Announcing the 2017 Richard Morris Hunt Prize Fellow & Scholar
The American Architectural Foundation (AAF) and the French Heritage Society (FHS) have named architect Beth A. Jacob, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP BD+C, the 27th Fellow of the Richard Morris Hunt Prize (RMHP) and Constance C. Lai, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP BD+C, as the fourth Scholar of the Richard Morris Hunt Prize.
As the 2017 Fellow, Jacob will spend six months in France studying how public markets serve as catalysts for urban revitalization. She will focus on French approaches to the preservation and adaptive reuse of public markets, taking into account the architectural, social, and cultural significance of these distinctive structures. Jacob is a Principal at Clio Associates LLC in New Orleans and has a Master of Preservation Studies from Tulane University and a Master of Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley.
Ms. Lai, the Manager of Historic Preservation Services for the Grunley Construction Company, has a Master of Science in Architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. As the 2017 Scholar, she will spend five weeks in France exploring construction quality control issues and comparing American and French methodologies.
“We are excited to welcome both Beth and Constance as Richard Morris Hunt Prize honorees and believe that they will support the rich tradition of scholarship that the Prize is known for,” said Ron Bogle, AAF President and CEO and RMHP Co-Chair. “Their backgrounds in architecture and historic preservation reflect the missions of both the Prize and AAF’s Center for Design & Cultural Heritage, and we look forward to including their work as a part of the body of research completed by previous Fellows and Scholars.”
“The research Beth and Constance carried out bore the important fruit this Prize will help disseminate, enriching both their lives and their profession,” said Michèle le Menestrel Ullrich, FHS Founding President and RMHP Founder and Co-Chair. “An exceptional Jury deemed both worthy to join the ranks of the Hunt Prize Laureates. We wish them a fine journey as they enter our family.”
About the Richard Morris Hunt Prize
Created in 1990 in partnership with AAF and FHS, the RMHP permits a French-American exchange of architects specializing in historic preservation in a contemporary architectural context.
Named for the first American architect to graduate from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Richard Morris Hunt (1827-1895), the RMHP names two award recipients annually: the RMH Fellow and RMH Scholar.
The Richard Morris Hunt Prize Fellow
A French-American Jury convenes each year to award the RMHP alternatively to an American or French architect committed to a reflection and personal immersion in the preservation of patrimony, historic or contemporary. The architect is chosen for the excellence of his/her credentials, his/her leadership ability, and his/her research project’s potential for development. A six-month trip, divided in two or three periods, takes place alternatively in America or France and is assisted by the Managing Teams of the RMHP.
The RMHP provides the Fellow with an exceptional opportunity to research the chosen topic he/she has defined to the Jury. He/she meets highly qualified, experienced experts, visiting unique sites. It is a total immersion, confronting him or her with different philosophies, approaches, and customs. A Final Report is presented one year after the Fellowship’s conclusion.
The annual stipend for the RMH Fellow is made possible through a partnership with LafargeHolcim.
The Richard Morris Hunt Prize Scholar
Since 2011, the RMHP Jury gives an opportunity to an architect with the characteristics outlined above to spend five weeks in France or America with the assistance of the RMH Managing Teams. A Final Report is due six months after the end of the Scholar period.
The annual stipend for the RMH Scholar is made possible by an anonymous American donor.
Both the Fellow and Scholar become part of the RMHP Laureates network of experts renowned for their professional excellence and their personal qualities, today comprised of 27 Fellows and four Scholars from 1990 to 2016.
More information on the Prize is available at www.rmhprize.org.
Photo: Beth A. Jacob (L) and Constance C. Lai (R)
