OU College of Architecture Dean Hans Butzer has been elevated to the American Institute of Architects' highest membership honor, the College of Fellows, which recognizes significant contributions to architecture and society.
AIA members who have exhibited excellence through their contributions and have been in good standing for at least 10 years may be elevated to the AIA’s College of Fellows, according to its website. Three percent of the AIA members carry the distinction of fellow.
A seven-member Jury of Fellows chooses from six objects of nomination. Butzer was elevated in Object One, which recognizes the design of a body of work. Eighty-eight members of the AIA were elevated to Fellow in 2022, compared to over 100 members being elevated each year since 2016, according to the College of Fellows website.
Butzer told The Daily he spent about a third of his childhood in Europe. He became interested in architecture after visiting Belgium and seeing how its multicultural architecture expressed the different identities of one community.
His recent works include the collaboration with Oklahoma artist Harvey Pratt on the National Native American Veterans Memorial, which honors Native American veterans in Washington, D.C. Butzer said he is currently designing new headquarters for the Oklahoma Humane Society, will finish the buildings in Oklahoma City’s Scissortail Park by September 2022 and is working on Page Woodson Plaza, which is intended to help celebrate Oklahoma City’s African American community and individuals such as American novelist Ralph Ellison and swing and jazz guitarist Charlie Christian.
Butzer said he was happy his collaborative works were being recognized after his elevation to Fellow.
“It’s not the work of a single genius coming up with amazing ideas — architecture, ultimately, is a collaborative effort,” Butzer said.
Butzer said he hopes his elevation to fellow will not change anything for himself, as he wants to be seen for who he is, not for what he has done.
“I hope that, if it changes anything, it changes the benefits that might be given to the communities,” Butzer said. “My benefits are unimportant if they don’t help others.”
Oklahoma City’s community has access to a plethora of Butzer’s works, including the Skydance Bridge resembling a scissor-tailed flycatcher, Oklahoma’s state bird.
“Oklahoma City has been so good to us,” Butzer said. “Seeing all these new things, new places, new restaurants, new parks, it’s hard not to feel proud.”
