The Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts honored four outstanding architecture alumni at its 13th annual Distinguished Alumni Awards Dinner April 6 at the Lindell Pavilion in Forest Park, 5595 Grand Drive.
The Distinguished Alumni Awards recognize architecture graduates who have demonstrated creativity, innovation, leadership and vision through their contributions to both the practice of architecture and the school.
Recipients for 2006 were Soo K. Chan, Eric Haesloop, Sandra Ford Mendler and Jimmie E. Tucker.
In addition, Corinna Cotsen, a former Ethan A.H. Shepley Trustee at the University and a longtime member of the Architecture National Council, received the 2006 Dean’s Medal, which honors exceptional dedication and advocacy on behalf of the school and the profession.
And Brian Vitale, a senior designer at the Chicago office of Gensler, received the Young Alumni Award.
Chan is founding principal and design director of SCDA Architects in Singapore. Born in Penang, Malaysia, he earned a bachelor of arts degree in architecture from WUSTL in 1984 and a master of architecture degree from Yale University in 1987.
SCDA has completed major commercial, residential and master-planning projects in Southeast Asia, China, India, Australia, Africa and the United States.
The firm’s numerous honors include the Royal Institute of British Architects’ Worldwide Award (2005); the Gold Award at the Miami Biennale 2005 International Competition; the Gold Award for the ARCASIA Awards for Architecture (2005-06); and the Architectural Review Merit award for emerging architecture (2002). In 2003, Architectural Record named SCDA as one of the 10 Design Vanguard firms reshaping the globe.
Haesloop is principal of Turnbull Griffin Haesloop in Berkeley, Calif. Raised in Indiana, he graduated from WUSTL in 1977 with a bachelor of architecture degree and earned a master of architecture degree from Yale University in 1981. In 1985, he joined William Turnbull Associates — the small yet prestigious firm founded in the 1960s by the renowned Bay Area modernist — overseeing many of the firm’s residential projects.
Prior to Turnbull’s 1997 death, Haesloop became a partner in the firm, which he continues to direct with Turnbull’s widow, Mary Griffin. He has also taught undergraduate and graduate design studios at the University of California, Berkeley.
He has received 18 American Institute of Architects (AIA) design awards, including a National Honor Award and four awards from the AIA/California Council.
Mendler is vice president and sustainable-design principal for the San Francisco office of Hellmuth Obata & Kassabaum (HOK). She earned a bachelor of arts degree in architecture from WUSTL in 1981 and a bachelor of architecture degree from New York’s Pratt Institute in 1986.
Mendler has been integrally involved with the development and implementation of the HOK sustainable-design program. She led the development of the firm’s in-house resources for energy efficiency, indoor air quality, materials selection and low impact site development.
This work formed the foundation for The HOK Guidebook to Sustainable Design (co-authored with William Odell and Mary Ann Lazarus), now in its second edition. Major projects include headquarters facilities for The Nature Conservancy, National Wildlife Federation and the World Resources Institute.
Tucker is founding principal of Self Tucker Architects Inc. in his native Memphis. He earned a bachelor of architecture and urban planning degree from Princeton University in 1977 and a master of architecture degree from WUSTL in 1981.
Since launching Self Tucker in 1995, Tucker has developed numerous commercial, educational, religious, civic and residential projects throughout the mid-South, including the STAX Museum of American Soul Music and STAX Music Academy; and the 2001 expansion of the National Civil Rights Museum, located on the site of Memphis’ Lorraine Motel, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.
Cotsen has served on WUSTL’s Architecture National Council since 1996 and recently concluded a four-year term on the University’s Board of Trustees. Born in Boston and raised in Los Angeles, she earned a bachelor’s degree in art history from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1978.
In 1983, she earned a master of architecture degree from the WUSTL School of Architecture while simultaneously earning a master of science in civil engineering from the School of Engineering & Applied Science.
After graduation, Cotsen began practicing architecture in Los Angeles and later moved into the field of construction management, founding Edifice Complex, a building-contracting firm based in Santa Monica, Calif.
Vitale is a senior architectural designer at the Chicago office of Gensler, an adjunct professor for the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Architecture, and on the design faculty at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Born and raised in Chicago, Vitale earned a bachelor of science degree in architectural studies from the University of Illinois in 1993 and a master of architecture degree from WUSTL in 1995.
A founding member of the award-winning boutique firm von Weise Associates, and later 4240 Architecture, he was recently appointed to the Art Institute of Chicago’s Committee on Architecture and is president of the board of directors for the Chicago Architectural Club.