College of Fellows note: Ron Blitch, FAIA

College of Fellows note: Meet the 2021 AIA YAF College of Fellows representative

My involvement with AIA began while I was still in high school and my father, also an architect, was president of AIA Louisiana. He imagined a multimedia interactive seminar in 1971 for the architects of Louisiana to help them think “outside of the box” and imagine a different way to communicate and practice. We had films from IBM on the nature of design and creativity, famous renderers giving live demonstrations of “en plein air” sketching, and lectures on the virtues of working together as architects toward a common good as opposed to fighting one another and slashing fees to get projects. It opened my eyes to what presentations could be and how to get a point across to a skeptical audience, lessons I have used ever since.

I ran the projectors, made the slides, did the printing, served the coffee. This was everything a junior in high school does in a firm. It introduced me to collaboration, presentations, communication and catapulted me into service to the profession. Fast forward to 2021, and I head the firm my father started, a 62-year-old company still specializing in health care and senior living projects around the Gulf South.

I have always been involved in some way with AIA and the other architectural collaterals. I served at the local and state level for AIA, founded the AIA’s Design for Aging Knowledge Community, was vice president of the AIA Academy of Architecture for Health, and was a founding Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Architects.

I got involved with the State Licensing Board for architects in Louisiana and started to serve on the ARE writing committee, ultimately chairing the exam effort. I served as NCARB president, was a NAAB Board Member, and have been on several NAAB accreditation teams.

Our firm has won many health care, senior living, educational, and religious design awards. We worked for wonderful clients, helping them achieve their dreams of a building or a campus and sharing in those dedication days where it all makes sense.

As the College of Fellows Regional Representatives chair for three years, I worked hard to reinvigorate the involvement of reps to engage with the Fellows in their regions and encourage them to help potential Fellows through their candidacies, and to support the mission and stewardship needs of the College. But most importantly, I encouraged interaction with and support of emerging professionals. That role has now been taken over by Jeanne Jackson, FAIA, who is working hard to make the regional reps the best they can be.

My hope as bursar of the College and liaison to the YAF this year is to bridge the needs of the YAF and emerging professionals and help provide support from the COF to the YAF. The energy I have already seen in just a few planning sessions and Zoom calls is infectious, and hopefully we can connect the community of Fellows — 3,000 strong — with the community of YAF.

Please let me know how I can help and how we can all work together to make this a better AIA for all!

Ron Blitch, FAIA, FACHA

Blitch is the president of Blitch Knevel Architects, LLC. He is the 2021 AIA College of Fellows bursar.