People

Sean Patrick Nohelty  AIA, NCARB, LEED AP BD+C

Principal, Managing Director

Sean Patrick Nohelty is Principal and Managing Director at David M. Schwarz Architects and Professor at the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture. As a practitioner, educator, and philanthropist, Sean is dedicated to making a difference through design, education, and stewardship. At the firm and in the classroom, he is focused on advancing the contemporary practice of traditional architecture and urban design as a means of building at once a more resilient, sustainable, and beautiful future. Over his nearly 30-year career, he has led the design of civic, cultural, hospitality, and healthcare projects located across the United States and beyond.

Born and raised outside Chicago, Sean moved to Washington, D.C. and joined David M. Schwarz Architects in 1997 after receiving his Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Notre Dame. He was elected to the firm’s Board of Directors in 2012 and was elevated to Principal in 2013. Sean joined the faculty at the Notre Dame School of Architecture in 2019 as Professor of the Practice and Academic Director of External Relations. He was appointed as a full professor with tenure in 2025.

Outside the firm and classroom, Sean is active in number of industry and community organizations, including the American Institute of Architects and the Institute for Classical Architecture and Art. He has served on the boards of the Washington Architectural Foundation; both the Indiana and Washington Chapters of the American Institute of Architects, including as AIA|DC President in 2014; the Notre Dame School of Architecture Advisory Council; and the Ngoma Center for Dance, among others.

Sean’s passions extend to the realms of college football (Go Irish!), family, and philanthropy. In 2015, Sean and his family founded Fighting For Fiona & Friends at the Boler-Parseghian Center for Rare and Neglected Diseases to support a new research initiative tackling the rare disease Nonketotic Hyperglycinemia (NKH) that afflicted his niece. In 2021, he helped establish the Architecture Student Opportunity Fund at Notre Dame to support under-resourced students with the costs of architectural education. In 2025, he founded the Lois E. Nichols and Lauretta M. Nohelty Memorial Endowment for Excellence and The Lois E. Nichols Prize to recognize excellence in the craft of architectural hand-draftsmanship and promote its continued instruction as foundational to the education of the Architect.

Sean is a registered Architect in the District of Columbia, Texas, California, and Indiana and holds an NCARB certificate and LEED AP BD+C accreditation.