Loughlin named director of planning/urban design at MAP

NEW YORK, NY Magnusson Architecture and Planning, PC (MAP), has appointed Brian Loughlin, AIA, director of planning and urban design, according to Magnus Magnusson, AIA, founding principal of the 33-year-old firm.

“Brian’s appointment to this new post is a reflection of our firm’s expanding presence in urban planning and design,” said Magnusson. “His broad array of professional skills, record of achievement, command of today’s critical housing issues and commitment to sound urban development were exactly what we were seeking in our expansion of these areas at MAP.”

With the addition of Loughlin, MAP is expanding its scope of planning and urban design services to include community facilitation, master planning, municipal housing plans, strategic facility planning, economic development planning, and resilient community design. 

“We’re looking to add to our long history of outstanding community development and urban revitalization, which started with the Melrose Commons Urban Renewal Plan back in 1986,” he adds.  “And Brian’s long tenure in the New Jersey affordable housing community supports MAP’s interest in spreading our work in community and housing development deeper into the New York metro region.”

Loughlin, an award-winning urban designer, author and lecturer on urban planning issues, is noted for his work in the public and non-profit sectors of community development and affordable housing. His former posts include Director of New Construction for the New York City Housing Authority and Chief Architect of the Jersey City Housing Authority. 

He is a member of the advisory board of the Institute for Public Architecture, served as chair of Jersey City’s Board of Appeals, and was a special advisor on housing to that city’s mayor. He is also an adjunct assistant professor of architecture and real estate development in Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture and Planning, where he earned a Master of Architecture degree in 2002.  Mr. Loughlin obtained his undergraduate degree, a BS in Architecture, at Catholic University in Washington, DC. 

His first involvement in housing was with Habitat for Humanity in the mid-1990s in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, where he was co-founder of the local chapter. Mr. Loughlin subsequently worked for a succession of architecture and planning firms, and in 2003 moved to the public sector, joining the Jersey City Housing Authority soon after earning his master’s degree.

Under his leadership, the Authority won numerous awards for its efforts in housing design, neighborhood revitalization, and community development, including Jersey City’s first Green Building Award, the State of New Jersey Governor’s Excellence in Housing Award for Community Revitalization, multiple New Jersey Futures Awards for Smart Growth, and the NAHRO National Award of Excellence for Project Design. Mr. Loughlin was also instrumental in the Authority’s application and implementation of the CHOICE Neighborhoods Planning Grant for the McGinley Square-Montgomery Corridor Neighborhood Revitalization Plan, encompassing the single largest Jersey City redevelopment effort in over a decade, which New Jersey Future praised as “an ambitious effort to re-imagine the area by integrating all the hallmarks of a thriving neighborhood…” in its award announcement.

Magnusson Architecture and Planning is an interdisciplinary design firm committed to community revitalization through high-performance design and planning. For over 30 years MAP has been recognized as an industry leader in the design of multi-family housing, sustainable community development and urban planning.