Cooper Union Honors Skolnick
(January 31, 2012) -- Lee Skolnick, founding principal of Lee H. Skolnick Architecture + Design Partnership (New York), will receive Cooper Union's highest honor-the John Q. Hejduk Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Theory, Teaching, and Practice of Architecture.
The Hejduk Award, established in 2003 in honor of distinguished Cooper Union faculty member John Hejduk and awarded to an alumnus of the school's Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture, is given to a professional "who has made an outstanding contribution to the theory, teaching and/or practice of architecture."
Past Hejduk Awards have been given to Daniel Libeskind, Diller and Scofidio, Toshiko Mori, Jesse Reiser, Nanako Umemoto, and Alexander Gorlin.
Skolnick's firm is an award-winning multidisciplinary practice integrating architecture, planning, exhibition design, and environmental graphic design. Recent projects include the New York Historical Society's new DiMenna Children's History Museum, the new Rubin Museum of Art's Education Center (Chelsea), and the Queens Library's new children's wing. Other projects include Rocket Park at the New York Hall of Science in Queens, N.Y.; the Sony Wonder Technology Lab in New York; the Aileron executive training center in Dayton, Ohio; the Summit Elementary School in Casper, Wyoming; and the new home of the Make-a-Wish Foundation of New Jersey.
Skolnick co-authored the book What is Exhibition Design? He teaches and lectures extensively and is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Leicester, and the Founding Chairman of Architecture Omi. He is also a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the AIA Long Island Chapter.
Skolnick will receive the Hejduk Award on February 6, on the occasion of the birthday of Cooper Union founder Peter Cooper.
"This award is a great honor to me," says Skolnick. "It is especially satisfying to contribute to the cultural and educational vitality of New York."