Robert AM Stern

Last night I had the pleasure of attending the 10th annual Vincent Scully prize for architects held at the Canadian Embassy. The recipient was one of my favorite architects, Robert A.M. Stern. He lectured and had a question and answer session that was fascinating.

Residence in Deal, NJ

Residence in Tidewater, Virginia

You probably all recognize his name from the numerous residential projects he has done regularly featured in Architectural digest, books under his name and many other prestigous publications. He is known for traditional design with a modern twist - best known by most of us reading this blog are his cottage style mansions and luxury old-style apartment buildings.

Residence in North York

One of the many reasons I admire him is something that he briefly spoke about: vernacular architecture and good design in many styles with an emphasis on continuity from our architectural past. You see this in his work and for this he is one of my favorite current architects. I believe any good designer can work in many styles. He also believes in building not just isolated buildings, but that each building is a piece of a larger place. He is a believer in background buildings. Each building that he does is meant to enhance the whole atmosphere of the place, not just be a 'nice' building on its own. Does this make sense?

You know I LOVE this one in Dallas, Texas called Preston Hollow

Cottage in Seaside, Florida

Robert A.M. Stern heads up a successful 300 person firm in NYC that he started in 1977 and also is the Dean of the Yale school of architecture. Last night he lectured about architectural education ( I won't bore you about that, but it was fascinating for any architect) and then had a great question and answer period.

Starwood residence

room in Edgewater ApartmentsResidence in South Hampton

One thing I found disappointing last night was that all the numerous presenters referred to him as Bob, which while probably his personal nickname is not his professional name and I felt was too casual and disrespectful for the occasion and for the award! Am I too old fashioned? I felt like the people who didn't refer to him as Mr. Stern or Robert were just showing off that they knew him well enough to refer to him by Bob. But I digress........Robert Stern, congratulations!