In mid-December, the U.S. Senate confirmed President Trump’s appointment of J. Brett Blanton as the next Architect of the Capitol (AOC). While Blanton, the deputy vice president for engineering at the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, is a licensed engineer, he is neither trained nor licensed as an architect. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the United States Naval Academy in aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering, and a master’s in ocean engineering from Virginia Tech.
The official role is to serve as head of the agency of the same name and be responsible for the maintenance of 18.4 million square feet across 36 buildings on Capitol Hill, including the Library of Congress, the U.S. Supreme Court, and the Capitol Visitor Center, to name a few. Blanton’s predecessor, Stephen T. Ayers, FAIA, served from 2010 to 2018, retiring shortly before the end of his 10-year term. Ayers, who won the AIA’s Thomas Jefferson Award for Public Architecture in 2018, is best remembered for completing the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center in 2008.
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