IIT Architect Wins Gold Medal Award for his Newton Residential Design
John Durbrow, assistant professor of architecture at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), received the 2005 Gold Medal Award for Residential Design from the Association of Licensed Architects for his residential design work in Newton, Wisconsin. The residence is located in a six-acre former cornfield and is designed to preserve the majority of the site as a nature preserve.
“A landscape with less complexity and dynamics than that found in this area of Wisconsin could not have maintained its role as a counterpoint in the composition, and the minimal forms of the residence would have appeared merely under-developed,” said Durbrow.
The building was designed to maximize environmental comfort with minimal energy use by compartmentalizing spaces that can be isolated or occupied according to need. For example, the “tower” was constructed high enough to view the lake, and also serves as the primary living space; the “breezeway” is a neutral connector; and the guest rooms and entertainment spaces are in the “Crescent.” These zones are carried throughout the formal expression, the spatial configuration, and the system zoning.
Durbrow has 24 years of practice and was most recently employed at Murphy/Jahn, Inc. as senior vice president and principal architect. He served as an adjunct professor at IIT for six years in the 1990s and again in 2001 and has been a full-time professor at IIT for the past three years.
Founded in 1890, IIT is a Ph.D.-granting technological university awarding degrees in the sciences, mathematics and engineering, as well as architecture, psychology, design, business and law. IIT’s interprofessional, technology-focused curriculum prepares the university’s 6,200 students for leadership roles in an increasingly complex and culturally diverse global workplace.
