Boston, MA -EYP Architecture & Engineering announced that Melissa Butler Bennett, AIA, has been named project executive and Toni Loiacano, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP, has been named project manager. Bennett and Loiacano are based in EYP’s Boston office at 24 School Street.
A specialist in library and higher education design and programming, Bennett was previously associate principal at Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott in Boston. She also helped create and led the architecture division in the Boston office of STV Incorporated, a Fortune 500 firm specializing in academic and transportation projects. Her notable library projects include the Theodore M. Hesburgh Library, University of Notre Dame (South Bend, Ind.); Thompson Library, Vassar College (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.); and W.E.B. Dubois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst (Amherst, Mass.).
Bennett earned a bachelor of architecture degree from Syracuse University (Syracuse, N.Y.). She is an active member of the Boston Society of Architects, where she twice served on the board of directors, and the American Institute of Architects. She regularly participates in American Library Association, Association of College and Research Libraries and Society for College and University Planning conferences and workshops. She is also involved with the Medford Green Line Neighborhood Alliance in promoting light rail transit as part of the Big Dig, and with local community organizations for urban design and preservation.
Toni Loiacano is involved in the planning, programming, and management of day-to-day operational aspects of projects in EYP’s Undergraduate Science sector.
Prior to joining EYP, Loiacano served as project manager and senior programmer/planner for URS Corporation in Southfield, Mich., where she was responsible for the master planning and programming of several higher education projects, including the School of Law at the University of Akron and the National Super Conducting Laboratory at Michigan State University. She has also worked for MGA Partners; Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum; and Sheppard Engineering.
Loiacano earned a bachelor in the science of engineering degree, civil engineering systems, from the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, Penn.) and a master of architecture from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, Mich.). She has presented at two national conferences on the topic of laboratory design, and was a project volunteer and design review committee member for Philadelphia Community Design Collaborative. Loiacano also co-founded the Architectural Representation Council to enhance communication between architecture program faculty, staff, and students at the University of Michigan.