Winners of the 2010 AIA Architecture Firm Award and Topaz Medallion announced

Michael Graves, FAIA, Awarded AIA/ACSA Topaz Medallion
Award honors distinguished educator

Michael Graves, FAIA, winner of the AIA/ACSA Topaz Medallion 2010.

The American Institute of Architecture (AIA) Board and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) have named Michael Graves, FAIA, as 2010 recipient of the Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architectural Education. The AIA/ACSA Topaz Medallion honors an individual who has made outstanding contributions to architecture education for at least 10 years, whose teaching has influenced a broad range of students and who has helped shape the minds of those who will shape our environment.

Graves, Princeton University’s Robert Schirmer Professor of Architecture, Emeritus, has been teaching architectural design and theory for over four decades. His teaching career evidences great breadth and influence. During his 39 years in Princeton’s School of Architecture, from 1962 to 2001, Graves taught thousands of undergraduate and graduate architecture students and undergraduates in other disciplines, thereby influencing a wide range of students. In addition, he has served as a visiting professor, given lectures, and/or participated in design juries at numerous other schools of architecture in the U.S. Graves has given over a thousand public lectures, thereby extending his influence to a yet wider range of students as well as members of the profession and the public.

At both graduate and undergraduate levels in Princeton’s School of Architecture, Graves taught architectural design studios, supervised independent study projects, advised students on their theses, conducted lecture courses and seminars on architectural theory and design, served on juries, participated in research projects, organized exhibitions, gave public lectures, and published scholarly papers. Many of these endeavors transcended specific expertise in architectural design by making connections among areas; urban design, architecture, interiors, painting, sculpture, and literature. His own designs and analyses draw on his knowledge of history from ancient to modern times, and he therefore imbues his students with a sense of the past in the context of current aesthetic and social interests.

Graves teaching has been paralleled by an extraordinary career as a practicing architect. As results, he has been a positive role model for a variety of students – those who have become educators, those who have become practitioners and those, like Graves himself, who have chosen to do both. Graves was the 2001 recipient of the AIA Gold Medal, and has won 12 national AIA Honor awards. Over 65 AIA New Jersey awards have been collected by Graves’ firm. The New Jersey state component also established the Michael Graves Lifetime Achievement Award in his honor.

Pugh+Scarpa Architects to Receive 2010 AIA Architecture Firm Award
Firm noted for its Ingenuity and fresh approach

Pugh + Scarpa: Lawrence Scarpa, Angela Brooks and Gwynne Pugh (top down).

AIA Board of Directors (BOD) has also voted for Pugh + Scarpa Architects to receive the 2010 AIA Architecture Firm Award. The distinction is based on its 35 years of consistent excellent work, including its seamless blending of architecture, art, and craft; community involvement; attention to sustainable design; and nurturing of in-house talent.

The AIA Architecture Firm Award, given annually, is the highest honor the AIA bestows on an architecture firm and recognizes a practice that consistently has produced distinguished architecture for at least 10 years.

Founding partners Gwynne Pugh, AIA, and Lawrence Scarpa, AIA, and Angela Brooks, AIA, who became a partner in 2001, are known for forging a broad, inclusive, experimental approach to socially and environmentally sensitive urban planning and design. “We’re thrilled,” said Lawrence Scarpa, AIA, after being notified. “It was a surprise just to be nominated. It’s just stunning to win.”

“Pugh + Scarpa’s practice is known for both design and its commitment to running a socially and environmentally responsive practice,” writes Thom Mayne, FAIA, in support of the nomination. “Comfortable with aesthetic, practical, political, and functional issues, they have mapped an architectural path that is as didactic as it is successful.”

Solar Umbrella, Venice, California by Pugh + Scarpa has won several awards by now.

Over the past 10 years, the firm has won 13 national AIA awards and more than 40 state and local AIA awards. In 2008, Pugh + Scarpa received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Interior Design.

The award will be presented June 12 at the 2010 AIA National Convention in Miami. Previous recipients include Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects, Leers Weinzapfel, Moore Ruble Yudell, Muphy/Jahn, and KieranTimberlake. In recognition of Pugh + Scarpas legacy to architecture, their name will be chiseled into the granite Wall of Honor in the lobby of the AIA headquarters in Washington, D.C.

About The American Institute of Architects
For over 150 years, members of the American Institute of Architects have worked with each other and their communities to create more valuable, healthy, secure, and sustainable buildings and cityscapes. By using sustainable design practices, materials, and techniques, AIA architects are uniquely poised to provide the leadership and guidance needed to provide solutions to address climate change. AIA architects walk the walk on sustainable design.

About Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture
The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture is a nonprofit, membership association founded in 1912 to advance the quality of architectural education. The school membership in ACSA has grown from 10 charter members to over 250 schools in several membership categories. www.acsa-arch.org.

Further Information:
AIA
The American Institute of Architects
1735 New York Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20006-5292
Tel.: +1 202-626-7300
Fax: +1 202-626-7547
eMail: infocentral@aia.org
web: www.aia.org/walkthewalk and www.aia.org

Source of photos: AIA.