a sight to behold.

I now devote myself to projects like these through A Complete Unknown – a nonprofit design firm that seeks to nurture communities, people, animals and the natural world.

Let’s work, explore and take a journey together.

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Selected Awards

AIA Northern Virginia, Merit Award, DOT Materials Testing Laboratory, 2023
Montgomery County Planning, Award of Merit for Architecture, Good Hope Neighborhood Recreation Center, 2023
AIA DC Design Award, The Triumph Short Term Family Housing, 2019
AIA Maryland, Public Building of the Year, Good Hope Neighborhood Recreation Center, 2019
AIA Maryland, Excellence in Design Award, The Triumph Short Term Family Housing, 2019
AIA Potomac Valley, Honor Award, Good Hope Neighborhood Recreation Center, 2019
AIA Potomac Valley, Honor/Gold Award, The Triumph Short Term Family Housing, 2019
AIA Potomac Valley, Gold/Honor Award, John and Jill Ker Conway Residence, 2017
AIA DC, Washingtonian Awards, Residential Design, John and Jill Ker Conway Residence, 2017
Urban Land Institute Washington, Real Estate Trends Award, Excellence in Housing Development, John and Jill Ker Conway Residence, 2017
Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation, Built by Women DC Award, Southern Regional Technology & Recreation Complex, 2016
Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation, Built by Women DC Award, John and Jill Ker Conway Residence, 2016
Top Women to Watch in Real Estate 2016, Suman Sorg, FAIA
NAIOP DC | MD, Award of Excellence: Best Renovations/Adaptive Re-Use, MPD 6th District Headquarters, 2016
AIA MD, Institutional Architecture/Public Building of the Year, Southern Regional Technology & Recreation Complex, 2016
AIA DC, Detail Award in Architecture, Southern Regional Technology & Recreation Complex, 2015
AIA DC, Unbuilt Award, Water Dyke, 2015
American School + University Architectural Portfolio, Outstanding Designs: Renovation/Modernization, Mary Plummer Elementary School, 2015
AIA National Diversity Recognition Program Award, Sorg Architects, 2015
AIA DC, Centennial Medal, Suman Sorg, FAIA 2014
CODA Awards: Residential, Apartment One, 2014
American School + University, Outstanding Designs: Renovation/Modernization, Bruce-Monroe Elementary School, 2014

Selected Publications

The Third Place, “Design Makes a Difference: Good Hope Neighborhood Recreation Center – Silver Spring” April 1, 2024
Washington Post, “How D.C.’s First Sobering Center Could Ease Drug and Alcohol Addiction” February 13, 2024
Arkansas Business, “Northwest Arkansas Design Excellence Program Creates Ripple Effect” February 7, 2022
Dwell, “Water’s Edge” January 22, 2022
Arkansas Money & Politics, “Walton Family Foundation Adds 31 Firms” January 10, 2022
Walton Family Foundation, “Walton Family Foundation Builds on Design Excellence Program’s Diversity, Breadth” January 10, 2022
Home & Design, “Sukkah City x DC: Welcome from the Editor” November/December 2021 (Thank U, Nest)
Gather DC, “Spotted in Jewish DC: Sukkah City x DC” September 23, 2021 (Thank U, Nest)
WJLA – Good Morning Washinton, “Kidd Around Town: National Building Museum’s New Sukkah x DC Event” September 22, 2021 (Thank U, Nest)
Washington Jewish Week, “Imaginations soar at Sukkah City x DC” September 22, 2021 (Thank U, Nest)
Business of Architecture Podcast; “385: Aligning the Work with the Mission with Suman Sorg” September 9, 2021
ArchitectureDC, “Pushing the (Building) Envelope” Summer 2017 (John & Jill Ker Conway Residence)
The Washington Post, “After years on the streets, homeless vets in D.C. get new building to call their own” January 11, 2017 (John & Jill Ker Conway Residence)
DC Rising Magazine, Top Women to Watch in Real Estate 2016, Suman Sorg, FAIA
ArchitectureDC, “Details, Details: Jury Creates a Special Category for Outstanding Building Elements” Winter 2015 (Southern Regional Technology & Recreation Complex)
ArchitectureDC, “Rec Meets Hi-Tech: Suburban Complex Offers Place for Leisure and Learning” Spring 2015 (Southern Regional Technology & Recreation Complex)
Luxe DC Magazine, “Mixed Media” April 2014 (Apartment One)
Recreation Management, “Survival of the Fittest – Keys to Successful Fitness Facility Management” February 2014 (Southern Regional Technology & Recreation Complex)
A Magazine, “Capital Living” February 2014 (Apartment One)
Washingtonian Magazine,“Anacostia High School Snags Design Award” February 2014 (Anacostia High School) Washingtonian Magazine,“Anacostia High School Snags Design Award” February 2014 (Anacostia High School)
Parks & Recreation, “High-Tech Rec” January 2014 (Southern Regional Technology & Recreation Complex)
ArchiScene, “Southern Regional Technology & Recreation Complex by Sorg Architects” January 2014 (Southern Regional Technology & Recreation Complex)
Architectural Record, “India: Boom or Bust?” December 2013 (Sorg Architects, The Grand Arch)
American School & University, “2013 Architectural Portfolio” November 2013 (Anacostia High School)
ArchDaily, “Southern Regional / Sorg Architects” November 6, 2013 (Southern Regional Technology & Recreation Complex)
The Washington Post, “Renovation Writes a New Chapter in an Apartment’s History“ November 2, 2013 (Apartment One)
Design & Arredo, “Bianco A Colori“ October 2013 (Apartment One)
Architects + Artisans, “In Washington, DC, Apartment One” September 23, 2013 (Apartment One)
Inhabitant, “Sorg Architects’ Rockaways Water Dyke Concept Harnesses Surge Waters Themselves to Fight Flooding” August 2013 (Water Dyke)
Design Milk, “Historic Apartment Meets Modern Times” August 2013 (Apartment One)
Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation, “Built By Women: Skyon” August 2013 (Skyon)
Home Design Magazine, “Modern & Historic Combination by Sorg Architects” August 2013 (Apartment One)
AEC Café, “Skyon in Gurgaon, India by Sorg Architects” August 2013 (Skyon)
AEC Café, “The Water Dyke MOMA PS1 Rockaways Call for Ideas Winning” July 2013 (Water Dyke)
Modern Luxury DC, “Designing Women” by Jennifer Sergent, May 2013 (Suman Sorg)
Washingtonian Magazine, Apartment One, July 2013 (Apartment One)
ArchDaily, “MoMa PS1 Water Dyke” July 3, 2013 (Water Dyke)
Metropolis Magazine, “The Messy Suburb” March 2012 (The Grand Arch)