School Notes: School of Architecture
March/April 2016

Alumnus wins Driehaus Prize

Scott Merrill ’84MArch is the seventh Yale School of Architecture alumnus to win the Richard H. Driehaus Prize at the University of Notre Dame. The prize, which includes a $200,000 award, was established in 2003 to recognize lifetime contributions to traditional, classical, and sustainable architecture and urbanism in the modern world. Merrill is the founder and principal designer of Merrill, Pastor & Colgan Architects in Vero Beach, Florida. The firm, known for its innovative use of traditional forms, has designed projects all over the world.

Spring architecture talks

The school’s spring lecture series will feature talks by several prominent architects: Stig L. Andersson, Francine Houben, Dame Zaha Hadid, and Dean Robert A. M. Stern ’65MArch.

Andersson will speak on “Empowerment of Aesthetics” on March 28. A Danish landscape architect, he is founder and creative director of Copenhagen-based SLA, a consulting firm that works with landscape, urban design, and city planning. Houben’s address on March 31 is titled “People, Place, Purpose,” reflecting the three fundamental concepts of her architectural vision. A Dutch architect, she is founder and director of Mecanoo, which in September 2015 was selected to lead the renovation of the New York Public Library’s flagship building.

Hadid will present “Current Work” on April 7. She is the Lord Norman Foster Visiting Professor at the School of Architecture this semester. Hadid is responsible for 950 projects in 44 countries and was the first woman to win the Pritzker Prize. On February 2, Professor Hadid was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Institute of British Architects—also a first for a woman. Dean Stern, the J. M. Hoppin Professor of Architecture, will deliver the opening address at the J. Irwin Miller Symposium on April 14. His topic is “Pedagogy and Place: Celebrating 100 Years of Architecture at Yale.” In addition to serving as dean of SoA since 1998, he is founder and senior partner of Robert A. M. Stern Architects, and is the designer of Yale’s two new residential colleges, now under construction.