Australian Awarded America's Highest Architecture Award
Glenn Murcutt has been awarded the American Institute of Architects 2009 Gold Medal and is its first Australian recipient.
National President of the Australian Institute of Architects, Howard Tanner, today extended sincere congratulations to Murcutt, one of our finest and most highly-awarded architects, both in
Murcutt’s prestigious awards include the Gold Medal of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects in 1992, the Alvar Aalto Medal in 1992, the Richard Neutra Award for Teaching in 1998, the 'Green Pin' Award from the Royal Danish Academy of Architects in 1999, the Thomas Jefferson Medal for Architecture in 2001, the Pritzker Prize for Architecture in 2002 and the Kenneth F. Brown Asia Pacific Culture and Architecture Award in 2003.
As the 65th recipient of the American Gold Medal, Murcutt joins the ranks of visionaries such as Thomas Jefferson, Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan, Le Corbusier, Louis Kahn, I.M. Pei and last year’s recipient, Renzo Piano.
A sole practitioner, Murcutt is renowned for a high level of personal attention to detail and architecture of immense clarity and precise simplicity. His motto – “touching the earth lightly” – inspires an ecologically responsive and socially responsible approach in producing residential and institutional work across
“With his talent, vision and consistent commitment to architecture and the built environment, Glenn is a practitioner and teacher of tremendous influence,” said Mr Tanner.
“His architecture pays sensitive yet unsentimental attention to the Australian landscape and conditions, and the master classes he delivers worldwide to emerging and established architects take Australian architecture to the international arena,” said Mr Tanner.
The AIA Gold Medal is the highest honour the AIA confers on an individual whose significant body of work has had a lasting influence on the theory and practice of architecture. Murcutt will be presented the award at the American Architectural Foundation's Accent on Architecture Gala in February.
