Three GSD Alumni Recognized by the Architectural League of New York
Three alumni of the GSD have been elected for one of the most coveted awards in North American architecture: The Architectural League of New York’s 2016 Emerging Voices. Jon Lott MArch ’05, design critic in architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and Alex Anmahian MArch ’90 and Nick Winton MArch ’90, principals and co-founders of Cambridge-based Anmahian Winton Architects, have been named to this prestigious program for architects and designers.
The annual Emerging Voices Award spotlights “North American individuals and firms with distinct design ‘voices’ that have the potential to influence the disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design.” According to Program Director Anne Rieselbach, “The 2016 ‘Voices,’ each responding to distinct geographic sites and typologies, all compellingly address the relationship between architecture and place by resourcefully synthesizing programmatic invention with computational production and the craft of building.” The 2016 Emerging Voices will present lectures in March and April at The Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Center for Thought and Culture in New York City.
This invite only, jury selected competition is based on the criteria of “significant bodies of realized work and considers accomplishments within the design and academic communities.” This year’s jury included three judges with GSD connections: Henry N. Cobb AB ’47 MArch ’49, former chair of the Department of Architecture; Susannah Drake MArch ’95, MLA ’95, founding principal of DLANDstudio; and Billie Tsien, the John C. Portman Design Critic at the GSD. Other jury members include Sunil Bald, Mario Gooden, Karrie Jacobs, Anna Kats, and Thomas Phifer.
Jon Lott’s lecture on Tuesday, March 22, provided an invigorating opening to the Emerging Voices Lecture Series. This past Architectural League Prize winner is honored to be selected for this lecture series with its highly influential past recipients. The recognition provided an opportunity for career reflection, with Lott embracing his ‘awkward stage’ both within his professional arcs and the broader disciplinary arcs. He is currently focused on “how best to prolong and mine those ‘awkward moments’ within the arc of single projects.”
In addition to his teaching at the GSD, Lott is Principal at PARA Project and Co-Founder of Collective-LOK along with William O’Brien, Jr. MArch ’05 and Michael Kubo MArch ’06. He and his colleagues added an element of intimacy and intrigue to New York’s Times Square for Valentine’s Day 2016. As winners of The Center for Architecture’s annual Times Square Valentine Heart Design competition for a “romantic public art installation,” Collective–LOK designed Heart of Hearts, which presented a ringed arrangement of nine golden, mirrored, heart-shaped panels, each 10 feet in height. Other recent works include four projects in Syracuse, New York: the Haffenden House residence, the Crawford Attic Writing Room, La Casita, and the Huntington Hall at Syracuse University’s School of Education. The Haffenden House, a writing studio for two poets, enabled Lott to pursue practice as research. According to Lott, “It addresses the suburban context and the repetitive image of “house”—creating a blank space for retreat, reflection, and writing.” The interplay of creative freedom with client trust was exemplified in this project: “The most important thing in any project is to have a client that trusts you,” explained Lott. He was motivated to return to the GSD in 2014 to teach as a result of his student experience: “I had such a great experience as a student, and so it’s a nice challenge to try to return the favor, but it’s also very exciting to see the direction Dean Mohsen Mostafavi, Department of Architecture Chair Iñaki Ábalos, and Professor Grace La are taking the School now and the new faculty in the mix.”
Jon Lott | PARA Project, Haffenden House, Syracuse, NY | Photo by Nathan Rader, © Jon Lott
On Tuesday, April 12, Alex Anmahian and Nick Winton will deliver their Emerging Voices Lecture, revealing their thinking, influences, and lessons learned. The duo is pleased to join the company of the past prestigious honorees: “We have admired many of the past winners, including our friends and colleagues, and we like the philosophy of the award as representing a body of work that has the potential to influence design disciplines.” The timing of their lecture coincides with the completion of their first tall building in Ankara, Turkey and their recently finished astronomical observatory in New Hampshire. “We think the timing is good for us, in that our body of work has expanded over the past few years and we’re optimistic about what we’re doing,” explained Anmahian and Winton.
Capital Vista Office Rendering. Project Location: Ankara, Turkey
Anmahian and Winton maintain close ties to the GSD. Winton is a member of the GSD’s Alumni Council, which promotes the engagement of the alumni community and the advancement of the GSD in the world. They both recently returned to Gund Hall, this time as jury members of noted architect John Tuomey’s studio. When reflecting back on their time at the GSD as students, they were greatly influenced by the strong sense of camaraderie and class unity, and most importantly, it “was very much informed by Rafael Moneo’s [Josep Lluís Sert Professor in Architecture] influence and the intense and rigorous vibe that it engendered.” Outside the GSD, they are visiting faculty: Anmahian at MIT and Winton at RISD.
To learn more and register for the 2016 Emerging Voices Lectures, visit the Architectural League’s website.