Boston, MA – Payette is pleased to announce that Sho-Ping Chin, FAIA, LEED® AP, a principal at the firm, has been elevated to the College of the Fellows of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). Sho-Ping was recognized in the Coordinate Objective category.
Elevation to fellowship is one of the highest honors an architect can achieve. Not only is it an acknowledgement by one’s peers in the profession, it is also recognition of an individual’s contributions and commitment to architecture and society on a national level. Out of 134 honorees in the 2010 class, Sho-Ping was one of only six selected from the Boston chapter. The AIA confirms that out of a total membership of nearly 86,000, fewer than 2,872 are distinguished with the honor of fellowship.
Sho-Ping’s diverse accomplishments encompass project leadership, fostering international talent, and heralding women in the field of architecture, with civic responsibility as her ultimate tenet. She is the founder of the Boston Society of Architecture’s (BSA) Women’s Principals Group, which she has led since its inception in 2006. Additionally, she organized the first national AIA gathering of women, entitled the Women Leadership Summit, at the AIA National Convention in September 2009. In 2007, she spearheaded an annual BSA job fair focusing on smaller, lesser-known schools in New England, adding to the regional practices’ social and economic diversity.
As a leader of Payette’s healthcare team, Sho-Ping uses design to synthesize the challenges presented by rapid advances in medical technology with the real human needs of patients and caregivers. Through her leadership at Payette, she has spent more than fifteen years enriching the design of healthcare facilities by continually improving operational efficiency and humanizing high-tech clinical spaces with natural light, views and a thoughtfully chosen palette of materials and colors. Her work includes design for academic medical institutions, community hospitals, and charitable services.
“Sho-Ping’s background and training have given her a particular insight into architecture that is generated by human needs, met with compassion, technology, and a reverence for nature and the built environment,” said John Wilson, FAIA, principal emeritus of Payette and 1996 Recipient of the Whitney M. Young Jr. Citation. “To serve her clients, she marshals expertise from within our office, consultants, as well as the client’s in-house resources. I don’t know anyone better at bringing people together to create inspiring environments.”
Sho-Ping is a graduate of Princeton University where she earned both her master of architecture and bachelor of arts degrees. In 2007, she was awarded the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) Build New England Honor Award for her work at the Massachusetts General Hospital Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, and in 1999 she was recognized by the City of Boston as the Volunteer of the Year. A seasoned speaker and panelist, Sho-Ping has participated in the leadership and organization of events at AIA national conventions, and the BSA’s Women in Design workshops. She had been a member of the Development Committee at the South Boston Community Health Center, the Boston Chinatown Beautification Committee, and is involved with Boston’s Healthcare for the Homeless and Boston Chinatown Main Street.
In June, Sho-Ping will be formally recognized at an investiture ceremony at the 2010 National AIA Convention and Design Exposition in Miami, Florida. The medal ceremony will be held on Friday, June 11, 2010 at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County, Knight Hall.
