SAH to Honor Architectural Excellence at Gala

The Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) will present four Awards for Architectural Excellence during its annual SAH Awards Gala on Saturday, November 9, 2013, at The Casino in Chicago. The awards will be bestowed on individuals and organizations in the categories of planning and sustainability, media, criticism and stewardship. Representing a unique coming together of architectural practice and academic study, the awards honor the contributions of those who shape and interpret our built environment. The theme of the gala is “A Century of Progress: 1913–2013,” recognizing the changes in the urban landscape over the past 100 years. The gala benefits SAH and supports its mission to promote the study, interpretation and conservation of the built environment worldwide.

The awards are as follows:

Award for Excellence in Design Planning and Sustainability

Honoring Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture for its innovative zero-energy skyscraper designs and publications on sustainability, including Toward Zero Carbon: The Chicago Central Area DeCarbonization Plan (2011).

Award for Excellence in Architectural Media

Honoring Judith Paine McBrien, director of The Archimedia Workshop, for a lifetime of documentary and interpretive filmmaking, including her 2009 film, Make No Little Plans: Daniel Burnham and the American City.

Award for Excellence in Architectural Criticism

Honoring Blair Kamin for his 21-year-role as the Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic at the Chicago Tribune. In addition to thousands of print and online columns, Kamin has written books including Terror and Wonder: Architecture in a Tumultuous Age (2010) and Why Architecture Matters: Lessons from Chicago (2003). 

Award for Excellence in Architectural Stewardship

Honoring Zoë Ryan, Alison Fisher and Karen Kice of the Department of Architecture and Design at the Art Institute of Chicago, for their expansion of the department’s focus to include contemporary and historic architecture and design and for their efforts to engage the public in discussions about how architecture and design shape our modern world.

The Awards Gala benefits the Society and its initiatives, including SAH Archipedia, an interactive, media-rich online encyclopedia of American architecture, available at sah-archipedia.org. The gala will include a buffet, cocktails and a silent auction. The gala co-chairs are Jonathan Fine, AIA, founder of Preservation Chicago, and James Nagle, FAIA, and Jack Hartray, FAIA, of Chicago-based Nagle Hartray Architecture. Journalist and architecture critic Edward Lifson will serve as event emcee.

Gala tickets are $150 per person (tax-deductible portion $50) and may be purchased online at sah.org/gala starting October 1, 2013.

Sponsorship opportunities are available. Please contact Anne Bird at abird@sah.org or call 312-573-1365 for more information.

###

The Society of Architectural Historians promotes the study, interpretation and conservation of architecture, design, landscapes and urbanism worldwide. SAH serves a network of local, national and international institutions and individuals who, by vocation or avocation, focus on the built environment and its role in shaping contemporary life. SAH is headquartered in Chicago’s historic Charnley-Persky House, one of the few extant Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright residences. The Society publishes its quarterly print Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (JSAH) and the Buildings of the United States book series, organizes study tours and hosts the SAH Annual Conference. SAH’s digital resources include SAH Archipedia, a media-rich online encyclopedia of American architecture, and SAHARA, a shared online image archive for teaching and research. To learn more about SAH or to become a member, visit sah.org.