The Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis will honor four outstanding architecture alumni at its 13th annual Distinguished Alumni Awards Dinner April 6.
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 will be Soo K. Chan (BArch ’84) of Singapore, Eric Haesloop (BArch ’77) of Berkeley, Calif., Sandra Ford Mendler (BArch ’81) of San Francisco, and Jimmie E. Tucker (MArch ’81) of Memphis.
In addition, Corinna Cotsen (MArch and MSCE ’83) of Santa Monica, Calif., the former Ethan A.H. Shepley Trustee at Washington University and a longtime member of the Architecture National Council, will receive the 2006 Dean’s Medal, which honors exceptional dedication and advocacy on behalf of the school and the profession.
Brian Vitale (March ’95), a senior designer in the Chicago office of Gensler, will receive the Young Alumni Award.
The awards ceremony will take place at the Lindell Pavilion in Forest Park, 5595 Grand Drive. For more information, contact Aly Abrams, (314) 935-7223 or Aly.Abrams@wustl.edu.
Dating back to 1910, the Sam Fox School’s College of Architecture/Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design was one of eight founding members of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture. In 1962, it launched one of the nation’s first Master of Urban Design programs. Four winners of the Pritzker Prize, considered architecture’s highest honor, have taught at the school.
DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARDS
Soo Chan, AIA, MSIA, RIBA (BArch ’84)
Singapore
Soo Chan is founding principal and design director of SCDA Architects in Singapore.
Born in Penang, Malaysia, Chan earned a bachelor of arts degree in architecture from Washington University in 1984 and a master of architecture degree from Yale University in 1987. A registered architect in both Singapore and the United States, Chan founded SCDA Architects in 1995, prior to which he served as project designer for Kohn Pederson Fox Associates in New York and as an associate with Architects 61 in Singapore.
SCDA has completed major commercial, residential and master planning projects in South-East 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). The firm’s work has been published extensively in international books and journals, including Architectural Review, Architectural Record and World Architecture. In 2003, Architectural Record named SCDA as one of the 10 Design Vanguard firms reshaping the globe.
Chan has taught and conducted seminars at the National University in Singapore; was visiting professor at Syracuse University; and has lectured at Notre Dame and Tamkan University in Tamsui, Taipei, among many others. He has served on a number of professional committees, including the 6th Sao Paulo International Biennial of Architecture and Design Commissioning Panel (2005) and the Design Singapore Advisory Committee (2003).
In addition, Chan’s projects have been included in the Venice Biennale 9th International Architecture Exhibition (2004); the ar d Emerging Architecture Exhibition in Copenhagen (2002); and Jewelry Design for the De Beers Millennium Collection in Singapore (1999), among others.
Eric Haesloop, AIA, LEED (BArch ’77)
Berkeley, Calif.
Eric Haesloop is principal of Turnbull Griffin Haesloop in Berkeley, Calif.
Raised in Indiana, Haesloop graduated cum laude from Washington University in 1977 with a bachelor of architecture degree and studied abroad in Spain and Germany. After earning a master of architecture degree from Yale University in 1981, he spent three years with Cesar Pelli & Associates in New Haven, Conn., and a year with Spencer Associates in Palo Alto, Calif.
In 1985, Haesloop joined William Turnbull Associates, the small yet prestigious firm founded in the 1960s by the renowned Bay Area modernist. Over the years he both collaborated with Turnbull and oversaw many of the firm’s residential projects. Prior to Turnbull’s death, in 1997, Haesloop became a partner in the firm, which he continues to direct with Turnbull’s widow, the architect Mary Griffin. He also has taught undergraduate and graduate design studios at the University of California in Berkeley.
A member of the U.S. Green Building Council and a LEED Accredited Professional, Haesloop is licensed to practice in California, Hawaii and Nevada. He has served on the San Francisco AIA Board of Directors and received 18 AIA design awards, including one National Honor Award, for the Long Meadow Ranch Winery interiors (2000), and four awards from the AIA/California Council. Other honors include two Residential Architect Merit awards and four Wood Design Awards. His work has been published in numerous books, journals and magazines, including, Architectural Record, Architecture California and Interiors.
Sandra Ford Mendler, AIA, LEED (BArch ’81)
San Francisco
Sandra Ford Mendler, AIA is a vice president and sustainable design principal for the San Francisco office of Hellmuth Obata & Kassabaum.
Mendler earned a bachelor of arts degree in architecture from Washington University in 1981 and a bachelor of architecture degree from New York’s Pratt Institute in 1986. She worked at several firms, including the New York offices of Kohn Pederson Fox and Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer, before joining HOK’s Washington, D.C., office in 1991.
Major projects at HOK include the EPA Campus in Research Triangle Park, NC, and headquarters facilities for The Nature Conservancy, National Wildlife Federation and the World Resources Institute. Currently, she is leading the design effort for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Pacific Region Center in Hawaii.
Since 1992, 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 topics such as 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 by Mendler, Odell and Lazarus), now in its second edition, which is widely considered to be one of the major texts on the topic. Other publications include “The Greening Curve: Lessons Learned in the Design of the New EPA Campus in North Carolina” (2001) as well as numerous journal articles and book chapters.
