Michael Graves Lifetime Achievement Award-Awardees
Inaugural Year
2004-Michael Graves, FAIA
American architect Michael Graves has been in the forefront of architectural design since he founded his practice in Princeton, New Jersey in 1964. As Robert Schirmer Professor of Architecture, Emeritus, at Princeton University, where he taught for almost 40 years, Graves is an influential theorist as well as a diversified and prolific designer. Since the early 1980s, his work directly influenced the transformation of urban architecture from the abstraction of commercial modernism toward an interest in context. Hailed in the New York Times by critic Paul Goldberger as "truly the most original voice American architecture has produced in some time," Graves has been the recipient of several of the most prestigious awards ever conferred upon architects in the United States. These include the 2001 Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects, the 1999 National Medal of Arts (a Presidential Award). and the $50,000 Frank Annunzio Award from the Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation.
Graves has been dubbed himself "a general practitioner," designing not only the interiors for the majority of his projects, but also a wide range of furnishings and artifacts, from furniture and lighting fixtures to jewelry and dinnerware, for companies such as Alessi, Steuben, and Disney, Phillips Electronics and Black and Decker. He has teamed with Target Stores to bring his signature style of design to a larger public in a wide variety of product categories. For the German partnership of Duravit, Dornbracht and Hoesch, he has created "Dreamscape," a bath fixtures and fittings collection, and for the Italian hardware manufacturer Valli and Valli, a series of door handles in various metals.
2007-J. Robert Hillier, FAIA
J. Robert Hillier is among the rare architects who understand the world of business as
well as design. Beginning as a solo practitioner in Princeton in 1966, Bob built his practice on the foundations of clientfocused
service and design excellence and turned it into one of the largest, most respected architectural practices in the United
States. Bob parlayed his business sense into a design specialty – the firm became an
established leader in the design of major corporate campuses for clients including
GlaxoSmithKline, Wyeth, Sprint and Capital One. The firm accumulated over 300
design awards over the past four decades, and along the way, Bob received his own share
of accolades for business acumen, leadership skills and contributions to the profession.
He was named New Jersey's "Entrepreneur of the Year" by INC Magazine, has received
the "Innovator of the Year" award from the Princeton Regional Chamber of
Commerce, and The DaVinci Award for Excellence in Leadership from the
Professional Services Management Association. In 2006, the American Institute of
Architects, New Jersey Chapter, recognized the firm's contributions to the art and practice
of architecture by naming Hillier Architecture "Firm of the Year." An indefatigable
entrepreneur, an advocate for open space, and a mentor to many, Bob sits on many
community boards and boards of academic institutions, and teaches at Princeton
University's School of Architecture, where he received his Bachelor's and Master's
degrees. Through his activities as both developer and architect, Bob has preserved over
300 acres of land in New Jersey; contributed to the supply of affordable housing in the
state by transforming abandoned properties into residences, and helped preserve the
state's architectural heritage by resurrecting historic buildings. Bob's deeply held convictions
about the role architecture plays in shaping the human experience earned him an
invitation to speak at the United Nations in 2006.
In 2007, Hillier merged with RMJM Group, an Edinburgh-based international architectural design practice, to form RMJM Hillier, the North American division of RMJM Group. The combined firm creates a super-studio positioned to deliver holistic architectural solutions anywhere in the world, with offices in 16 cities across North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, approximately 1,100 design professionals, and more than b15 billion in construction value of buildings currently under design. Bob assumed the position of Deputy Chairman of MJM Group, the holding company for RMJM, and continues to work on architectural projects while exploring new business opportunities across the globe.
2010-Eleanor Pettersen, FAIA (1916-2003)
Ms. Pettersen had a private practice in architecture, from 1952 to 2002.
Her career prior to that included analyzing enemy building structures for the National Defense Research Committee, working for the Tennessee Valley Authority and a Taliesin Fellowship with Frank Lloyd Wright.
Her practice included single and multifamily residential and commercial facilities with projects winning local design awards and international recognition.
Her firsts include:
- 1952 First woman in NJ to open a private practice in architecture, (1952 -2002)
- 1966 First woman recipient, Cooper Union Professional Achievement Citation
- 1969 First woman awarded AIANJ Design Award for Single Family Dwelling
- 1978 First woman President of the NJ Board of Architects
- 1985 First woman President of AIANJ
- 1987-9 First woman AIANJ Regional Director
- 1991 One of the first woman awarded FAIA
Her work is archived and electronically accessible at the International Archive of Woman in Architecture at Virginia Tech (http://www.spec.lib.vt.edu/iawa/).