SUBJECT BIO :
Alan M. Hantman, FAIA,
Tenth Architect of the United States Capitol
Alan M. Hantman, FAIA, was appointed on February 5, 1997, to serve a ten-year term as the Tenth Architect of the Capitol by President William Jefferson Clinton, with the advice and consent of the United States Senate. Upon completion of his term in 2007, Mr. Hantman established the firm of A.M. Hantman Associates, PLLC, to provide consulting services in architecture, planning and historic preservation.
Mr. Hantman led the Architect of the Capitol (AOC) federal agency, an organization of more than 2200 staff, responsible for all architecture, engineering, renovation and new construction, historic preservation and facilities management for the United States Capitol, the Supreme Court, the Library of Congress, all Congressional Office Buildings, the Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building, the U.S. Botanic Garden, the National Garden, and the Power Plant, as well as the care and improvement of nearly 300 acres of Capitol grounds. This totals more than 15 million square feet of monumental Capitol Hill buildings including the Capitol Visitor Center (CVC) which, at 580,000 square feet increases the size of the Capitol by approximately 70 percent.
Mr. Hantman has overseen the planning, design and construction of the three-story underground CVC which is the ninth and largest increment of growth since 1793 when the design for the Capitol was first selected by President George Washington. The CVC is the most significant project undertaken by the Office of the Architect of the Capitol since the Dome and extensions to the Capitol were built more than 140 years ago. This project incorporates cutting edge security and fire and life safety systems that grew in complexity throughout the project in response to the attacks of September 11, 2001 and the anthrax contamination of the Hart Senate Office Building. The CVC balances security imperatives and evolving state-of-the-art protective measures with the need for openness and accessibility to the most recognizable symbol of the USA around the world. The nature of the public spaces and the quality of stone, bronze and wood finishes were consistently designed to be compatible with the historic Capitol and will stand the test of time in grace and dignity.
Before his appointment as Architect of the Capitol, Mr. Hantman was Vice President for Architecture, Planning, and Construction for the Rockefeller Center Management Corporation. He played a leading role in Rockefeller Center Corporation’s $300 million Capital Improvement Program as well as in the day-to-day management of the 15-million-square-foot “city within a city.” In 1995, Mr. Hantman was named Vice President, Facilities Planning and Architecture, and given strategic planning responsibilities for all buildings at Rockefeller Center along with continued oversight of all art, architecture, and preservation issues. Mr. Hantman has also served as a development consultant with the real estate firm of Cushman & Wakefield Inc., and as assistant chief architect and project manager at major architectural firms.
Mr. Hantman was graduated from the City College of New York with a Bachelor of Architecture degree and from the City University of New York Graduate Center with a Masters in Urban Planning.
