Michael A. Fitts, FAIA Photo: Courtesy the State of Tennessee Michael A. Fitts, FAIA, didn’t think he would receive the Thomas Jefferson Award for Public Architecture when he helped launch the prize in 1991. Back then, the American Institute of Architects’ Committee on Public Architecture had a threefold objective: to recognize advocacy and achievement in public architecture; to raise the stature of public architects; and to promote architecture in the mainstream and in the profession. But fittingly, after 36 years pursuing exactly these goals as the state architect of Tennessee, Fitts is being lauded with one of two

Recognizing the role that architects can play in lessening the impact of climate change on the built environment, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) has awarded the 2007 Latrobe Prize to a team of architects and engineers who are researching waterfront development and the ramifications of severe urban flooding. Guy Nordenson, founder of Guy Nordenson Associates and a Princeton University structural engineering professor, leads the seven-member group. Also on the team are Stan Allen, AIA, dean of the Princeton University School of Architecture; Catherine Seavitt, AIA, and James Smith, of Princeton University; Michael Tantala, of Tantala Associates; and Adam Yarinsky,

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is about to start walking the talk. Already garrulous on matters of sustainability, its leadership is evaluating a range of options for greening its headquarters in Washington, D.C. “We want to make our headquarters a demonstration project,” says RK Stewart, FAIA, the AIA’s president. “We have the opportunity to provide a great place for people to work and for our members to visit, and an opportunity to reach out and show the public what’s possible.” Photos: courtesy the AIA Designed by The Architects’ Collaborative, the Walter Gropius—led design firm based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the

It’s hard to imagine a battle raging where mariachi bands now play and tourists sip margaritas. Yet in 1836, the 187 defenders of the Alamo, including Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie, fought and died near the spot where later generations would build the San Antonio Riverwalk. Holes from bullets and cannon blasts remain in the old fort’s walls as a reminder of the Mexican forces’ siege. Photo: courtesy the Alamo It’s not these battle scars that have preservationists worried—they’re part of the building’s history—but they are concerned about the effect of 2.5 million visitors a year. Although asked not to

  Photo: courtesy KPF Colleagues of Kohn Pedersen Fox managing partner Gregory Clement III, FAIA, were hit hard when they learned of his death on April 11. “Toward the last year he was traveling a lot,” says senior associate principal Nick Dunn, AIA, “so not to see him for a while wasn’t out of the ordinary.” But in addition to snagging new business or navigating a bureaucratic minefield, Clement, a naturally charismatic 56-year-old, was fighting a two-year battle against melanoma. Clement joined KPF from I.M. Pei & Partners in 1984, and Dunn recalls that the two immediately clicked as a

Kisho Kurokawa can’t seem to catch a break these days. Just days after the Japanese architect lost his bid for the governorship of Tokyo, the Nakagin Capsule Tower, his best known building and one of the few built examples of the Metabolist movement, was given a date with the wrecking ball.

Less than two months after issuing a request for qualifications, as ArchRecord.com reported on March 19, the Barnes Foundation today revealed its shortlist of architects for a new museum and educational facility on Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia.

Editor’s note: You may read the news digest below or listen to it, plus other news headlines from ArchRecord.com, as a podcast below: Click the play button to begin | Click here to download Herzon & de Meuron were tapped to design a new football stadium for the coastal city of Portsmouth, England—that’s British football, by the way, known only in the U.S. as soccer. “We’ve taken the ingredients of the city and mixed them up—the docks, the sea, the transport, a city oriented to labor—and we’ve brought football into that,” Jacques Herzog told the U.K.’s Financial Times on April

  Photo: Courtesy Chris Schultz, AIA The 2007 National Convention and Design Exposition of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) opens next week in San Antonio. In this six-minute podcast, AIA San Antonio chapter president Chris Schultz, AIA, chats with McGraw-Hill Construction’s news director, Heather Hatfield, about how his organization is gearing up for the event. Local AIA chapters are responsible for organizing galas as well as tours of their cities. In this case, AIA San Antonio is offering more than 100 tours that highlight everything from the Alamo and other historic Spanish missions, to the dance halls of Texas.