AIA 2015 Awards

The American Institute of Architects has announced this year's architecture awards. The 2015 AIA Gold Medal Laureate is Canadian Jewish-born architect Moshe Safdie. He launched himself as an architectural personality with bold messages about the future of housing with the design of the Habitat 67 complex, his Master of Architecture thesis; he later refined his late modernist manifesto with a balanced and restrained approach to the design of public cultural spaces around the world.

Born in Haifa in 1938, Safdie moved with his family to Montréal in 1953. He studied architecture at McGill University in Quebec's provincial capital and, after graduating, worked in Philadelphia with Louis Kahn, another AIA Gold Medal winner, who greatly influenced his career. When he finished working with Kahn, Safdie was approached by Sandy van Ginkel, his former thesis advisor, to develop the master plan for the Expo 67 International and Universal Exposition in Montreal, which ran from April through October. During Expo 67 he also built a Habitat 67 pavilion. He held a series of teaching positions, culminating as director of the urban planning program at the Harvard Graduate School of Design from 1978-1984. Safdie has been based in Boston since 1978, but is a citizen of Canada, the United States and his native Israel, where he opened an office in Jerusalem in 1970. Among Moshe Safdie's most renowned works are the Salt Lake City Public Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem; the Bay Sands Marina in Singapore; the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas.

Also late last year, the AIA announced the 2015 Honorary Fe-llowship recipients, renowned architects who are not citizens or residents of the United States, honored by the AIA for exemplary achievement. The five honorees are architects Pedro Gubbins Foxley (Chile), Mei Hongyuan (China), Fuen-santa Nieto and Enrique Sobejano (Spa-nia), Jo Noreo (South Africa).

The award ceremony for all AIA Awards will take place at the 2015 AIA Convention in Atlanta, USA.