IIT Faculty Member Sean Keller Wins Winterhouse Award for Design Writing and Criticism
Chicago, IL — September 15, 2009 —
Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) Assistant Professor of Architectural History and Theory Sean Keller has been honored by AIGA (the professional association for design) and the Winterhouse Institute with the 2009 Winterhouse Award for Design Writing and Criticism. The $10,000 award is open to writers, critics, scholars, historians, journalists and designers.
The Winterhouse Award is given for a writer's body of work. Three examples of Keller's writing were submitted to the judges: “Well-tempered Piano” [on the museums of Renzo Piano], “Navigating Systems” [on Buckminster Fuller], and “Bidden City” [on the Beijing Olympics]—all of which appeared over the last two years in Artforum. The jury, chaired by William Drenttel of Winterhouse, included Rick Poynor, writer-at-large for Eye, which he founded; Alice Rawsthorn, design critic of the International Herald Tribune; and Michael Sorkin, principal of Michael Sorkin Studio and author of more than 15 books on architecture.
Keller received his Ph.D. from Harvard University and B.A. and Master’s degrees in architecture from Princeton University. He has been a frequent contributor to Artforum, and his writings have appeared in the anthology Architecture and Authorship and the journal Grey Room. He is currently working on a book about the concept of reflexive modernism in postwar architecture.
The annual Winterhouse awards were founded in 2006 by Jessica Helfand and William Drenttel of the Winterhouse Institute to recognize excellence in writing about design and encourage the development of young voices in design writing, commentary and criticism. Keller's award, along with the dual Winterhouse Awards for Education, will be presented during Make/Think: AIGA Design Conference in Memphis this October.
To learn more about the 2009 Winterhouse Awards and read three examples of Keller’s writing, please visit aiga.org/content.cfm/writing-awards-recipients-2009.
Founded in 1890, IIT is a Ph.D.-granting university with more than 7,300 students in engineering, sciences, architecture, psychology, design, humanities, business and law. IIT's interprofessional, technology-focused curriculum is designed to advance knowledge through research and scholarship, to cultivate invention improving the human condition, and to prepare students from throughout the world for a life of professional achievement, service to society, and individual fulfillment. Visit www.iit.edu.
