by: Camila Schaulson Frenz
The Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University, designed by Chicago architecture legends Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan in 1889, was the perfect setting for the investiture ceremony for 139 new AIA Fellows, including 11 members of the AIA New York Chapter. Out of 80,000 AIA members, around 3,000 are distinguished with this honor nationwide. Our own Chapter of just over 5,000 members includes 283 AIA Fellows.
The new inductees were presented by Craig E. Rafferty, AIA, chair of the Jury of Fellows, and led up to the stage by former AIA presidents, including AIANY’s George Miller, FAIA. Here, they received their medals from AIA President Helene Combs Dreiling, FAIA, and Chancellor of the College of Fellows William J. Stanley III, FAIA. Apart from a few children cheering for their parents, the audience respectfully followed Lafferty’s request and refrained from applauding until the end of the ceremony, except when Julia Morgan’s granddaughter accepted her grandmother’s posthumous AIA Gold Medal on her grandmother’s behalf.
The audience also celebrated AIANY inductees:
Morris Adjmi, FAIA, Morris Adjmi Architects
Andrew D. Berman, FAIA, Andrew Berman Architect (Center for Architecture architect)
Nestor Bottino, FAIA, Holzman Moss Bottino Architecture
Deborah Gans, FAIA, Gans Studio
Fanny T. Gong, FAIA, Columbia University Manhattanville Development
Robert Arthur King, FAIA, Robert Arthur King, Architect
Rafael Pelli, FAIA, Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects
Peter Pennoyer, FAIA, Peter Pennoyer Architects
Jennifer Sage, FAIA, Sage and Coombe Architects (AIANY Alternate Director for Design Excellence)
Henry Smith-Miller, FAIA, Smith-Miller + Hawkinson Architects
Jonathan Newell Stark, FAIA, Perkins Eastman
The fortress-like exterior of the Auditorium Building belies the delicately-gilded, expansive auditorium. The space’s optimal sightlines and unrivaled acoustics, along with its lavish decoration – mosaics, bucolic murals, and plaster reliefs – set it apart as an example of design excellence, inspiring the new Fellows to continue to work toward advancing the architectural profession.