Meet Jennifer Fritz-Hunter, the Director of our Adaptive Preservation Studio. Jennifer has practiced architecture for over 17 years and was drawn to the field through an early love of history, especially that of her hometown.

“I grew up in Grand Rapids, Ohio, a historic canal town,” she says. “My mom was on the historical society board, which provided grants to homeowners for restoration purposes. I saw first-hand the economic benefit of investing in revitalization and wanted to be a part of that.”

Jennifer’s exposure to a community that valued preservation, combined with architecture classes she took in her youth at the Toledo Art Museum, inspired her to study architecture in college. She later pursued a Masters of Historic Preservation at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her subsequent employment with the City of Elgin, Illinois as a Preservation Planner informs her current goals for the Adaptive Preservation Studio.

“DS Architecture has mostly done adaptive re-use in the past, but I’d like to see us move into preservation planning and become more involved with local governments,” she says. “I’d like to include more building condition assessments, guidelines for historic districts, nominations for the national register, and tax credit projects in our work.”

Jennifer appreciates DS Architecture's deep roots in the city of Kent. The firm has long contributed to the city's redevelopment with projects such as the LN Gross Building and Franklin Hotel. She’s excited to lend her expertise and expand the firm’s work in preservation, adaptation, and city planning across the state of Ohio and beyond.

“My favorite part of preservation architecture is the investigation period,” she says. “The research and interviews, to get the full story of a building or neighborhood. I look forward to doing more of that. We have a great foundation here and I can’t wait to help the studio grow.”