Lance Hosey, FAIA, died on August 27, 2021, at the age of 56.
I will remember the arched eyebrow. We were sitting in a big circle, listening to people talk sustainability, and somebody said something that a little bit off. I looked at the ceiling and then my gaze found Lance, across the room. He tilted his head towards the speaker ever so slightly, then arched an eyebrow, and shook his head, almost imperceptibly. Maybe there was a shoulder shudder. And I cracked up, desperately trying to stay out of trouble.
The conversation continued and we all talked through the issues. Whatever had been said I no longer remember, but I remember Lance. He was always watching the room, connecting with all of us, helping all of us find our way to a better future.
I first met Lance through the BuildingGreen Green Gurus program. He was one of maybe 100 amazing people that I was so very fortunate to meet. But Lance was an original. He added so very much to the group. An accomplished architect, a twice published book author, he had his own column at the Huff Post for years. Lance was difficult to keep up with.
But we tried, and we were better for it. We were both in the same region of the group, the mid-Atlantic, so we ended up connecting in person. He and I did some early presentations in Washington DC about the development of the first Health Product Declarations. We presented to building material manufacturers about the importance of these documents and Lance cracked up the crowd.
Lance did great things for AIA COTE. He served on the AIA COTE Top Ten jury in 2013CHK. A few years later, at a BuildingGreen hosted Sustainable Design Leader Summit, he gathered us over breakfast and explained that very few firms were applying for the Top Ten award. He pointed out that the previous year, there had been only 40 applicants. Lance’s conclusion was “if you apply with one project, you have a 25% chance of winning.” We were all stunned. We know the adage “you can’t win if you don’t apply,” but this was a much clearer message.
Lance served on the Leadership group from 2015-2017 adding his voice and expertise, and he was a key author and leader on the retooling of the Measures and Metrics in that era (these would go on to be adopted by AIA as the Framework for Design Excellence in 2019). In 2017 he co-authored the report, “The Habits of High-Performance Firms,” with Sandra Montalbo, Assoc. AIA.-CHK It was a great report that had expert, applicable advice, and real ways for architects to improve their work.
Lance was always challenging us to do better. He insisted that great buildings had to both be high performing and beautiful. That always reminded me of that tenet of Shaker philosophy: “Don't make something unless it is both necessary and useful; but if it is both necessary and useful, don't hesitate to make it beautiful.”
Let’s all find a way to honor Lance and his great legacy. Maybe next year is the year that your firm applies for a COTE Top Ten Award. I know that it’s hard and time consuming, and even though submissions have risen in recent years (usually at least 60 or 70), the chances of winning are decent (as Lance would remind us).
Let’s honor Lance by upping our game.