The Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis honored seven outstanding architecture and art alumni at its fifth annual Awards for Distinction dinner April 26.
The awards recognized graduates who have demonstrated creativity, innovation, leadership and vision through their contributions to the practices of art, architecture and design, as well as to Washington University and the Sam Fox School.
In addition, architect Juhani Pallasmaa, Architect SAFA, Hon. FAIA, Int FRIBA, of Helsinki, Finland, received the 2012 Dean’s Medal, which honors an individual whose extraordinary contributions have elevated the fields of art, architecture and design.
Distinguished architecture alumni for 2012 were Ann Meredith Rolland, AIA, LEED (BA ’80/MArch ’82) and Stephen Yablon, AIA, LEED AP (BA ’75), both of New York. In addition, John Kleinschmidt (BA ’08) and Andrew Sternad (BA ’09) of New Orleans received the Young Alumni Award.
Distinguished art alumni for 2012 were Paul Dillinger (BFA ’94) of San Francisco and Anthony Goldschmidt (BFA ’65) of Los Angeles. Aaron A. Duffy (BFA ’06) of Brooklyn, N.Y., received the Young Alumni Award.
The awards ceremony took place at the Coronado Ballroom.
Awards for distinction honorees
Paul Dillinger (BFA ’94)
San Francisco
Dillinger is senior director of global design for Levi Strauss & Co.’s Dockers brand. There, he has launched two new collections—K-1 by Dockers and The Art of Khaki — and sought to develop sustainability in both supply chain and design process.
He previously worked as a fashion designer and brand development specialist at fashion houses in New York, including Calvin Klein and DKNY, and in 2005 launched the Martin + Osa brand for American Eagle Outfitters. The first Fulbright Scholar in fashion design, he also holds a Master of Fine Arts from the Domus Academy in Milan, Italy.
Anthony Goldschmidt (BFA ’65)
Los Angeles
Goldschmidt is founder and president of Intralink Film Graphic Design, an industry-leading creative motion picture marketing company. After earning his MFA from Yale University, Goldschmidt began his career in 1967 as an art director at J. Walter Thompson in New York and as a production assistant at Warner Bros.
In 1979, he founded Intralink, the first creative design group to offer integrated print and audio-visual materials for motion picture marketing. Projects range from campaigns for E.T., The Color Purple and The Da Vinci Code, among many others, to design and branding of the 2012 Academy Awards.
Ann Meredith Rolland, AIA, LEED (BA ’80/MArch ’82)
New York
In a career focused almost exclusively on the design of cultural and educational buildings, Rolland has extensive experience in the renovation and expansion of existing buildings — primarily in the New York City region — transforming spaces into new environments that enrich, enliven and reflect the singular personality of each institution.
As a principal of FXFOWLE, which she joined in 1997, Rolland has led the development of its 25-person Cultural/Educational Studio from its inception and also serves on the firm’s Steering Committee. In addition, Rolland has worked with the Department of City Planning, the Landmarks Preservation Commission and other New York City agencies in developing compliant yet forward-thinking solutions.
Stephen Yablon, AIA, LEED AP, (BA ’75)
New York
Yablon is founder and partner-in-charge of Stephen Yablon Architect (SYA), a New York-based office widely recognized for open, light-filled and carefully detailed spaces that respond to context and encourage social interaction.
SYA has designed institutional and commercial facilities as well as residential projects for a wide range of clients, including Columbia University, the City of New York, New York University’s Langone Medical Center and Sony. Some of the firm’s most notable work has involved public projects for underserved communities, including two created under the auspices of New York’s Design and Construction Excellence program.
Young Alumni Award
Aaron A. Duffy (BFA ’06)
Brooklyn, NY
Duffy is a partner and creative director at 1stAveMachine — which works with ad agencies and brands to create video, digital and experiential content across media platforms — and co-founder of the firm’s “alter-ego,” the mixed media animation studio SpecialGuest.
His numerous awards include first place at the Stuttgart International Trickfilm Festival, as well as bronze, silver and gold at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. His work has been inducted into MoMA’s archive for The Art and Technique of the American Commercial, and he was featured in AdAge’s “Creativity Awards Report 2011” as one of the top 10 commercial directors.
John Kleinschmidt (BA ’08)
Andrew Sternad (BA ’09)
New Orleans
Kleinschmidt and Sternad are intern architects at Waggonner & Ball Architects in New Orleans, where they have focused primarily on water management, infrastructure and spatial planning projects for the region.
As leaders in Dutch Dialogues, the firm’s pro bono water planning advocacy effort, the pair has worked with multidisciplinary teams of Dutch and American experts to re-envision New Orleans as a delta city that incorporates water into its urban planning strategies. They are actively involved in facilitating New Orleans-based projects for the Sam Fox School and have exhibited speculative proposals and interactive installations dealing with water and landscape in the Mississippi Delta.
Dean’s Medal
Juhani Pallasmaa, Architect SAFA, Hon. FAIA, Int FRIBA
Helsinki, Finland
A distinguished architect, educator and critic, Pallasmaa is a leading international figure in contemporary architecture, design and art culture. Since 2008, he has served on the jury for the Pritzker Prize for Architecture.
From 2001-03, Pallasmaa was the Sam Fox School’s Raymond E. Maritz Visiting Professor of Architecture and he continues to work with students in the Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design’s international semester program in Helsinki.
In 2006, the Sam Fox School’s Peter MacKeith edited Encounters – Architectural Essays, a collection of Pallasmaa’s writings. Other books include The Embodied Image (2011), The Thinking Hand (2009), The Architecture of Image (2001) and The Eyes of the Skin (1996), the latter now a standard text in studios and seminars around the world.
Pallasmaa’s Helsinki-based practice has completed notable projects around the world, including the SIIDA Museum in Inari, Finland, an ethnographic museum and exhibition space for the Sami peoples of Northern Scandinavia; and renovations of the Finnish Institute in Paris and the Rovaniemi Art Museum in Finland.
Other major projects include collaborating on the design of the International Moscow Bank, which received the Russian Federation Architecture Award in 1996, that country’s most prestigious architectural honor.
Pallasmaa is an Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and has received the Finnish State Architecture Award (1992); the Helsinki City Culture Award (1993); the Fritz Schumacher Prize (Germany, 1997); and the Jean Tschumi Prize for Architectural Criticism, International Union of Architects (1999), among other honors.
The Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts
The Sam Fox School is a unique collaboration in architecture, art and design education. Offering professional studio programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, the Sam Fox School links four academic units — the College of Art, College of Architecture, Graduate School of Art and Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design — with the university’s nationally recognized Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum.
For more information about the awards, contact Aly Abrams at (314) 935-7223 or aly.abrams@wustl.edu. For more information about Sam Fox School, visit samfoxschool.wustl.edu.