Quartet of IIT Architects Honored by City
As part of its Asian Pacific American Heritage month celebration, the Chicago Commission on Human Relations Advisory Council on Asian Affairs awarded FoundAsia honors to four individuals who have made a significant contribution to Chicago Architecture. All four recipients were graduates, or taught at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT).
Ben Honda and Jin Hwan Kim attended the event while Fazlur Rahman Khan and Joseph Fujikawa were honored posthumously.
Honda graduated from IIT in 1950 and worked for several Chicago firms including Rose n & Horowitz and PACE before joining Bertrand Goldberg & Associates in 1961. Among the Chicago-based projects he worked on are River City, Marina City Office Building and Theatre, Brenneman School, Prentice Women’s Hospital, and Wright Junior College.
Kim, a 1963 IIT graduate, currently serves as an adjunct professor. He worked for the Chicago firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill from 1962 until 2004. His Chicago projects include The Daley Center, McCormick Place Expansion, McCormick Place Bridge , Sears Tower West Entry and Millennium Park.
Khan, who passed away in 1982, was known as "Einstein of Structural Engineering." His many projects which contributed to the Chicago skyline include the John Hancock Center and Sears Tower.
Fujikawa, who died in 2003, studied under Mies van der Rohe at IIT. His Chicago projects include: The Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Buckingham Plaza , and 175 North Harbor Drive.
Ben Lumicao, Chairman of the Chicago Commission on Human Relations Advisory Council on Asian Affairs, presented the FoundAsia Awards at a ceremony attended by Mayor Daley.
The FoundAsia Awards will be presented annually to members of the Asian Pacific American Community in the Chicago area who, through their chosen personal, business, or professional pursuits, have made contributions that have a substantial positive effect on the image, reputation and renown of Chicago.
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.
