Summary: The AIA California Council (AIACC), has conferred its 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award on 1999 AIA President Michael J. Stanton, FAIA, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the improvement of the built environment, the architectural profession, and the lives of the clients and citizens served by the profession.

Well known for his intensity of interpersonal engagement, adroit intelligence, and commanding presence as a public speaker—not to mention his deft hand, as evidenced in his ever-present sketchbook—Stanton has been involved in AIA local, state, and national activities from the outset of his career to the present day. Among the award-winning projects early in his career are the Stanford Shopping Center and Mount Curve Place Townhouses in Minneapolis (both while with Bull Field Volkmann Stockwell, San Francisco).

His own eponymous San Francisco-based firm, which Stanton founded in 1982, is responsible for a wide array of successful projects, including the Fillmore Community Services Building, St. Paul's Elementary School, and Fisherman's Wharf Radisson Hotel, all located in San Francisco.

Stanton Architecture is heavily involved in the historic preservation and adaptive reuse of older structures. This commitment is recognized in three of his completed projects; the highly honored conversion of the national landmark General Post Office into the Monaco Hotel in Washington, D.C.; the renovation of the historic Saint Paul's Catholic Church in San Francisco; and the conversion of a former military aircraft hangar into the La Petite Baleen Swim School in San Francisco.

Involvement and success from East Coast to West
With a BA in urban studies from Yale College and an MArch from the Yale School of Architecture, Stanton returned home to Baltimore where he obtained his first architectural position with Daniel Mann Johnson Mendenhall and worked on planning a new subway system for the city. Before ultimately moving to San Francisco, he worked in Toronto with Brook Carruthers Shaw on the Sheridan Community College.

Stanton has been active at the community level on a global scale, including serving as a key participant on the AIA design team that assisted Spitak, Armenia, after the severe earthquake of 1988. He has twice been awarded the AIA Citation of Excellence in Urban Design and has written extensively on architecture and urban design issues for Urban Land, Architecture California, and Bay Architect’s Review, which he edited for seven years. Further, he has lectured on urban design and practice issues at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, CCAC, the University of Houston, the University of Texas, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Texas Tech University, and the University of Colorado–Denver.

As Lawrence P. Segrue, FAIA, stated: "Stanton's life's work is exemplified by his commitment to the promotion of architecture and the profession through design excellence, as well as community and professional outreach and education."