By Diane Dorney
Each year, the Richard H. Driehaus Prize jury travels together to a city of architectural significance to select an architect who has greatly influenced the field of traditional and classical architecture. This group of six has convened in places like London, Washington, D.C., Buenos Aires, New York City and Chicago where they have spent time exploring the city’s urban fabric together while contemplating potential architects for the next year’s Driehaus Prize. This year, the jury will meet in Seaside Nov. 8 and 9 for this same purpose.
Established in 2003 in conjunction with the University of Notre Dame where the awards are presented annually in the spring, the Richard H. Driehaus Prize honors, promotes and encourages architectural excellence that applies the principles of traditional, classical and sustainable architecture and urbanism in contemporary society and environments.
Richard H. Driehaus, the founder and chairman of Driehaus Capital Management in Chicago, established the award program through Notre Dame because of its reputation as a national leader in incorporating the ideals of traditional and classical architecture into the task of modern urban development.
The panel of jurors is comprised of an all-star cast of architecture-related professionals: Adele Chatfield-Taylor, President of the American Academy in Rome; architecture critic Paul Goldberger and author Witold Rybczynski; world-renowned architects Léon Krier and Demetri Porphyrios; and Seaside founder, Robert Davis.
While in the Panhandle, the group will tour Seaside, Rosemary Beach, Alys Beach and WaterColor, hold meetings at the Rossi House and have dinner at Bud & Alley’s.
In addition to the Driehaus Prize, the jury also honors another individual each year with the Henry Hope Reed Award for notable contributions to the promotion and preservation of classical art and architecture. Together, the $200,000 Driehaus Prize and the $50,000 Reed Award represent the most significant recognition for classicism in the contemporary built environment.
The winner of the 2014 Driehaus Prize will be announced in December.
Past Winners:
Pier Carlo Bontempi (2014)
Thomas H. Beeby (2013)
Michael Graves (2012)
Robert A.M. Stern (2011)
Rafael Manzano Martos (2010)
Abdel-Wahed El-Wakil (2009)
Andrés Duany and Elizabeth
Plater-Zyberk (2008)
Jaquelin T. Robertson (2007)
Allan Greenberg (2006)
Quinlan Terry (2005)
Demetri Porphyrios (2004)
Léon Krier (2003)