Laura Fitch: March 19, 1960 – January 1, 2023

Laura Fitch AIA, LEED BD+C, principal of Fitch Architecture and Community Design, died unexpectedly on January 1, 2023. Born in Concord, MA, she is survived by her husband of 39 years, Lyons Witten; two sons, a foster daughter; two grandchildren; her mother, a sister and four brothers; and a host of grieving friends and colleagues.

Laura is remembered by colleagues as an expert in cohousing design, a fierce environmental advocate, and a lively, intelligent, and valued participant in the WMAIA. An outdoor enthusiast who was deeply engaged in all that life has to offer, she cooked, sailed, danced, gardened, and skied with her husband, Lyons. Together they climbed all the 48 NH 4,000-footers and traveled the world extensively. She attended rallies for climate change, women’s rights, and social justice.

Laura was first inspired to study architecture and environmental design as a teen in the 1970s, watching the construction of an experimental passive/active solar house in her Concord neighborhood. She received her Bachelor of Environmental Design in 1982 from University of Colorado in Boulder. She studied architecture abroad in Denmark, and then at Boston Architectural College, receiving her Bachelor of Architecture in 1991. She became LEED certified in 2003.

Inspired by Danish examples of cohousing, Laura participated in planning and development of the first east-coast community, Cherry Hill Cohousing (formerly Pioneer Valley Cohousing) in Amherst, where she and her family have resided since its completion in 1994. She has worked with emerging cohousing communities in Alaska, New England, Brazil, Greece and beyond, and served on the National Cohousing Board from 2010-2015.

Laura began her architectural career in the Pioneer Valley in 1990, working at Margo Jones Architects (now Jones Whitsett Architects) where she finished her degree and became a registered architect. Margo Jones FAIA called her “my right-hand woman,” and “a true friend and beloved colleague.”

In 2002, Laura established the firm of Kraus Fitch Architects with architect Mary Kraus AIA; the firm focused on cohousing communities. Eventually she carried that company forward as Fitch Architecture and Community Design, and expanded the firm’s work to include a myriad of projects at Smith College.

She won design awards from the WMAIA, the Northampton Historic Commission, the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, the Boston Society of Architects, was listed as one of the “Top 10 Green Architects” in Natural Home and Garden Magazine, and was proud to have received the 2006 Boston Architectural College Distinguished Alumni in Practice Award.

Although Laura was intensely committed to all her work, one of her deepest architectural passions was working with Kroka Expeditions, a non-profit wilderness school in Marlowe, NH. Both of her sons had attended Kroka and later joined as summer staff. At Kroka, Laura designed the Boathouse in 2009, the Director’s House in 2011 and the Farm Barn in 2015. Most recently Laura drew the plans for the 2019 renovation of Kroka’s historic Farmhouse into a sustainability education center for the next 200 years.

Laura was a member of the WMAIA Board of Directors, an editor of the WMAIAnews and a founder and co-chair of the WMAIA C.O.T.E. where she sought out educational opportunities to encourage us to be better, greener, more sustainable architectural practitioners.  She was the inspiration for the Green Giants Awards program, recognizing that we should celebrate our many collaborators in our quest to build more sustainably. WMAIA Executive Director Lorin Starr says “Laura was involved in WMAIA for as long as I can remember. Her enthusiasm for learning and her commitment to share that knowledge in an ongoing chain of mentoring of a young, diverse community of practitioners was something I truly admired.”

Boston Architectural College said of Laura: “You are an Architect, Facilitator, Visionary. You have been an essential force in forming dynamic, new communities. Your exceptional skill as a mediator has earned you the respect and admiration of your clients and colleagues. Because of you, Laura, many people have found more neighborly and sustainable ways to live. Through your work, our world is a better place.”

Kroka Expeditions’ memorial notice about her says: “Laura’s passion for functional community design and green building, combined with a lifelong love of the outdoors, has helped the Kroka campus and community grow and thrive. She will be dearly missed.”

The family requests that gifts in Laura Fitch’s honor be made to Kroka Expeditions. https://kroka.org/laura-fitch/