in 2010, stephen t. ayers was named the 11th architect of the capitol. after being nominated by president obama and confirmed by the senate for a 10-year term. after studying architecture at the university of maryland, mr. ayers joined the air force while simultaneously earning his architectural license in california. following five years of active duty with the air force, mr. ayers went into private practice. he then joined the voice of america, where he led design and instruction efforts in greece and germany. after five years abroad he and his family moved to washington d.c., and mr. ayers was hired by the architect of the capitol as assistant senate superintendent. he subsequently served for 13 years in a variety of roles until he was tapped to be the acting architect of the capitol in february of 2007. the role of architect of the capitol is one that requires a leader who is mindful of both the grand vision of american democracy, that these important buildings represent, and the nuts and bolts responsibilities of their maintenance and preservation.

ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming the architect of the capitol, stephen t. ayers. [applause] >> thank you so much, elizabeth what a great introduction, it was absolutely perfect. i couldn't have described my job better than you did. terrific. so let me turn things on here and see if we can get started. i thought this evening i would speak a bit about who the architect of the capitol is and what we do. i bet there aren't many of you know that we are an organization that kind of works behind the scenes to enable the congress and the supreme court do what it does every day. so i'll speak a little about that. and then focus in on what we do to be good stewards of these beautiful treasures that have been entrusted to our care. the capitol building and the united states botanic garden, and the beautiful supreme court building by cass gilbert ask nd many others on capitol hill. i hope to also teach you maybe something you didn't know about capitol hill and what we do. fair enough? all right. so this is capitol hill, what i like to call my little area of responsibility. th

t. like us on facebook at c-span history. >> next on american history tv, the architect of the capitol, stephen ayers, talks about his role aslder and steward of many of washington d.c.'s most historic buildingses including the supreme court, the library of congress, and the many house and senate buildings near the capitol. he discusses his team's preservation projects, including the current cap follow dome work which will remayor 1300 day fresh insits in the structure. this event russ an hour and 15 minutes. -- runs and hour and 15 minutes. >> what we sometimes overlook is that washington d.c. is truly an extra or neighbor and that those buildings carry an importance and symbolism for people across america and around the globe. tonight you'll hear from the man who is entrusted with the care of those structures. the office of the capitol office is responsible to the congress