The Architects Foundation welcomes four new members to our board of directors. Laura Flusche; Sharon Haar, FAIA; Kenneth Lewis, AIA; and Michael Marshall, FAIA begin their three-year terms as board members in January 2022.
AF additionally extends gratitude to our outgoing board members: Thomas Luebke, FAIA and Carole Wedge, FAIA.
Laura Flusche
Laura Flusche serves as Executive Director of the Museum of Design Atlanta (MODA). She joined MODA in 2010 as Associate Director and became Executive Director in 2013. As Executive Director, she leads all of the museum’s strategic initiatives and oversees the creation and implementation of exhibitions and programs that demonstrate the power of design to effect positive change in the world.
Prior to joining MODA, Laura lived for fifteen years in Rome, Italy, where she served as Assistant Academic Dean for an American academic program and was part of the Palatine East Excavation team, supervising excavations and contributing to the publication of archaeological findings.
In 2016, Laura received the Business Design and Arts Leadership Distinguished Alumni Award from the Savannah College of Art and Design where she earned a master’s degree in Arts Administration. In 2014, she was selected to attend the Getty Leadership Institute’s Executive Program for Museum Professionals.
Laura holds a Ph.D. in Ancient Roman and Etruscan Art and Archaeology and fiercely maintains that design is archaeology backwards. She also holds an M.A. in Italian Renaissance Art.
Laura serves on the Midtown Alliance Board of Directors and is a member of the steering committee for Atlanta’s Arts Marketing Roundtable. She is also a member of the College Art Association’s Museum Committee and the Council for Innovation at Mt. Vernon Presbyterian School in Sandy Springs, GA.
Sharon Haar, FAIA
Sharon Haar is a Professor of Architecture at The University of Michigan’s Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. Her current research investigates the role of entrepreneurship, design innovation, and global networking in the transformation of architectural practices devoted to social activism and humanitarian relief. Haar’s publications include: The City as Campus: Urbanism and Higher Education in Chicago and Schools for Cities: Urban Strategies. Her articles and book reviews appear in journals including the Journal of Architectural Education, the Journal of Planning Education and Research, the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Architect’s Newspaper, and Architectural Design. Her recent book chapters appear in: The Urban Ecologies Reader, Embodied Utopias, Shanghai Transforming and On Location: Heritage Cities and Sites. She has presented her research in conferences and lectures across the United States, Latin America, Asia, and Europe.
Haar is the recipient of numerous grants from institutions including the Graham Foundation, Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, Fannie Mae Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, and American Architecture Foundation. She is also the former Reviews Editor for the Journal of Architectural Education, and sits on the board of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA).
Haar has taught at Parsons School of Design in New York and at the University of Illinois at Chicago where she was professor of architecture and the Associate Dean for Research at the College of Architecture, Design, and the Arts. She received her Bachelor of Art from Wesleyan University and her Master of Architecture from Princeton University.
Kenneth Lewis, AIA
In his 35+ years building in New York and beyond, Ken has realized projects that inspire, enhance the public realm, and cement the city as a place where the most daring, complex ideas can be built. Ken’s work includes One World Trade Center—the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere—and its neighbor, 7 World Trade Center, both built under extraordinary circumstances. Ken led SOM’s work at 35 Hudson Yards, an undulating residential tower and home to the first Equinox Hotel. More recently, Ken led construction of Manhattan West, a seven-million-square-foot mixed-use master planned development built above active railroad tracks, encompassing four new towers and reuse of an existing loft building. Today, Ken is leading the most significant renovation and reuse project in New York’s history, the complete transformation and ground-up renovation of the landmark Waldorf Astoria.
Ken is the President of AIA New York, charged with leading the organization with optimism and pride through one of the AEC industry’s most challenging periods in recent history. He also serves on the Urban Green Council Board of Directors, the Center for Architecture Board of Trustees, and the Architectural Review Board of Irvington, New York.
Michael Marshall, FAIA
Michael Marshall is the design director and principal of Michael Marshall Design (MMD). He manages the firm’s architectural projects with a keen sensitivity to context and environment, and leads each project in design excellence. In a career that spans more than three decades, Marshall has completed commissions on a wide range of building types including commercial, corporate, cultural and urban design, as well as mixed-use developments. His skills have facilitated numerous successful partnerships with developers, architects, governmental agencies, and private companies. Marshall has designed a number of iconic projects throughout the District of Columbia and beyond, including The Howard Theatre, The University of the District of Columbia’s Student Center, Chuck Brown Memorial, a number of the city’s public and charter schools, and the urban destinations City Vista and Reunion Square. More recently, MMD completed design of the National Market in MGM National Harbor, the award-winning Entertainment and Sports Arena in Congress Heights, the Michelle Obama Southeast Center of Bread for the City, and the DC United’s home, Audi Field. He is currently on the design team for a new memorial honoring Frederick Douglass, father of the American Civil Rights movement.
In 2018, Marshall’s work was accepted into the architectural design archives of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. Marshall has been recognized as a 2016 “Power 100 Playmaker” and 2014 “Minority Business Leader of the Year” by the Washington Business Journal. He was also honored with a 2014 Dandi Award for Diversity and Inclusion. His work has been recognized by the American Institute of Architects (DC and National Chapters), ENR MidAtlantic, Urban Land Institute, National Organization of Minority Architects, The National Housing and Rehabilitation Association, International Design Awards (IDA), and the American Society of Architectural Illustrators, among others.
Marshall volunteers his time presenting lectures on architecture and serving on architecture advisory boards. He has served as a juror for the DC Historic Preservation Awards, serves on the Dean’s Council for the Yale School of Architecture and is a member of the landmark Cultural Heritage Stewardship Initiative, a pilot program with the nation’s leading historic preservation groups to plan for cultural resources, buildings and landscapes at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) nationwide. He was selected as the University of Maryland School of Architecture’s Fall 2018 Kea Distinguished Professor, serving as critic and lecturer in the Architecture Program. He has personally mentored more than 150 young architecture students. He received a Masters degree in Architecture from Yale University, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Architecture from The Catholic University of America. He began his studies at the University of the District of Columbia in 1975.
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