March 28, 2019

AIA New Jersey’s Woman In Architecture, Merilee Meacock, AIA, Has Adopted A Social Impact Mission And Aligned Her Firm With Those Values

Celebrating humanity, nature, and purpose, Merilee Meacock’s architecture strengthens the social fabric and creates communities for all. An advocate for design’s impact, Merilee crafts meaningful places; her legacy of design unites people, imbuing form and function with humanity and meaning—creating a richer and more fulfilling experience for all. Collaborator & catalyst, Merilee is forefront in her firm’s self-innovation—adopting a social impact mission, especially in the area of design for special needs, advocating for gender equity, and promoting interconnectivity among design disciplines and beyond.

Merilee’s personal and professional accomplishments blend toward impact; she chairs Cranbury Township Zoning Board, has advised the USGBC to develop LEED for Schools, and has given voice to bridging architecture & community nationwide. Merilee has a Bachelor of Architecture from Pennsylvania State University, is a registered Architect, Planner, a LEED accredited professional, has been named both NJ AIA Architect and Young Architect of the Year, NJBIZ 50 Best Women in Business, and at the national level has been featured in an AIA video on how design works and served on the AIA Honor Awards Jury. 

As a Partner at KSS Architects; Merilee’s passion, drive, and entrepreneurial spirit provide the foundation for repositioning the firm, growing new markets, and helping clients transcend their visions.  KSS continues to provide a unique ecosystem of community support, mentorship, and opportunities that have allowed Merilee throughout her thirty-year career, to concurrently pursue all of her dreams as an Architect, a single mom of three and a business owner.   She works hard and plays hard and especially enjoys spending time with her extended family in a newly designed and constructed summer camp on her family’s lakeside retreat near Eastport Maine.    

KSS, a Women Business Enterprise and signatory for the AIA 2030 Commitment, is a full-service architecture, planning, and interior design firm with offices in Princeton, New Jersey; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and New York City, New York. KSS’s creative community of 75 talented people use integrity, passion, and imagination to make impact.  Its mission of meaningful and lasting change for its clients, society and world has allowed the firm to work with the best and brightest, with aligned values and a mission to make impact. KSS’s clients are battling the opioid crisis in America’s crime-ridden cities, accelerating the global supply chain, forging national and global precedents to better serve individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders, addressing urban food deserts throughout the world, and re-envisioning American education on academic campuses and in underserved urban cores throughout the country. 

By Stacey Ruhle Kliesch, AIA, AIA NJ Advocacy Consultant | Posted in Women in Architecture | Tagged: #Architecture, #diversity, #equity, #Inclusion, #MerileeMeacockAIA, #SocialImpact, #WIA, #womeninarchitecture, KSS | Comments (0)