Founder of Thomas Phifer and Partners to Present Lecture on Nov. 3

Photo Submitted

This is a rendering for a new museum for the Glenstone Foundation in Potomac, Maryland. (Rendering by Peter Guthrie, courtesy of Thomas Phifer and Partners)

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Thomas Phifer, founder of Thomas Phifer and Partners, will present a lecture at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 3, in Ken and Linda Sue Shollmier Hall, Room 250 of Vol Walker Hall, on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville, as part of the Fay Jones School of Architecture lecture series. He will present the current work of the firm.

In describing Thomas Phifer and Partners, he said, “In all of our work, we seek a natural economy of elements through order grounded in nature and predicated on conservation. We shape the character of our architecture through passive solar and ventilation strategies, incorporating ancient and modern principles of air movement. We consciously aim for simplicity – in planning, our use of light and air, building organization and circulation – because it is our experience that simplicity leads to economy, efficiency and improved performance.”

Phifer is an architect who approaches modernism from a humanistic standpoint, connecting the built environment to the natural world with a heightened sense of openness and community spirit that is based on a collaborative, interdisciplinary process. Since founding the firm in 1997, he has completed projects that include the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, North Carolina, the Raymond and Susan Brochstein Pavilion at Rice University in Houston, Texas, and the Salt Point House, the Millbrook House and the Taghkanic House, all in the Hudson River Valley of New York State. 

The firm currently is working on projects that include the United States Federal Courthouse in Salt Lake City and the prototype of a new street light fixture for New York City, as well as an expansion of the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York, a new museum for the Glenstone Foundation in Potomac, Maryland, a Field House and Velodrome for Brooklyn Bridge Park in Brooklyn, New York, a federal office building in San Juan, Puerto Rico and residences in Madison, Wisconsin, and Dallas, Texas. 

Phifer’s work has been repeatedly recognized by the American Institute of Architects, including seven AIA National Honor Awards and 12 AIA New York Honor Awards. In 2011, the North Carolina Museum of Art won a national AIA Honor Award, and, in 2010, the Raymond and Susan Brochstein Pavilion won a national AIA Honor Award. The design for the City Lights light fixture for New York City, which won an international competition, also won a Research and Development Award from Architect magazine in 2009, and, in 2008, the Salt Point House won an American Architecture Award from the Chicago Atheneum.

In 2004, Phifer was awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest award given to an individual or firm, from the New York Chapter of the AIA. He also received the prestigious Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome in 1996 and was elected an Academician of the National Academy of Design in 2011. In 2013, he received the Arts and Letters Award in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and is serving as a Peer for the General Services Administration.

Phifer, who received both his Bachelor of Architecture and Master of Architecture from Clemson University, has served as a design instructor, lecturer and critic at numerous architecture schools and lectures widely on his work. Most recently, he held the Stevenson Chair at the University of Texas and also has taught at Cornell University and the University of Pennsylvania. A monograph on the work of Thomas Phifer and Partners was released in fall 2010 by Skira Rizzoli.

This is the Ernie Jacks Lecture, sponsored by Marlon Blackwell Architects.

The public is invited to attend. Admission is free, with limited seating.

For more information, contact 479-575-4704 or architecture.uark.edu.