2/2006 |
2006 ACCENT ON ARCHITECTURE GALA Architects, Allies, Clients, and Friends Celebrate the Power of Architecture |
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The American Architectural Foundation, in partnership with the AIA, hosted the 17th annual Accent on Architecture Gala February 10 in the soaring Great Hall of the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., a glorious event that saw 1,000 architects and architecture champions unite to celebrate the past, present, and future power of architecture “to enrich and elevate the human spirit.” AAF President and CEO Ronald E. Bogle warmly welcomed guests and acknowledged this year’s sponsors of Accent on Architecture and spoke of the AIA’s upcoming sesquicentennial celebration in 2007 and the Foundation’s eagerness to lend support to that endeavor. AAF Board of Regents Chair Norbert W. Young, FAIA, and AIA President Kate Schwennsen, FAIA, then jointly introduced plans to create the “American Center of Architecture,” one of the major initiatives of AIA150, the AIA’s ongoing program to mark and celebrate its sesquicentennial. Schwennsen explained that the American Center of Architecture is going to be both a “place and a forum for new ideas,” and will serve as the “future-looking counterpart to the celebration of our past.” Young termed the American Center for Architecture program “one of the most exciting ideas in years,” emphasizing that it draws on the strengths of the AIA and the AAF. He noted that it will be designed to enhance existing programs of both organizations and will strongly emphasize sustaining the Octagon. Schwennsen also introduced the 2006 Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture/AIA Topaz Medallion recipient for excellence in architecture education William McGinn, FAIA. She then presented the AIA’s new Executive Vice President/CEO Christine McEntee, who assumed her new job on February 1. “I am honored to be here, and I consider myself most fortunate to have been selected as the AIA’s new CEO,” McEntee said. She acknowledged her immediate predecessor Norman L. Koonce, FAIA, for helping to set a firm foundation for the AIA and for helping her personally. McEntee noted that architects have a unique role to play in creating better, safer, more sustainable and beautiful environments. “There is a lot of work to do,” she said, “and this profession will step forward and do it.” Pritzker family honored with AAF Keystone Award Accepting the Keystone Award on behalf of her family, Gigi Pritzker-Pucker (daughter of Jay and Cindy), noted a similarity of purpose in the AAF and the Pritzker Prize in promoting excellence in architecture. She outlined the history of the award since its inception 27 years ago, recalling the notable recipients and jurors—including inaugural jurors J. Carter Brown, Hon. AIA; AIA Gold Medalist Cesar Pelli, FAIA; and J. Irwin Cummins, Hon. AIA, founder of the Columbus, Ind., drive to hire great American architects. “The jury makes the choices and we support them,” she said. “The family does not interfere with the process.” Pritzker offered her family’s profound gratitude to the AAF for the Keystone Award. Thorncrown Chapel wins Twenty-five Year Award Robert A. Ivy, FAIA, Architectural Record editor in chief and author of Fay Jones, the seminal book about the architect and his works, brought the chapel into the Building Museum for the audience. “Thorncrown is elemental, a manmade temple,” he said. “This small building draws vistas with the primal force of truth.” Ivy recalled that the first Accent on Architecture celebration in 1990 honored Fay Jones as that year’s Gold Medalist. “His work continues to inspire and move us,” he noted. Mrs. Fay Jones, known affectionately as “Gus,” received the award. She recalled that shortly after construction of the chapel was complete, Fay Jones had said, “This is going to be a pretty nice little project but you know, no one is ever going to see it. “I know that Fay would be so pleased to be included on a list with so many of his architectural heroes,” Mrs. Jones said. “I appreciate you honoring Thorncrown Chapel with the Twenty-five Year Award and in thanking all of you, I would like to quote Fay’s response when he received the AIA’s Gold Medal in Washington, February 22, 1990. He said, ‘This is a great moment in my life and to all of you who have made this so, I am truly grateful. Thank you very much.’” Architecture Firm Award to Moore Ruble Yudell Buzz Yudell, FAIA, and John