James Stewart Polshek, FAIA, Featured Speaker at Design Conference

September 19, 2009

Reading Time: 2 minutes PRINCETON, N.J. — James Stewart Polshek, FAIA, will be the featured speaker at the annual Design Conference sponsored by the New Jersey chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA-NJ). Polshek, senior design counsel of Polshek Partnership Architects, will discuss his lifelong convictions about the importance of modesty and generosity in the practice of architecture.

The Design Conference, which will be held Sept. 30 at the Princeton University Theological Seminary in Princeton, N.J., will also feature a tour of the Princeton University campus and an interactive seminar with Carol Doscher, president of Graceworks, and Geoff Webb, vice president and CFO of Graceworks, on presentation, leadership and communications.

The daylong event will conclude with an address by Luke Tilley, regional economic advisor for the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia on current economic conditions and the outlook going forward.

“Design Day 2009 will be a day of contrasts,” said Stephen J. Carlidge, AIA, committee co-chairman. “The design inspiration of James Stewart Polchek and his career of extremely well-crafted buildings will be set against a backdrop with the theme of how these difficult economic times are affecting our profession and how to win work through improved presentations.”

The day’s events will also feature displays of architectural projects that have been submitted for consideration in AIA-NJ’s annual design awards. Each year the design awards program brings public and professional recognition to architectural projects that exhibit design excellence. Nearly 25 designs have been entered in the 2009 competition, Carlidge said.

Polshek founded his New York City-based firm in 1963. Today, nine partners lead the 145-person studio, which has won more than 150 awards. He also served as dean of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. His projects include the Rose Center for Earth and Space at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and the William J. Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock, Ark.

Preceding Polshek on the program will be an interactive presentation by Graceworks, a New York City-based firm that helps clients improve communications skills. The Graceworks representatives will show architects how to connect with their audiences, how to make technical material come to life and how to wisely incorporate the use of graphics and props in their presentations.

The morning part of the program will be devoted to a tour of the Princeton University campus, which is known for its outstanding architecture. In addition to the traditional collegiate Gothic-style architecture for which it is famed, the campus also features more modern landmarks, including the neo-traditional Whitman College by Demetri Pophyrios and Frank Gehry’s Lewis Library with its dramatic curved stainless steel roof.

Other buildings on the campus were designed by such noted architects as Rafael Vinoly, Robert Venturi and Pei Cobb Freed & Partners Architects.

The conference is open to the public. For more information or to register, please visit the AIA-NJ Web site at www.aia-nj.org.

By WeSpeak Easy | Posted in AIA-NJ News | | Comments (0)