About Maia

Maia Kumari Bree Chowdhury (Maia Gilman) is a Registered Architect, Registered Environmental Professional and LEED-AP BD+C with experience in bringing together a diversity of cultures, interests, and technical insights. Finding elegant, economical and ecologically friendly solutions to persistent problems is a talent she brings to every job, no matter its scale. Using an approach of “storyboarding” she integrates a weave of options to create desirable outcomes for her clients, whether they are involved in commercial, institutional or residential projects, and whether or not they come from the public sector or private industry. She is the current Vice Chair of the US Green Building Council's New Jersey Chapter MLAB.

 

Working within the framework of multinational engineering companies as a consultant and within the United Nations as a volunteer has given her a unique perspective on the array of approaches that are taken across the board. Her own twist on problem-solving is enhanced by not only this international corporate exposure and intergovernmental experience, but also by her broad-minded perspective as an artist, author, VR designer, and Reiki Master. She has been the owner of her own companies, Maia Gilman Architect LLC and ASEI Arts, a division of Light Vibe LLC, for more than a decade.

 

Maia teaches adults and teens about space and place-making and develops curricula on the same subjects. She is the author of three books (The Erenwine Agenda: a novel; Reiki: a manual; contributor to Anthology House: a visionary ecology project, Volumes 1 and 2) and has been included as a case study in the book How to Design and Build a Green Office Building. With over a decade on the public speaking circuit (including national radio and a TEDx talk at Seton Hall University), Maia is well-poised to address a wide audience on environmental topics that range from the general (“what makes a healthy space?”) to the very specific (“how can the lay consumer better understand low VOC paint labeling standards?”). She is a former regular contributor to Green-Buildings.com and is a current contributor to the New York Real Estate Journal and to Thrive Global, a workplace wellness platform.