MONTGOMERYCHOI
19 W HARGETT ST STE 305
RALEIGH NC 27601
HI@MONTGOMERYCHOI.COM
919 609 0519
INSTAGRAM
RETHINKING REFUGEE COMMUNITIES

GLOBAL
HUMANITARIAN
ON-GOING
Since 2012, Eliza has co lead Ennead Lab’s Rethinking Refugee Communities project. In collaboration with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and other organizations the project addresses the growing and protracted crises affecting the lives of refugees and their host communities. Rethinking Refugee Communities challenges the notion of a refugee settlement as a potential burden to the host community by proposing a new paradigm of mutual benefit. Through a series of tools, workshops and case studies the project has helped to transform the traditional process of refugee camp design to nurture mutually beneficial relationships among refugees and host communities as well as lead to more durable and dignified solutions and/or opportunistic exit strategies.

Eliza has worked with UNHCR studying, analyzing and designing refugee settlements around the world, including in Rwanda, Jordan and Nepal. She has lectured extensively on the subject including at the 2014 Humanitarian Innovation Conference at Oxford, 2016 Conference on Migration at the United Nations New York, the 2017 AIA Global Dialogues Series in NYC and the 2018 Humanitarian Design Summit, among others. She has also led refugee settlement planning workshops at UNHCR, Pratt University, The New School and Stanford University.

To read more about the project visit Ennead Lab






WORK


LAB



WHO




WE PRACTICE ARCHITECTURE BECAUSE WE LOVE CITIES
ELIZA MONTGOMERY is an architect, urbanist and native of downtown Raleigh.

Her experiences living and working in New York City over 12 years have given her both passion and expertise in solving complex architectural and urban issues. Prior to founding MontgomeryChoi, she was an Associate at Ennead Architects (formerly Polshek Partnership) in NYC for 7 years. There she designed a range of cultural, institutional and mixed use projects around the country and world. But her true passion lies in extending her design skills past the traditional field of architecture.

Eliza co-leads the Rethinking Refugee Communities project, a collaboration with Ennead Lab and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees that addresses the growing and protracted crises affecting the lives of refugees and their host communities. She's visited, analyzed and designed refugee settlements around the world including in Rwanda, Jordan and Nepal and has lectured extensively on the subject. Eliza has taught as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Pratt Institute and has led design workshops for multidisciplinary participants at The New School and other organizations.

Eliza is a registered Architect in North Carolina and New York. She is a Fellow at the Urban Design Forum in NYC. Eliza has a Master of Architecture degree from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies from Bard College.

WILL CHOI is an architect with a keen interest in the link between the shapes of our cities and the shapes of our communities. 

Through a decade of practice working with internationally recognized offices such as Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects and SHoP Architects, Will designed and led projects in urban centers around the country that fostered his appreciation for the way buildings may transform the surrounding communities, but more importantly, how communities may transform the design of the buildings, and ultimately cities. 

Will has held faculty positions at the Parsons School of Design in New York City, and maintains a passion for teaching. He can often be found serving as an invited juror at various institutions, including Columbia University, NYU, and NC State University. Will is a registered architect in North Carolina and New York.

Will holds a Master of Architecture from Harvard University, and a Bachelor of Design from University of Florida, but considers his best education the life lived hopping around great cities. That’s Seoul, New York, Boston, and of course, Raleigh!



CONTACT

HI@MONTGOMERYCHOI.COM

919 609 0519

OFFICE

19 W HARGETT ST SUITE 305

RALEIGH NC 27601 

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