Paul Lewis, FAIA, and principal and co-founder of New York’s Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis (LTL Architects), has succeeded Billie Tsien to become the Architectural League of New York’s 62nd President. Tatiana Bilbao and photographer Kris Graves were also elected to join the League’s board.
At the League’s 137th annual meeting on June 27 at the Cooper Union’s Arthur A. Houghton Jr. Gallery, members voted to elect Lewis president and replace outgoing President Tsien, who had served from 2014 through 2018; Tsien will stay on the League’s Board of Directors. Bilbao has been elevated to a member of the League’s Class of 2021, and Graves has become the new Vice-President for Photography.
At the annual meeting, League executive director Rosalie Genevro spoke on Tsien’s lasting contributions to the organization, explicitly her “manifold generosity, generosity that extends from deep interest in and enthusiasm for the work presented by the League’s myriad competition winners, lecturers, writers, and photographers, to willingness to use any and all contacts she may have on behalf of the League, to unstinting commitment of time to League affairs, to open-handed financial support—and readiness to encourage others to be supporters as well.
“The last two years of Billie’s service have coincided, as we all know well, with a very fraught political climate. She has been clear about the importance of organizations such as the League standing strong as proponents of a pluralist, diverse, tolerant, compassionate society.”
Lewis is no stranger to the Architectural League, having served on the nonprofit’s board since 2006 and as a frequent juror in the League’s competitions. LTL was selected as an Emerging Voices winner in 2002 and has gone on to finish both large academic projects, such as the revamp of Cornell University’s 160,000-square-foot Upson Hall, as well as speculative research initiatives.
