AIA Awards 2019 Topaz Medallion to Toshiko Mori
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Toshiko Mori has won the 2019 AIA/ACSA Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architectural Education from the Board of Directors and the Strategic Council of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) along with the Association of Collegiate Schools of ArchitectuAIA Awards 2019 Topaz Medallion to Toshiko Mori
Toshiko Mori has won the 2019 AIA/ACSA Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architectural Education from the Board of Directors and the Strategic Council of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) along with the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA).The award honors an individual who has been intensely involved in architecture education for more than a decade and whose teaching has influenced a broad range of students, as per AIA.“Mori has been dedicated to both academia and practice. She challenges her students to become educator-practitioners themselves and harnesses academic inquiry and professional rigor to reshape the practice of architecture,” states AIA.Mori started her teaching career at the Cooper Union School of Architecture in 1983 at the invitation of dean John Hejduk. In 1995, Mori became the first female faculty member to receive tenure at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, where she still teaches today. She is also the first and only woman to serve as chair of the school’s architecture department, according to AIA.Supporting Mori’s nomination, Hashim Sarkis, dean of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s School of Architecture and Planning, wrote: “Toshiko the educator exercises the same generosity toward the students as she does her colleagues, and imbues each conversation or review with empathy that very few architectural critics have...What is unique about her teaching is the way she establishes open conversations with modern architecture through specific inquiries into projects, which then open up ideas to develop and evolve.”“Mori’s teaching philosophy is rooted in respect for individual talent, sensitive guidance, and productive dialogue. At Harvard, she has coordinated core studios, served as thesis director, and led courses on textiles and fabrication methods. In her current role as professor in architecture, she leads advanced seminars and travels with students around the world — from Finland to Senegal — encouraging the consideration of local contexts and community interests in their work,” writes AIA.Since 1981, Mori has maintained her own New York-based practice, Toshiko Mori Architect PLLC. The award will be presented to Mori at the AIA Conference on Architecture 2019 in Las Vegas. https://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder: Louise Blouin Read more