Both Edmund W. Ong, AIA, of San Francisco, and Susan Williams, of Indianapolis, have been selected to receive the AIA 2003 Thomas Jefferson Award for Public Architecture. The Thomas Jefferson Award recognizes excellence in architectural advocacy and achievement by private-sector architects who design public facilities, public sector architects, and public officials or other individuals who advocate for design excellence.

Over his 30-year career with the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency (SFRA), Edmund W. Ong has been responsible for commissioning and bringing to reality an extraordinary range of work that has helped to define San Francisco as one of America’s most livable and civilized cities. Nominating Ong for the award, Sara Elizabeth Caples, AIA, stated, “Edmund Ong is absolutely dedicated to helping each architect become sensitive to San Francisco as a unique urban environment with its own history and potentials. He has a very strong sense of the city being a place for all people to lead lives of dignity and delight.”

For the past 26 years, Ong has served as chief architect of the SFRA and had primary responsibility for the agency’s design review process. During his tenure, the program has included the completion of 14,000 market-rate and affordable housing units, more than 3,300 hotel rooms, and 5,000,000 square feet of office space, in addition to schools, cultural facilities, and public parks. Ong managed the worldwide architecture search process that led to Fumihiko Maki, James Stewart Polshek, Romaldo Giurgola, and Adele Naude Santos contributing work for the city.

Advocate for good design
Susan Williams has advocated quality design and historic preservation for most of her career, especially as an Indianapolis City-County Council representative and in her current position as the executive director of the Indiana State Office Building Commission (SOBC). In nominating Williams for the award, Sheila Snider, FAIA, wrote, “There are few, if any, non-architects who have had a more significant impact on shaping Indianapolis’ current skyline. Her role has expanded her influence to projects across the state during the past five years.”

From 1986 to 1999, while Williams served on the Indianapolis City-County Council, she fought for community development, neighborhood revitalization, historic preservation, and affordable housing. She also was instrumental in creating strong urban design standards for other downtown Indianapolis renewal efforts.

In her current role as executive director of the Indiana State Office Building Commission, Williams and her staff have administered more than $500 million for the design and construction of new correctional facilities while demonstrating her support of the qualifications-based-selection principles. She shaped efforts to bring the new $105 million Indiana State Museum by Ratio Architects (pictured here) to life and currently is leading efforts to develop three state hospitals, ever mindful of neighborhood context, historic preservation, and environmental impact.

Copyright 2002 The American Institute of Architects. All rights reserved.