Profile

Mr. Philip Poinelli, ALEP, LE Fellow

SMMA

Contact Details

SMMA

Bio

​An architect and Educational Planner with SMMA in Cambridge MA, Philip Poinelli was instrumental in the development of the firm's K-12 Studio, and currently leads SMMA's educational planning initiatives' influencing most all of SMMA's K-12 public and private school projects. Phil is passionate about educational planning; collaborating, assessing, and working with dedicated professionals, nationally and internationally developing ideas for planning, programming and design of innovative and creative learning environments that not only support, but enhance educational delivery pedagogy. Active since 2007, Phil's previous roles in the organization include: four years in the Northeast Region leadership; three years as juror for the MacConnell Award; 2011 Planning Awards Juror, and numerous committee positions.

Phil served on the A4LE Global Board as the Northeast Region Director from 2014 to 2018. He then served on the Global Executive Committee from 2018 to 2022 and as Global Chair from 2020 to 2021.

He also served for three years as co-chair of the AIA/CAE K-12 committee. He is a writer, speaker and researcher on educational planning and places. In 2012 Mr. Poinelli was elected to the AIA College of Fellows and earned his ALEP certification. A '09 SDSU graduate, he was one of the early ALEP's and is active in helping to make the designation represent the cutting edge of the profession. 
Phil was the 2018 recipient of A4LE's Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2021, he was named a LE Fellow