The American Institute of Architects (AIA) announced today that Julia Morgan, designer of some 700 buildings including Hearst Castle, will be the first female architect to receive the organization's highest honor.
"The good news is that the AIA has, for the first time ever, awarded its Gold Medal, the profession’s highest honor, to a woman: Julia Morgan (1872-1957)," reports Karrie Jacobs. "While other Gold Medals have been handed out posthumously, they’re customarily bestowed much closer to the architect’s demise."
Though Morgan is certainly a worthy recipient, Jacobs suggests that "the timing of the prize may lead some critics to suggest that it has more to do with an architect who is still among the living: Denise Scott Brown, FAIA."
"Because there was such an uproar in June over the Pritzker Architecture Prize committee’s refusal to retroactively include Scott Brown in the award that her husband and collaborator, Robert Venturi, FAIA, won back in 1991, it may appear that the AIA felt compelled to honor a woman."
Read the full story: Julia Morgan Posthumously Awarded the AIA 2014 Gold Medal
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