HESBURGH LECTURE SERIES 2012 Program - Alumni Association ...

Michael N. Lykoudis
Francis and Kathleen Rooney Dean and Professor, School of
Architecture
Biography
The Francis and Kathleen Rooney Dean of the School of Architecture, Michael N. Lykoudis has
served as professor of architecture at the University of Notre Dame since 1991. He has devoted
his career to the building, study, and promotion of traditional architecture and urbanism.
His activities feature the organization of several major conferences that have been
Categories
collaborations between Notre Dame and other organizations including the Classical
Architecture League and the Institute of Classical Architecture & Classical America, A Vision Art/Architecture,
of Europe and the Congress for New Urbanism. The conference and exhibition entitled “The Environment
Art of Building Cities,” took place in 1995 at the Art Institute of Chicago and was the first
event in this country to specifically link the practice of contemporary classicism with the new
traditional urbanism. An exhibition and conference titled “The Other Modern,” took place in
Bologna, Italy in 2000 and a conference titled “Three Generations of Classical Architects: The Renewal of Modern Architecture”
was held in October 2005 at Notre Dame.
Since 2003, Lykoudis has served as the chairman of the Richard H. Driehaus Prize jury. The 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. He is the co-editor of two publications, Building Cities (Artmedia Press, 1999), and
The Other Modern exhibition catalogue (Dogma Press, 2000). A third book, Modernity, Modernism and the Other Modern is
forthcoming from W.W. Norton & Co.
At Notre Dame, Lykoudis has served the School of Architecture in a number of capacities first as the director of Undergraduate
Studies then as associate chair and chair before becoming dean. As director of undergraduate studies for over 10 years, he was the
principal organizer of the new classical and urban curriculum, and also established several new initiatives within the School of
Architecture.
In association with the South Bend Downtown Partnership, he contributed to the formation of the South Bend Downtown
Design Center, a program that gives Notre Dame students hands-on experience with urban and architectural design projects in
realistic settings while also contributing to the community. This center has been renamed the Center for Building Communities
and will coordinate the regional, urban, and architectural design studios of the school. Its programs will include the exploration of
regionally adapted classical and vernacular students’ designs for modular buildings to be built in host cities.
Most recently he initiated the renewal of the school’s graduate program with the objective of doubling its enrollment, increasing
its offerings, and developing its focus on classical architecture and urbanism. For the 2000 academic year, Lykoudis received
Notre Dame’s Kaneb Award for outstanding undergraduate teaching. He has lectured at universities around the country and
abroad as well as to professional and civic organizations.
A graduate of Cornell University, Lykoudis earned his master’s degree from the University of Illinois’ joint business administration
and architecture program. Before joining the Notre Dame faculty, he worked as a project designer and architect for firms in
Florida, Greece, Connecticut, and New York. He has directed his own practice since 1983 in Athens, and Stamford, Connecticut,
and now in South Bend, Ind.
Lecture
Sustainability Trumps Style
Design and construction philosophy and methodology must respond to a changing world, conforming to environmentally sound
principles of building, material and energy use. Lykoudis addresses how the principles of traditional architecture and urbanism
provide the foundation of sustainability.
The Hesburgh Lecture Series, 2012 Program 65