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2 012 ASLD RECIPIENT OF THE UW’S HIGHEST ALUMNI HONOR
St. Ignatius Chapel at Seattle University opened in 1997.
You wouldn’t expect the University
of Washington’s 2012 Alumnus Summa
Laude Dignatus to sound like a rabble
rouser, but listen to Steven Holl (B.A.,
Architecture, ’71) practically daring architecture
students:
“Don’t be obedient,” he says. “Break
the rules. Don’t take the program. It’s
just a bunch of bananas in a bag. Make
architecture. Don’t be obedient.”
One of America’s most celebrated architects,
Holl knows something about
charting his own path. He once won a
fierce competition for an $86 million
addition to the Nelson-Atkins Museum
of Art in Kansas City by jettisoning the
rules, which called for designs on the
north face of an existing building. Holl
rejected their master plan and presented
an entirely different vision. The risky
move could’ve disqualified him; instead,
it distinguished him.
The addition opened to wide acclaim.
“Breathtaking,” gushed an architecture
critic from The New York Times. “As striking and
innovative a piece of architectural form as anything
by Gehry, Herzog & de Meuron or Jean
Nouvel,” enthused The New Yorker.
Holl’s consistent and calculated rage against
the mundane has catapulted him to international
rock star status within his profession.
He has put his stamp on 50 important buildings
across the globe. Last December, the
American Institute of Architects awarded him
its highest honor, the 2012 AIA Gold Medal.
Critics marvel over his museum, gallery, civic,
academic, residential and multi-use masterpieces.
They rave about his ability to blend
light and space with extraordinary sensitivity,
as well as his talent integrating new projects
into historic contexts.
His notable works include the Linked Hybrid
mixed-use complex in Beijing (2009), the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary
Art in Helsinki (1998), the Sarphatistraat Offices in Amsterdam
(2000), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Simmons Hall (2002),
the Vanke Center in Shenzhen, China (2009), and the Chapel of St. Ignatius
in Seattle (1997).
“He takes great risk but his work is always loyal to the integrity of materials,”
says Daniel Friedman, dean of the UW College of Built Environments,
who nominated him for the prestigious AIA award. “He has never compromised
his poetic vision—never. He is one of few people in our business who
has never compromised in his poetic integrity as a designer—never.”
Instead of resting, Holl continues to win prestigious competitions and is
currently in the construction phase of several projects: the Campbell
Sports Center at Columbia University; the Glasgow School of Art; the Beirut
Marina & Town Quay; the Nanjing Sifang Art Museum in China; the
‘Sliced Porosity Block’ in Chengdu, China; and the Daeyang Gallery and
House in Seoul. Earlier this year, Steven Holl Architects was chosen to design
an addition to the Houston Museum of Fine Arts.
Holl established Steven Holl Architects in New York City in 1976. The
40-person firm has another office in Beijing, which allows his team to
work “around the clock,” Holl says. New York, however, remains Holl’s
home base. Holl is a tenured professor of architecture at Columbia University,
where he has taught since 1981.
The roots of Holl’s genius, however, were first planted in his childhood
backyard in Bremerton, Wash., where Holl and his brother, now a sculptor,
32 UW 150 Years