Currently serving a second term on the U.S. Green Building Council National Board of Directors, Mendler has been involved in early and ongoing development of the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Rating System. She is a past chair of the American Institute of Architects’ national Committee on the Environment (COTE), founding chair of the Washington, D.C. COTE branch, and served as a member of President Clinton’s “Greening the Pentagon” task force.
Additional honors include the inaugural “Sustainable Design Leadership Award” from the International Interior Design Association (2001); and the national Environmental Sensitivity Award from the Construction Specifications Institute (1998). In 2004, Interiors & Sources magazine name Mendler one of “25 Environmental Champions.”
Jimmie E. Tucker, AIA, NCARB (MArch ’81)
Memphis
Jimmie E. Tucker is founding principal of Self Tucker Architects, Inc., a full-service, Memphis-based architecture, interiors and planning firm.
Born in Memphis, Tucker earned a bachelor of architecture and urban planning degree from Princeton University in 1977 and a master of architecture degree from Washington University in 1981. After stints with firms in St. Louis, Tucker moved to New York and met his future business partner, Juan R. Self, while working on a project through McKissack & McKissack. The pair launched Self Tucker Architects in 1995.
A registered architect in Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama, Tucker has developed numerous commercial, educational, religious, civic and residential projects throughout the Mid-south. He served as project manager for Memphis City Schools during the largest building expansion in the system’s history. Other major projects include the STAX Museum of American Soul Music and STAX Music Academy, part of a $100 million revitalization to Memphis’ storied Soulsville USA neighborhood; and the 2001 expansion of the National Civil Rights Museum, located on the site of Memphis’ Lorraine Motel, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.
Today Self Tucker’s staff of 22 is headquartered in Memphis with a satellite office in Nashville. The firm recently purchased the Universal Life Building in downtown Memphis, which they plan to renovate into one of the area’s premiere office buildings.
Self Tucker has won numerous design awards from the American Institute of Architects, the Memphis Landmarks Commission and the National Organization of Minority Architects. The Memphis Black Business Association named them Outstanding New Business in 1996 and Business of the Year in 1997 and 2000. Other honors include a Certificate of Achievement from the City of Memphis; a certificate of appreciation from Shelby County; and The Tennessee Volunteer Commendation Award from Tennessee Governor Don Sundquist.
YOUNG ALUMNI AWARD
Brian Vitale, LEED (MArch ’95)
Chicago
Brian Vitale is a senior architectural designer at the Chicago office of Gensler. In addition, since 2001 Vitale has served as adjunct professor for the University of Illinois/Chicago School of Architecture and last year joined the design faculty at the University of Illinois/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 with honors from Washington University in 1995. While at Washington University, he received the American Institute of Architects’ Scholastic Gold Medal and Certificate, as well as first prize in the “Cultural Expressions in Architecture” competition and a Citation of Merit in the international “Progressive Architecture/American Plywood Association Innovations in Housing Competition.”
A founding member of the award-winning boutique firm von Weise Associates, and later 4240 Architecture, Vitale joined Gensler this month. Vitale also served as project designer for Booth Hansen Associates in Chicago from 1996 to 1999, during which time the firm received AIA Chicago Firm of the Year honors.
Recent awards and exhibitions include a Chicago AIA Design Citation of Merit for Our Lady of Guadalupe Church (2000), a Notable Design Award for the Chicago Public Schools Competition (2001) and an Honorable Mention for the Chicago Portal Competition (2003). His work was included in the 2003 exhibition “Speculative Chicago: A Compendium of Architectural Innovation.” Most recently, Vitale was selected to design a 300,000-square-foot office facility for the State of New Mexico, and was just awarded an Honorable Mention in Pittsburgh’s West End Bridge Competition (2006).
Vitale was recently appointed to the Art Institute of Chicago’s Committee on Architecture and is currently president of the Board of Directors for the Chicago Architectural Club, the nation’s oldest architectural organization. In 2005 he collaborated with the City of Chicago and Mayor Richard M. Daley to find alternative uses for the aging water tanks atop the city’s industrial buildings. The resulting international competition drew 182 submissions from 11 countries.
Vitale is currently preparing an exhibition based on his most recent studio at Urbana-Champaign. The show will open in Chicago in June 2006.
DEAN’S MEDAL FOR SERVICE
Corinna Cotsen (MArch and MSCE ’83)
Santa Monica, Calif.
Corinna Cotsen has served on Washington University’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, Cotsen earned a bachelor’s degree in art history from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1978. In 1983, she received a master of architecture degree from Washington University’s School of Architecture while simultaneously earning an MSCE from the School of Engineering & Applied Sciences.
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.
Cotsen was appointed Washington University’s Ethan A.H. Shepley Trustee in 2001. She also has served as chair of the university’s Los Angeles regional cabinet and co-chair of the Campaign for Washington University committee for the Los Angeles region.
Cotsen currently serves on the board of the Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles. She is a past president of the Friends of the Junior Arts Center in Barnsdall Art Park in Los Angeles.
Cotsen lives in Santa Monica, Calif., with her husband, Lee Rosenbaum, and their three children: Chiara, 12; Emmett, 10; and Anthea, 7.