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James Stewart Polshek: The Latest Architecture and News

Paying Tribute to the Influential Architects We Have Recently Lost

The profession of architecture is often marked by those individuals who employ their talent and resources to enable change and bring forth a vision for a better future. While some of them began their careers with bold gestures that captured the attention of the architectural world and changed paradigms, others worked in a more quiet manner, shifting the focus to the users of the space and asking themselves how they can best contribute to enriching the lives of those around them. 

As the new year begins, we pause to look back to the architects who have passed away over the course of the last year but whose legacy and contribution to architecture outlive them. Among them, we remember Pritzker Prize laureate and pioneer of the High-Tech Richard Rogers, Post-Modern icon Ricardo Bofill, the thoughtful Gyo Obata, advocate and innovator Doreen Adengo, social housing pioneer Renée Gailhoustet and the many-sided Pritzker Prize laureate Arata Isozaki.

James Stewart Polshek: Reflections on a Life in Architecture

This article was originally published on Common Edge.

Jim Polshek, who died at 92 last week, was an award-winning architect (AIA Gold Medal, 2018), designer, public advocate, and educator (architecture dean at Columbia, 1973–1987). He was a Midwesterner, born in Akron, Ohio, who went on to open his own practice in 1963, when he founded James Stewart Polshek Architects. Ultimately, the practice became internationally recognized as Polshek Partnership Architects. In 2010, the partners renamed the firm Ennead Architects, and he remained involved as a design consultant.

James Stewart Polshek, Founding Partner of Polshek Partnership, Now Ennead Architects, Dies at 92

James Stewart Polshek, founding partner of James Stewart Polshek Architect, later Polshek Partnership, and currently Ennead Architects, has passed away after a 70-year-long career designing significant works of public architecture. In an era dominated by so-called starchitects, his work is often seen as a modest approach to architecture, prioritizing social values over aesthetic ones. Key projects completed by Polshek include the 1987 restoration and renovation of New York’s Carnegie Hall; the Rose Center for Earth and Space at the American Museum of Natural History in New York (2000); the William J Clinton Presidential Center and Park (2004) and the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia (2010).

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James Stewart Polshek Wins 2018 AIA Gold Medal

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has named James Stewart Polshek, FAIA, as the recipient of the 2018 AIA Gold Medal. Lauded by the AIA for his “unparalleled vision and leadership,” Polshek has enjoyed fruitful professional and academic careers as a founding partner of James Stewart Polshek Architect (later Polshek Partnership and currently Ennead Architects) and a former dean of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.

Honoring “an individual or pair of architects whose significant body of work has had a lasting influence on the theory and practice of architecture,” the AIA Gold Medal is often considered the highest honor awarded in the United States for architecture.

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"Every Building is a Social Critique" - Polshek Describes His Oeuvre in Latest Book

While architects don't always see the connection between politics, social constructs, and architecture, James Stewart Polshek considers the three indivisible. In an interview on Metropolis Magazine about his newly released book Build, Memory, he describes how this belief launched his career 65 years ago. To learn more about Polshek's approach to architecture and the publication, click here.

ArchDaily takes on the National Mall by Bike

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Washington National Monument and the United States Capitol Building © Karissa Rosenfield / ArchDaily

Partially cloudy with a high in the mid-seventies, this was weather we couldn’t say no to on the Sunday after the 2012 National Convention. Therefore we took advantage of the Washington D.C. Capital Bikeshare and set off on a self-guided tour of the National Mall. Although the National Mall was packed with graduates and tourists, we managed to weave in and out of pedestrian traffic quick enough to visit many of the historic buildings and memorials before heading off to Eero Saarinen’s beautiful Dulles International Airport. What a perfect way to wrap up an eventful week in the nation’s capital.

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