Three architects and planners — Michael Maltzan, Maurice Cox, and Merrill Elam — have been announced as part of this year’s class of newly-elected members to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

They were joined by Oscar-winning actor Frances McDormand and Ukrainian author Andrey Kurkov in the nineteen-member group of inductees which will be honored in a special ceremony to be held on May 24th in New York City. (Kurkov, who is being inducted into Foreign Honorary membership, will also deliver a keynote address.)

The 300-member Academy was founded there in 1898 and has included luminaries such as Mark Twain and Cass Gilbert and currently features 30 member architects including Billie Tsien, Steven Holl, Elizabeth Diller, Meejin Yoon, Walter Hood, and last year’s inductees Mabel O. Wilson, Deborah Berke, Michael Van Valkenburgh, and Thomas Phifer.

Michael Maltzan of Michael Maltzan Architecture

A contemporary mainstay in his adopted hometown of Los Angeles, Maltzan has stood out as much for his cultural designs such as the Regen Projects gallery in Hollywood and Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University as he has for social housing projects like the Star Apartments in Skid Row. Last year, he completed work on the much-awaited Sixth Street Viaduct to critical and civic acclaim, and in 2021 was given an AIA Merit Award for the Qaumajuq Inuit arts center at the Winnipeg Art Gallery in Canada. 

Maurice Cox of the Chicago Department of Planning and Development (DPD)

Cox first made a name for himself in Detroit for his visionary plans to overhaul the city many considered to be an irreparable victim of technology and post-industrialization. He was formerly the Mayor of Charlottesville, Virginia, and has held academic positions at Syracuse University, UVA, the Harvard GSD, and his alma mater, The Cooper Union.

Merrill Elam of Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects

A noted designer of civic buildings and multiple higher-ed projects throughout the country, Elam has participated in the 2016 Venice Biennale and won an Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize in Architecture in 2011 for her work with firm partner Mack Scogin. 

Click here to learn more about the Academy of Arts and Letters Awards and the full list of newly-elected members for 2023.