Two Baltimore-based architects have been elevated to the prestigious College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects, one of the highest honors the institute bestows.
The Baltimore chapter of the AIA announced today that Kathleen Lechleiter of Twopoint Studio and Anath Ranon of Quinn Evans Architect are among 96 architects nationwide who have been given this distinction in 2024.
Since 1952, AIA leaders have recognized a small group of members for “significant contributions to the architecture profession.” Members can put the letters FAIA after their names to show they have received this recognition.
Lechleiter’s practice centers on eradicating housing insecurity and instability in Baltimore by giving marginalized residents stable places to live, to build equity, and to achieve economic opportunity. By combining design, teaching, and public engagement, she works to bring about solutions to homelessness; advance fair housing development; promote sustainability, and build healthy, equitable communities.
Some of Lechleiter’s work includes: the Hollander Ridge/Broadway Homes scattered-site housing for low-income families; The Linden House, restoration and renovation of a late 19th century home on Linden Avenue to create permanent supportive housing for five formerly homeless families; and Re-stART with ART, an art auction established to provide a connection between the public and residents of the Baltimore Station, a population of veterans who are working toward self-sufficiency after suffering from addiction and homelessness.
Ranon’s career has focused on historic preservation and adaptive use projects that infuse old buildings with renewed purpose. She works to balance competing interests — including historic integrity, tax credits, building codes, energy codes, and new program requirements — to create places that bring new energy and sustenance to aging communities.
Ranon is the founder of AIA Baltimore’s Historic Resources Committee, and for many years she was a member of Baltimore’s Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation. Her portfolio includes planning and design of community projects, civic and commercial buildings, and educational facilities.
Among her projects are: Hotel Ulysses, rehabilitation of the historic Latrobe Building at 2 East Read Street in Baltimore for use as a boutique hotel; the Lion Brothers Building at 875 Hollins Street, transformation of a vacant industrial building once used to make Girl Scout badges and other embroidered patches and insignia into work spaces for a variety of tenants, and conversion of the former Rouse Company headquarters at 10275 Little Patuxent Parkway in Columbia into a branch of Whole Foods Market and other uses.
Also, the Fred Lazarus IV Center, conversion of the former Morgan Millwork Company factory at 131 W. North Avenue to an educational facility for the Maryland Institute College of Art and The American Brewery, the preservation and adaptive reuse of a former brewery at 1701 N. Gay Street into the headquarters for Humanim, a social services agency.
Although they can use FAIA after their names now, Lechleiter and Ranon will be officially elevated to the College of Fellows during an investiture ceremony during the AIA’s national Conference on Architecture in Washington D. C. in June.
