Hellen Awino, Associate AIA, NOMA

Awino is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Architecture at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she teaches design studios and courses in building physics and environmental technology. Her work explores performance-driven and environmentally responsive design strategies, focusing on how climate, building envelope, and occupant experience interact to shape thoughtful, human-centered outcomes.

Through early-stage simulation and experiential learning, she integrates environmental analysis into the design process to support thermal and visual comfort, energy efficiency, and long-term sustainability. Her current research examines the intersection of building performance and environmental justice—investigating how energy use, comfort, and access affect underserved communities, and how design tools and methods can help shift those patterns toward more equitable outcomes.

Awino brings professional experience from the Design Analytics team at Introba (formerly Integral Group), where she led performance analysis across building and urban scales. She has also worked with Transsolar KlimaEngineering, Lang Hugger Rampp Architekten, and Lake|Flato Architects, contributing to projects that integrate design excellence with climate-conscious and systems-oriented thinking. She holds a Master of Science in Architectural Studies (SMArchS) with a concentration in Building Technology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Texas at Austin.