Winners of 2009 AIA Thomas Jefferson Award for Public Architecture Announced

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has selected Philip Freelon, FAIA, LEED-AP, Roger Boothe, AIA, and Donald Stastny, FAIA, to receive the 2009 Thomas Jefferson Award for Public Architecture. This year’s award recipients will be honored and receive their awards at the 2009 AIA National Convention and Design Exposition in San Francisco.

The Thomas Jefferson Award recognizes excellence in architectural advocacy and achievement in three categories: Private-sector architects who have established a portfolio of accomplishment in the design of architecturally distinguished public facilities; public-sector architects who manage or produce quality design within their agencies; and public officials or other individuals who by their role of advocacy have furthered the public’s awareness and/or appreciation of design excellence.

The 2009 AIA Thomas Jefferson Award for Private-sector architects:

Philip Freelon, FAIA, founder of the Freelon Group in Durham, N.C., is a native of Philadelphia. He graduated from North Carolina State University’s College of Design with a bachelor of environmental design (architecture) and top design honors, and then earned his master of architecture degree from MIT. In 1989, Freelon was the recipient of the Loeb Fellowship and spent a year of independent study at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Freelon currently serves as a visiting lecturer at MIT in the School of Architecture and Planning. Founded in 1990, The Freelon Group has grown to 65 total staff members, including 21 licensed architects. Focusing on college/university, transportation/aviation, and museum/cultural center projects, Freelon’s firm has successfully delivered award-winning building design within a collaborative and innovative studio environment and has won dozens of regional and local design awards. The firm has completed major museum projects in Baltimore and San Francisco and recently was selected (along with Davis Brody Bond of New York) by the Smithsonian Institution to lead the pre-design and programming team for the new National Museum of African American History and Culture to be located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. University clients include the University of North Carolina, Duke University, Yale University, MIT and Morgan State University.

The 2009 AIA Thomas Jefferson Award for Public-sector architects:

Roger Boothe, AIA, has served as the director of urban design in Cambridge, Mass., in the city’s planning department since 1979. For the last 30 years, according to his nominators, the Boston Society of Architects (BSA), he “has exemplified the kind of public service that this award is intended to honor.” With a strong vision for livability, Boothe has crafted citywide plans and created urban design guidelines that have guided a major transformation of Cambridge. In the process, he has collaborated with more than 100 architecture firms from across the country and around the world to develop more than 20 million square feet within the city. Boothe earned a BA and a BArch with honors from the University of Arkansas, School of Architecture and a master of city planning in urban design from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. In his varying roles as designer, critic, facilitator, and advisor, Boothe has been responsible for envisioning and implementing a citywide plan. He has developed plans and guidelines that include four major project areas: Harvard Square, Central Square, Cambridgeport/MIT, and the East Cambridge Waterfront. His work also embodies public space design including transit, public ways, and public facilities, such as the city’s water works and library. He also has managed the design reviews on more than 100 projects for his fellow Cantabrigians.

The 2009 AIA Thomas Jefferson Award for Public officials or other individuals who by their role of advocacy have furthered the public’s awareness and/or appreciation of design excellence:

Donald Stastny, FAIA, founder and CEO of Portland’s StastnyBrun Architects, Inc., has been a practicing architect, urban designer, and process innovator for more than 40 years. Using design as a comprehensive and strategic tool, he works toward elevating the public’s understanding and expectations of architecture locally, nationally, and internationally. Stastny has undertaken a range of projects including the planning of neighborhoods, cities, and regions and the design of museums, multi-family housing, office buildings, historic renovations, and cultural centers. He has developed and designed more than 50 national and international processes for competitions, commissions, and plans, many of which have become national models. He is a masterful facilitator as well, having worked with international and national groups of all types and sizes to establish common ground and achieve diverse goals. An award-winning architect and planner, Stastny has been honored with Fellowship in the AIA, the American Institute of Certified Planners, and the Institute of Urban Design. Additionally, he is a member of the Canadian Institute of Planners. Stastny received his BS in business administration from Oregon State University, a BArch from the University of Washington, and an MArch and MCP at the University of Pennsylvania and continued his post-graduate studies as a research fellow at the Center of Ekistics in Athens, Greece.

Images: AIA