Nora M. Black, Associate AIA CNU ICA & CA, is a designer with Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company's Charlotte, North Carolina office, has experience in town planning and traditional neighborhood development. Her plans have a focus on Light Imprint urbanism. Black is a contributor to the Light Imprint Handbook and to the Light Imprint web site.

Black received a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture and a Bachelor of Science in Geography (specializing in Urban Planning) from the College of Architecture at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte. She also completed some graduate studies in the College of Architecture at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Prior to joining DPZ, Black worked at the firm of Grenfell Architecture PLLC. Before that, she was an architectural/historical consultant to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission. Additionally, she did consulting work for several entities including the Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools and taught architectural/historical courses at Central Piedmont and Rowan-Cabarrus Community Colleges.

Black has been an active member of the AIA both at the state and local level. She served on the AIA North Carolina Historic Resources Committee; she participated in the Committee's charrette for Preservation North Carolina's Glencoe community as well as the charrette for the South End neighborhood of Charlotte, North Carolina. Black co-chaired (with Tony Gray) a South Atlantic Regional AIA Design Conference held in Charlotte, North Carolina. At the local level, Black served on the Board of Directors of AIA Charlotte for six years. She chaired AIA Charlotte's Women In Architecture Committee for over ten years and is active in the Civic By Design Forum.

Following one especially productive AIA Charlotte Civic By Design Forum in 2006, Black was one of several attendees who gathered for dinner and put pen to paper to begin to sketch out a plan and an elevation for a Learning Cottage. She has continued to work on the project through her work at DPZ and the Civic By Design's School Design Workshop in September 2006.

As well as the AIA, Black is active in other professional associations. She is a founding board member of the Charlotte Chapter of The Institute of Classical Architecture and Classical America. Elected the first Vice-President of the Charlotte Chapter, she has recently assumed the role of Treasurer as well. Black is also a member of the Carolinas Chapter of the Congress for New Urbanism.

Back to top