Hawaii architects Norman Hong and Cathi Ho Schar have been elevated to the American Institute of Architecture’s College of Fellows, the highest membership honor for architects recognized for their work and contributions to their profession and communities.
Hong is the vice chair and CEO of G70, formerly known as the Group 70 International, the architecture firm he joined 50 years ago after graduating from the University of Hawaii architecture school. He’s led design teams for some of the largest time-share projects in Hawaii over the years and is longest-serving member of the City and County of Honolulu’s Design Advisory Committee and has been its de facto chairman for some 20 years. Hong has served in a number of community roles over the years and also served as president of AIA Honolulu, the local AIA chapter, in 1988.
Norman Hong, vice chairman and CEO at
Group 70 has been elevated to the AIA College
of Fellows. | Eugene Tanner, PBN
Schar is an assistant professor at the University of Hawaii School of Architecture and the inaugural director of the University of Hawaii at Manoa Community Design Center, a hybrid teaching practice that seeks to explore new possibilities for public-interest projects.
Cathi Ho Schar, who was a Women Who Mean Business honoree last year, was also elevated to the AIA’s College of Fellows. | Eugene Tanner, PBN
The national AIA chose 102 architects to be elevated to the College of Fellows this year.
Hong and Schar are now among 55 past and present Hawaii architects to be honored as Fellows and join four who have been honored over the past 10 years: John Ida in 2020, James Dwight Mitsunaga in 2016, Glenn Mason and Bettina Mehnert in 2015, Peter Vincent in 1014 and Clark Llewellyn in 2011.