Architect Moshe Safdie discusses his vision of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art with its founder, Alice Walton. | (Screenshot courtesy of the Crystal Bridges YouTube channel.)
Getting lost in the holiday shuffle was the news that the American Institute of Architects had awarded architect Moshe Safdie its 2015 AIA Gold Medal, regarded as the profession’s highest honor.
You may know Safdie as the designer of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, and, in fact, the AIA listed the museum as among the Israeli-born architect’s most notable structures, along with the Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum in Jerusalem, the Salt Lake City Main Public Library and the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, a high-density urban district.
The AIA said that Safdie’s “comprehensive and humane approach to designing public and cultural spaces across the world has touched millions of people and influenced generations of younger architects.”
Safdie, 76, is currently based in Boston with offices in Jerusalem and Shanghai. He’s a citizen of Israel, Canada (where he moved with his family as a teen) and the United States.
Safdie is the AIA’s 71st gold medalist, joining Thomas Jefferson, Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan, Le Corbusier and Arkansas’ own Fay Jones, who received the medal in 1990.
Safdie will be honored at the 2015 AIA National Convention in Atlanta in May. Former President Bill Clinton is scheduled to give the keynote address.
(Read more about Arkansas AIA Award winners here.)
Sign up for Daily E-news