Ruble, FAIA, firm partners, accepted the award and brought their associates to the stage. “This is a wonderful and humbling experience,” said Yudell, thanking their firm and clients, as well as the AIA for fostering mentorships. He noted that working with the late and great Charles Moore was like being part of “a jazz ensemble. He encouraged improvisation.” Ruble spoke of the firm’s “enlightened clients” in the education, housing, and civic arenas. He also expressed gratitude toward the firm’s leadership and associates. Predock accepts Gold Medal Washington Post architecture critic Benjamin Forgey, Hon. AIA, lauded Predock as “a fierce American individualist,” and told the audience that was one of the reasons for Predock being awarded the Gold Medal. “Like Frank Lloyd Wright, he has developed a fiercely personal view of architecture.” Forgey explained that he believes that the essence of Predock’s “willfully and idiosyncratically sculptural” architecture is that “he has discovered the process of discovery. It is no accident that no two buildings of his look alike, yet each is immediately identifiable as a Predock building.” Schwennsen and McEntee presented the award to Predock, who seemed to admire the Gold Medal itself, then teasingly asked Schwennsen, “Kate, do I still have to do my learning units every year?” He then expressed his gratitude and paid homage to the people who have helped and inspired him throughout his career, beginning with Don Schlegel, FAIA, who as a young professor of engineering turned Predock toward architecture and “taught me always to be true to my inner life.” Asking his former professor to stand, Predock explained that Schlegel showed him that “it is possible for work to be—life. That is an extraordinary realization.” Predock also expressed gratitude to his wife Constance, his coworkers, and associates at his firm. He also praised his “fortunate panorama of inspired clients” and asked them to stand and be recognized. He then named many of the influences that have inspired his work, from Frank Lloyd Wright to the Anasazi and Hopi cultures of the Southwest, which have shown him that “we don’t have to learn only from Europe. In the Southwest, we are most concerned with the movements of the wind and the sun and the iconic landscape. It is all essence and spirit—New Mexico does that to you.” The 62nd Gold Medalist reminded the audience of the importance of peripheral vision: “Look to the sides for subtleties and nuances,” he advised. He spoke of “architecture as a dance” and the need to explore the tactile, perhaps through drawing and clay models that express the building’s life and can be “as liquid as a drawing. And, as wonderful as digital technology may be, that tactile quality must not be overwhelmed by the digital . . . The innocent mark is in all of us.” Copyright 2006 The American Institute of Architects. All rights reserved. Home Page |
Photos, except as noted, by Douglas E. Gordon, Hon. AIA. The American Architectural Foundation thanks the following for their generous support of the 2006 Accent on Architecture gala. Principal Benefactor: McGraw-Hill Construction Gala Sponsors: CNA/Victor O. Schinnerer Inc., Otis Elevator Company, Moore Ruble Yudell, Antoine Predock Architect, Deedie and Rusty Rose Gala Benefactors: Armstrong, Brick Industry Association, CDC Publishing LLC, Forsgate Industrial Partners, Gensler, International Masonry Institute, Jacobs, National Energy Management Institute, Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds LLP, SOM, Thompson-Tomasetti Group, Turner Construction Company-Tompkins Builders, UNICO Inc., USG, WDG Architecture PLLC, Weidlinger Associates. Gala Contributors: Academic Travel Abroad, Cawley Family Foundation, HKS Architects, Kaplan AEC Foundation, Leo A Daly, MBNA America, San Diego Padres, Thompson Ventulett Stainback & Associates Inc., TMA Resources. Gala Friends: AIA Arizona; AIA Arkansas; AIA Minnesota; AIA New York Chapter; AIA New York State; AIA Portland Oregon; AIA Rhode Island; AIA South Carolina; AIA Tampa Bay; Beyer Blinder Belle Architects; Carton Donofrio Partners; Greenway Group; Greenwich Consulting; Harold Adams, FAIA, RIBA, JIA; Hellmuth Obata & Kassabaum; International Interior Design Association; Jane Wolford, PhD and Aron Wolford, Hon. AIA; JCJArchitecture; M&T Bank; Sasaki Associates; SmithGroup; Sterling Brands; Webcor; Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership. |
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