A star-studded jury has selected the winners of the American Academy of Arts and Letters‘ 2015 architecture prizes. Elizabeth Diller (chairman), Henry N. Cobb, Peter Eisenman, Kenneth Frampton, Michael Graves, Richard Meier, Laurie Olin, Cesar Pelli, Billie Tsien, and Tod Williams chose the awardees from among 41 nominations.
Sheila O’Donnell and John Tuomey of Dublin‘s O’Donnell + Tuomey took home the $20,000 Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize, for which any architect “who has made a significant contribution to architecture as an art” is eligible. O’Donnell and Tuomey, who also received the 2015 Royal Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects, are the creative team behind projects including the Sean O’Casey Community Centre (Dublin, 2008) and Belfast’s Lyric Theatre (2011).
The jury also awarded four Arts and Letters Awards in Architecture of $10,000 each. Yolanda Daniels and Sunil Bald, and Kate Orff won the first two awards, reserved for American practitioners “whose work is characterized by a strong personal direction.” Of Daniels and Bald’s work, which they undertake in New York as Studio SUMO, juror Billie Tsien observed, “There is always a sense of the weight of materials in what they do.” Kate Orff founded New York landscape architecture firm SCAPE to combine research and practice on the urban landscape. Her recent projects include Oyster-Tecture for the 2010 MoMA exhibition Rising Currents, and Living Breakwaters for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, ongoing since 2014.
Kurt W. Forster and Rosalie Genevro secured the second category, for an American “who explores ideas in architecture through any medium of expression.” Forster, an architectural historian and founding director of the Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities, is currently an emeritus visiting professor at Yale. Genevro heads the Architectural League of New York. “Quiet wisdom as well as consistent and powerful leadership are hallmarks of Rosalie’s 30 years as executive director,” said juror Tod Williams.
Select work by the winners, who will receive their awards at the Academy’s annual Ceremonial and may, will be on display in the Academy’s galleries on Audubon Terrace from May 21-June 14.
