Meet the Architect: Q&A with Thomas E. Austin

Outside of my family, the three passions of my adult life are service to my country, engineering/construction and history. The final assignment of my Army career was as the Director of Engineering for Arlington National Cemetery, in charge of not only the entire existing campus but also a large expansion project. I loved that job because it combined my passions in a way that could have a lasting effect for generations to come. When it was time to retire from the Army and leave Arlington in the summer of 2023, I thought I would never again get a chance to work on something so consequential and engaging. When I was approached about the Architect of the Capitol role, I jumped at the chance to apply! I can think of no other job in the world that so perfectly matches my interests, my experience, and my desire to contribute to a worthwhile mission. I feel beyond blessed and humbled to be chosen to be here and lead this amazing team.

My first priorities are revising the Human Capital Strategic Plan and the Capitol Campus Master Plan, as well as rebuilding trust in the workforce and from our stake-holders in Congress.

It is hard to overstate the impact of seeing the Dome of the Capitol with the Statue of Freedom at the top. Every morning when I come in, I am in awe of the building and what it represents. Inside the Capitol, I am truly amazed by the artwork throughout the building — everything from the tiles on the floor to the paintings on the walls and the state statues along the corridors. The whole Capitol is a masterpiece!

I've also been really inspired by my visits with staff and seeing the work they're doing to care for our buildings and grounds — from the artistry of our gifted tradespeople to the commitment of our teams maintaining the offices and our green spaces and so many, many other things. The breadth and talent of our teams is incredible!

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Kelly Fields and colleagues from the House Office Buildings meet Mr. Austin during his visit to the jurisdiction.

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Employees from the House Office Buildings' night shift meet Mr. Austin.

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Mr. Austin speaks with Pedro Flores during his visit with the House Office Buildings jurisdiction.

Employees from the House Office Buildings meet Mr. Austin.

I will share one story that happened when I was visiting the night shift team at the House Office Buildings. The team there had a complaint of a bad smell from a third-floor office. After some investigation, they traced the smell back to an air handler in the basement where they eventually discovered a massive accumulation of stagnant water in a closed-off sub-basement below it. That led to the team working through the weekend to pump out over 125,000 gallons of water, thoroughly clean the air handler, replace the filters, and get the whole operation back in order by Monday. I found that story inspiring — people identifying a problem and solving it as a team, for the good of everyone.

One of the more visible projects I had the good fortune to implement at Arlington National Cemetery (ANC) was the reconstruction of one of the four historical gates of the cemetery — the Ord and Weitzel Gate (named after two Civil War generals). In the early 1900s, ANC had four historic gates corresponding to the four cardinal directions. However, over subsequent years with the expansion of the cemetery and the advent of the automobile, three of those gates were torn down. The staff at ANC discovered that the stones of two of those gates had been discarded in the Arlington woods and worked to get them collected, sorted/tagged and restored. After restoration, we contracted with a historic masonry company to reconstruct Ord and Weitzel Gate to its original state but slightly away from the current vehicular gate. That project essentially restored a piece of the spiritual fabric of the cemetery and brought a beautiful part of history back to life.

With the closure of parts of ANC due to the COVID pandemic, we were able to tackle several long overdue restoration projects without the added complication of keeping the spaces accessible to the public. The most visible one was at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, perhaps the most sacred monument in all the country. One of the little-known parts of the Tomb is that there is a superficial crack that completely encircles the tomb and has been repeatedly patched over the years. Over time, the repairs start to degrade, and the crack becomes more visible. The ANC preservationist, along with a team of interns and specialists from the National Park Service, removed the failing mortar and created a special blend of materials that would provide a more durable repair and be essentially invisible to visitors. Another challenge we were able to address was the growth of black biofilm that discolors marble, which had gotten quite bad for both the Tomb and the adjacent Memorial Amphitheater. Our directorate led a combined effort of our facilities maintenance team, preservationist, cultural resource specialist and other volunteers to apply a first-of-its-kind treatment using zinc oxide (not unlike the kind that's used in sunscreen!). This proved to be extremely successful and is now being used as an example for similar treatments for other monuments and historic buildings in the D.C. area and beyond. I really enjoyed being part of this truly collaborative and innovative team effort!

I've always found that the most important thing is to be honest and engaged with your team — and personally model the behavior you want your team to emulate. In my opening day message, I noted that the four touchstones of my leadership are Professionalism, Integrity, Accountability and Transparency. To be a true professional, you need to treat others with dignity and respect as well as holding your own conduct to the highest standard. You need to be honest with your team and do the right thing even when it might be the hard thing. You must set clear expectations and hold each other accountable for meeting them. Finally, you must be transparent even if the information might not be flattering. If you can do all those things, you will build trust from and within your team. That is a path to a positive work environment.

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Samuel Harden discusses his current Senate project with Mr. Austin.

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Mr. Austin receives a tour of the Senate Office Buildings' recycling operations from Stephanie Jones and William Contee.

Mr. Austin receives a tour of the Senate Office Buildings’ recycling operations and discusses current Senate projects.

I would be remiss if I didn't say that you should also recognize and reward those in the team that exceed the standard. Let them know how much you appreciate their efforts and the positive results they bring. Thank people for what they do. I also hold to the old adage of "praise publicly and criticize privately." We should all feel respected for the work we're doing here and recognize that we're part of something greater than just ourselves.

There are so many things! It's hard to reduce it to just one or two. I’ll list a few:

People: They are your greatest asset; treat them accordingly.

Mission: Success is a journey, not a destination. Break the big things down to smaller, achievable chunks and start there. It's important to see progress.

Education: You will never know it all, but that's not an excuse to stop learning.

Conduct: Always act like a professional and demand others do the same. Be yourself — just try to be the best version of yourself you can be.

Computers: Never hit the "Send" button when you're angry!

I think it's important to have hobbies and things that have nothing to do with work to give yourself a break and to help find a little extra joy in your life. For me, I enjoy running, hiking, camping, reading, gardening, playing with my dogs and traveling.

I love books — especially military and political history but also science fiction and biographies.

I try to keep myself in shape by running 20–30 miles a week. Besides the physical benefits, I find running to have a lot of mental fitness benefits. Just having time to tune things out and concentrate only on the road or whatever spoken word content I have coming from my earbuds helps calm my mind and melt away my stress.

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I've always hiked and taken short camping trips. When I left the Army, I took the opportunity to hike a 200-mile section of the Appalachian trail over two weeks from Waynesboro, VA, to Waynesboro, PA. I loved being in nature, doing something physical, and taking a break from technology and the overwhelming noise of life. It was an amazing adventure, and I hope to get back on the trail someday to do the rest — only 1,800+ miles to go! I've also done a four-day hike through the Andes to Machu Pichu in Peru, which was extraordinary.

In the last five years or so, I've also gotten into gardening. I enjoy the experience of seeing how things grow and what it takes to maintain them and make them flourish. I'm growing several things in my home garden right now, including strawberries, blueberries, apples, roses and even a few hybrid American Chestnut trees. The strawberries have really taken off, and I am now canning about 200 jars of jam every year, most of which we give away. I also have three active beehives, and I've started doing an annual honey harvest. My wife refers to all this as my "Farmer Tom phase" but what's not to like about homemade strawberry jam every year?