He has designed over 350 projects of all types in locations throughout New Jersey, the nation, and around the world, including the renovation of the Newark Museum. In addition, his designs of furnishings and housewares, which are sold at Target, have transformed how people view everyday objects.

Since the early 1980s, Graves’ work has directly influenced the transformation of architecture from the preoccupation with buildings that reflect the abstraction of commercial modernism to those that display sensitivity to geographical, architectural and historical context. He’s been in the forefront of architectural design since he founded his practice, Michael Graves & Associates, in Princeton, N.J., in 1964. In addition, he is the Robert Schirmer Professor of Architecture, Emeritus, at Princeton University, where he taught for almost 40 years.

Graves has won numerous awards and recognitions, including the Topaz Medallion from AIA and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA). Most recently, he was appointed by President Obama to the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board, which governs the independent federal agency covering accessible design under the Americans with Disabilities Act.  However, perhaps his most fitting achievement, at least for the purposes of AIA-NJ’s most iconic architects list, was his induction into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2010, joining the ranks of, yes, Jack Nicholson, Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi.

Design Matters!

Other posts in this series:

Richard Meire, FAIA

Eleanore Pettersen, FAIA

J. Robert Hillier, FAIA

Malcolm Holzman, FAIA

Malcolm Wells, FAIA

Peter Eisenman, FAIA

William H. Short, FAIA

David Childs, FAIA

Fred Wesley Wentworth, FAIA