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By Lookout Staff

February 13 -- Architectural Review Board Chair Michael Folonis has been elected by
the National Chapter of the American Institute of Architects to its prestigious College of Fellows.

The honor -- accorded to less than 2,000 of the more than 80,000 AIA members -- recognizes architects who have made notable contributions to the advancement of their profession, according to the AIA.

“Fellowship is one of the highest honors the AIA can bestow upon a member,” states the AIA website.

“Elevation to Fellowship not only recognizes the achievements of the architect as an individual but also elevates before the public and the profession those architects who have made significant contributions to architecture and to society.”

A Santa Monica resident since 1972, Folonis was appointed to the ARB by the City Council in July 2004and was elected chair last year.

Folonis established his Santa Monica Architectural firm, Michael W. Folonis, AIA and Associates in 1983. The firm is experienced in residential, mixed use, commercial and restoration projects.

Folonis, whose work has been published nationally and internationally, has received numerous awards for his work from the California and Los Angeles chapters of the American Institute of Architects and Sunset Magazine.

In 2007 he received a design award from the Los Angeles Chapter of the AIA for the Ocean Park Housing project in Santa Monica.

Folonis received a Bachelor of Architecture Degree from the Southern California Institute of Architecture and a Master of Architecture in Design from UCLA.

He taught graduate and undergraduate design in the Department of Architecture, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona from 1983 to 2003, and is currently teaching at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-ARC) in Los Angeles.

In 2007 Michael lectured at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst on his work.