The AIA on January 24 named the nine individuals and groups selected as recipients of the 2003 Institute Honors for Collaborative Achievement. The award, to be presented in May at the national convention in San Diego, honors exceptional contributions to the design and architecture community.

The 2003 recipients are:

Kathryn H. Anthony, PhD, professor, school of architecture, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, whose recent book Designing for Diversity: Gender, Race, and Ethnicity “has been a catalytic springboard for the AIA National Diversity Committee,” according to Patricia Saldana Natke, AIA, the committee’s 2002 chair. “Many of us in the profession have gotten to know Dr. Anthony—and to take courage from her observations and ideas—in her presentations at the AIA Diversity Conferences, over several years,” writes Rena M. Klein, president of AIA Seattle, who nominated Anthony. She counts among her many achievements “an extensive record of scholarly activism” that includes classes and seminars in several universities, numerous presentations in key professional venues (including ACSA, AIA, AIAS, ASLA, EDRA, and NOMA), and publications in numerous widely respected professional journals.

Hervé Descottes, lighting designer and cofounder of L’ Observatoire International, “a lighting conception consulting firm” based in Paris and New York City, has created lighting for the diverse architecture of Steven Holl, Frank Gehry, and Arquitectonica. “Although Mr. Descottes is a highly innovative technician, his work is even more noted for its sensitivity to the architect’s conception,” writes the Committee on Design, which nominated Descottes for the award. “Approaching each project as a naïf—and as an artist, his goal is to use light to optimize the visual condition, revealing the space’s identity.” L’Observatoire’s projects vary tremendously in size and scope and appear internationally, from Helsinki (the Kaisma Museum with Steven Holl) to Miami (American Airlines Arena with Arquitectonica and Heinlein Schrock). Descottes’ work has been published extensively in Architectural Record, Architecture, and many other design magazines.

Gilbert Gorski, an architectural illustrator whose works have twice earned him the Hugh Ferris Award, the American Society of Architectural Perspectivists’ highest honor. “The beauty and quality of his illustrations are evident in his body of work executed for many recognized architects in the U.S.,” writes J. Windom Kimsey, AIA, who nominated Gorsky on behalf of the AIA Committee on Design. “His illustrations are wonderful graphic exercises that capture the character of detail, material, and light of architecture before it becomes a part of the physical world.” Gorski began his career as an architect in the office of FCL (the successor firm to the Office of Mies van der Rohe), Chicago, and as a studio professor of architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology and The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He opened his own practice specializing in architectural design and illustration. He has completed hundreds of architectural drawings in a variety of media for firms large and small around the world.

Jayne Merkel, architecture writer and editor, whose 25-year career includes architecture critic of The Cincinnati Enquirer and editor of AIA New York Chapter’s Oculus magazine. “Jayne is the most prolific writer I know and is fully committed to comprehensive coverage of all the issues relating to the architectural industry,” writes Bruce S. Fowle, FAIA, in his nomination letter on behalf of the AIA Committee on Design. “She is not just a superb architecture critic but also someone who comprehends and cares very deeply about the forces that shape our society.” Merkel also has served as an assistant professor in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Cincinnati and as a visiting lecturer at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. She currently is writing a book, Eero Saarinen, Heroic Modern, to be published by Phaiden Press next year.

J. Irwin Miller, Hon. AIA, advocate of design excellence, businessman, philanthropist, discriminating client, and revitalizer of Columbus, Ind. “Few in our profession are unaware of the extraordinary contributions J. Irwin Miller has made to the understanding and appreciation of architecture on a broad civic scale,” writes Robert A. Brown, AIA, president of the Boston Society of Architects who nominated Miller. “Columbus, Indiana, is a testament—and perhaps the only necessary testament—to the nonpareil contributions Mr. Miller has made over five decades to the elevation of public awareness of the impact of design on our lives.” Miller, owner of the Cummins Engine Company, began his love affair with architecture by convincing his fellow denizens of Columbus to hire Eliel Saarinen to redesign the city’s First Christian Church in the 1930s. Since then, his Cummins Engine Foundation has paid design fees for new public buildings designed by some of the nation’s most distinguished architects. Miller, an honorary member of the Institute, also has honorary degrees from 18 universities.

New York, New Visions, a collaborative partnership created to assist with the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan in the aftermath of September 11. The group encompasses representatives of 21 professional societies and civic organizations, including the founder, the AIA New York Chapter. “More than 400 participants, including architects, planners, urban designers, landscape architects, engineers, and graphic artists, contributed thousands of hours of pro bono time to create documents outlining principles and strategies that have dramatically impacted public discourse and governmental decision making concerning the future of the World Trade Center site and the surrounding area,” writes nominator Leevi Kiil, FAIA, president of the AIA New York Chapter. “While New York New Visions brings together professional associations under one banner to maximize political access and intellectual consensus, it has done much more. Individuals participating have gained newfound mutual respect, in achieving goals beyond merely getting ‘seats at the table.’” New York New Visions included a short-term planning group that provided immediate service to businesses disrupted by the attack and a long-term planning group, which continues to guide development of the site.

Joan Ockman, a professor who has made “major contributions to our profession through her work at the Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture at Columbia University, her editorial work in many seminal publications, her teaching at the University of Pennsylvania and at the Graduate Center at the City University of New York, and with the numerous programs she has organized, including the Museum of Modern Art conference entitled ‘Things in the Making: Contemporary Architecture and the Pragmatist Imagination,’” wrote Carol Rusche Bentel, AIA, and Frederick R. Bentel, FAIA, in their nomination letter on behalf of the AIA Committee on Design. Marilyn Jordan Taylor, FAIA, chair of SOM and board member of the Buell Center, writes, “Joan Ockman’s work illustrates the extraordinary influence of a mind dedicated to raising the culture of critical thinking in architecture. She is brilliant, incisive, and unafraid . . .” Ockman recently edited and introduced Out of Ground Zero: Case Studies in Urban Reinvention (Prestl Erlag, 2002).

Martin Puryear, sculptor, whose large-scale outdoor works grace the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the Belvedere in the Big Apple’s Battery Park City, and the Ronald Reagan Building Courtyard in Washington, D.C., as well as private collections in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. “In his role as ‘collaborative partner,’ Martin establishes a model for our profession and its future. He approaches each project as a generalist, not a specialist, and has a great understanding of materials, architecture, and the land,” writes nominator Steven M. Goldberg, FAIA, on behalf of Mitchell/Giurgola Architects. “He views each project in a holistic manner and contributes to creating memorable places.” Puryear served as a fellow of the Guggenheim Foundation in Japan, has received a MacArthur Foundation Grant, and was invited by France to work at the Calder Atelier for a year.

The Robin Hood Foundation, New York City, a not-for-profit organization established in 1988 to fight poverty, called on the architecture profession when the program turned to improving the libraries in New York City Schools. The foundation set out to have 10 New York architects turn 1,400-to-2,000-square-foot areas into prototypical libraries—on a pro bono basis. Eight of the first 10 libraries are complete, and “cramped, residual spaces have been transformed into colorful, light-filled venues of learning, discovery, and new outlooks,” write nominators Calvin Tsao, AIA, and Zack McKown, AIA, Tsao and McKown Architects. “This month, the next two libraries will open, and in the next two months, 20 new libraries will start in the design phase.” The foundation is striving to have a well-stocked, well-designed library in each of New York City’s 650 schools and, since its inception, has invested more than $100 million is community groups that “work with people over the long term.”

Copyright 2003 The American Institute of Architects. All rights reserved.