Phyllis Lambert & Mies van der Rohe

The National Building Museum’s seventh Vincent J. Scully Prize will be presented on January 19, 2006 to Phyllis Lambert, in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the design of the built environment, advancement of public awareness of design, and dedication to architectural preservation.

The Vincent J. Scully Prize was established by the National Building Museum in 1999 to recognize exemplary practice, scholarship, or criticism in architecture, historic preservation, and urban design. The Prize was established with an endowment to honor and extend the legacy of Professor Scully.

Over the past 50 years, Phyllis Lambert—architect, educator, activist, and philanthropist—has championed excellence in the design of the built environment and worked to improve public understanding of modern design. Early in her career, Lambert served as the director of planning for the Seagram Building, which was designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and is now considered one of the greatest structures of the 20th century.

In the 1960s, Lambert designed the award-winning Saidye Bronfman Centre in Montreal. A life-long advocate for historic preservation, Lambert led the effort in the '70s to save the historic Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles from demolition and founded Heritage Montreal. In 1979 Lambert founded the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) in Montreal. Her leadership has developed the CCA into a world-renowned institution, producing such critically acclaimed exhibitions as Mies in America and numerous seminal studies of architecture.

The Vincent J. Scully Prize will be presented to Phyllis Lambert at a ceremony and public program at the National Building Museum on Thursday, January 19, 2006. The ceremony will include tributes to Ms. Lambert by Elizabeth Diller, founding principal of Diller, Scofidio + Renfro; the Honorable Frank McKenna, Ambassador of Canada to the United States of America; and Pierre Théberge, director of the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa. Following the ceremony, Ms. Lambert will give an illustrated lecture, Ironies in the Public Life of Architecture: The Seagram Building, 1954-58, which will detail the public reception and long-term impact of the Seagram Building on architectural culture.

The Scully Prize was instituted in honor of Vincent J. Scully, the Sterling Professor Emeritus of the history of art at Yale University and a distinguished visiting professor at the University of Miami. For more than four decades his teaching and scholarship have profoundly influenced prominent architects and urban planners. The current jury for the Scully Prize is comprised of Chairman David Schwarz, Carolyn Brody, chair of the Museum’s Board of Trustees, Robert Peck, Samina Quraeshi, and Robert A. M. Stern. Past recipients of the prize include Vincent J. Scully himself, Jane Jacobs, Andrés Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown, His Highness The Aga Khan, and His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales.

Celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2005, the National Building Museum is America’s premier cultural institution dedicated to exploring and celebrating architecture, design, engineering, construction, and planning. Chartered by Congress in 1980 and open to the public since 1985, the Museum has become a vital forum for exchanging ideas and information about the built environment through its exhibitions, education programs, and publications. The Museum is located at 401 F Street NW, Washington, D.C.