2008 Rieger Graham Prize Winner
Michael Harris
The Institute’s Charles Rieger & John D. Graham Architectural Art Award (Rieger Graham Prize) for a three-month affiliated fellowship at the American Academy in Rome has been awarded to Michael Harris. Runner-up to Tiffany Abernathy in 2006, Michael emerged this year from a pool of exceptional candidates. He impressed the jury with a persuasive portfolio and the depth of his experience as well as compelling recent work at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Chaired again by Richard Cameron, the jury included Barbara Sallick, Gary Brewer, Ellen Dunham-Jones (Director of the Architecture Program at the Georgia Institute of Technology), Eric Watson, and Courtney Coleman. As usual, I had the good fortune of sitting in ex officio, enjoying the lively debate over the various proposals submitted.
A graduate of the University of Notre Dame (BArch) and candidate for a Master of Architecture at Harvard (2009), Michael has also spent several years working for G.P. Schafer Architect in New York City and Pier Carlo Bontempi, Architettura civile e disegno urbano in Parma. Gil Schafer remarks, “Michael was a talented addition to the office because of the wide range of his interests and his intellectual curiosity. He was also our unofficial “sultan of fun” at the office. He will undoubtedly make a wonderful contribution to life at the Academy this fall.”
Indeed, Michael’s interests go beyond the realm of modern classicism and traditional architecture, extending to active design, drawing, painting, and foreign languages, in particular Italian and French. Jorge Silvetti, his design studio professor at Harvard wrote, “Michael combines an impressive understanding of the principles, models, and design methods of classical architecture with a sophisticated awareness of complex current state of the field of architecture, urbanism and design in general.” He states further that Michael “has shown a complementary ability to address contemporary design problems with solutions grounded in timeless principles.” Most strikingly, Professor Silvetti concluded that Michael “will serve the Rieger Graham Prize with distinction, not only through his research and creative work, but as importantly with his ambassadorial and collegial personal traits.” Assuredly, the jury was taken by Professor Silvetti’s impassioned recommendation of Michael.
Rieger-Graham Prize Winner, Michael Harris, reports on his Fellowship stay at the American Academy in Rome:
My stay at the Academy, from September through December 2008, was fully remarkable and unforgettable. For the first time I had the freedom of a blank agenda for three months to pursue work in a creative capacity. What an astonishing experience to be in an environment whose purpose it is to foster ideas and motivate all of the senses. Everyone at the Academy is wholly engaged and stoked about what they do and just as curious about what others are doing. The indescribably talented community of fellows, residents, and staff, the atmosphere, the large white studios, the bespoke Rome Food Project that feeds the community and atmosphere, the Academy’s resources, and of course, Rome itself widens the ever-expanding canvas of inspiration and knowledge that overflows with the challenge of harnessing it all into focused research.
My work emerged in a drawing-based form, as an analytical research of coffered systems in Roman buildings, particularly domed structures. The goal of my study was to create a taxonomy of the endlessly inventive coffered ceilings in Rome by evaluating the way these systems’ component geometries are interlocked, arrayed, and composed within the context of its proprietary building.
My studies sought inspiration, in part, from Paloma Pajares’s Cosmatesque Ornament and Farshid Moussavi’s The Function of Ornament in that it was an exploration and analysis of a particular architectural topic, with an implicit survey of exemplar and progressive works present in our world. The final result included drawings in watercolor, pastel, and ink on boards and a meticulous sketchbook of the analytical fieldwork.
It was important for me to spend at least half the working day outside the Academy compound. If not regarding coffered systems, then creating drawings devoted to the analysis of structures in Rome that I felt had something to offer to contemporary architectural discourse. The other half of my day was given to the studio to re-examine the morning’s work and formalize it into either analog or digital drawings.
Towards the goal of enhancing the outcome of work, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of the active social community at the American Academy, cultivated in part, through the communal meals inspired by the genius of Alice Waters and Chef Mona Talbott. The meals embrace the value of conversation with scholars of unrelated backgrounds, fields, and even ages, which is often lost in professional and academic offices alike. The pervasive attitude that espouses the aggressive pursuit of knowledge and the frustrating pursuit of creation underlined by a community of support charges this unique place, so special to Rome.
I look forward to participating in other avenues to share my work and experience with the ICAA community. I have just moved to London so for the moment I invite to you to visit the ICAA blog to see more results of my research while the Rieger-Graham Affiliated Fellow at the American Academy in Rome.
This brief account is based on a note written to Paul Gunther and the ICAA thanking them for the generosity of the gift to stay as an affiliated fellow at the American Academy in Rome. I was the runner-up the first year the prize was offered and was encouraged to re-apply; I’m so glad I did. — MH