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Dream the Combine, MOS Architects, Present Practice, and Alexa Vaughn among winners of the American Academy's 2022–23 Rome Prize

2022-04-25T20:14:00-04:00

The American Academy in Rome (AAR) has awarded the 2022–23 Rome Prize and Italian Fellowships to thirty-eight American and four Italian artists and scholars. An award presented across eleven disciplines ranging from architecture, landscape architecture, visual arts, literature, and design, this year's program gift offers an opportunity to foster "time and space to think and work."

Established in 1894, the AAR is the oldest overseas center for research and independent studies within the arts and humanities. Mark Robbins, AAR President and CEO: "This year's Rome Prize winners and Italian Fellows represent the diversity of the United States, and their projects build on the Academy's commitment to the global impact of the arts and humanities."

Below are the 2022–23 Rome Prize winners in the categories of Architecture and Landscape Architecture.

ARCHITECTURE

Rome Prize in Architecture

Jennifer Newsom and Tom Carruthers (Vanishing Points: Overwriting Spatial Imaginaries of Rome), Founding...

Architect, educator, and leading proponent of classical architecture, Thomas Gordon Smith, dies at 73

2021-06-30T16:56:00-04:00

Architect and educator, Thomas Gordon Smith, known for his commitment to classical architecture and its contemporary applications, passed away on June 23 at the age of 73.

Smith was a professor emeritus and former chair at the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture. Born on April 23, 1948, in Oakland, California, he attended the University of California at Berkeley, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in painting in 1970 and a master’s in architecture in 1975. From 1979 to 1980, Smith worked as a Rome Prize Fellow in Architecture at the American Academy in Rome. It was here that he became fully committed to the study and practice of classical architecture. He concluded his fellowship with the participation of his design of a façade for “Strada Novissima,” an exhibition at the 1980 Venice Biennale.

Following his studies, Smith established his own architectural practice, Thomas Gordon Smith Architects, and taught at institutions including the College of Marin, UCLA, Yale Un...

Germane Barnes, Phoebe Lickwar, Mireille Roddier and Keith Mitnick among winners of 2021-2022 American Academy Rome Prize Winners

2021-04-23T20:19:00-04:00

Covering eleven disciplines ranging from architecture to preservation and conservation, the American Academy in Rome presents the 2021-22 Rome Prize and Italian Fellowships to thirty-five American and five Italian artists and scholars. The prizes help support the independent work and research of individuals within the arts and humanities. Each award recipient receives a stipend, workspace, in addition to room and board at the American Academy's campus in Rome set to start in September 2021.

Prize winners are selected annually by an independent jury. This year the Rome Prize Competition received a total of 874 applications from 46 US states and 22 countries. To date, this group of Rome Prize winners "is the most diverse in the Academy's history" shares the institution. The American Academy Rome President Mark Robbins congratulates this year's winners in a statement. "We welcome these Rome Prize winners and Italian Fellows who enter an increasingly global and diverse residential commu...

American Academy in Rome announces 2020-21 Rome Prize Fellowships

2020-07-23T14:12:00-04:00

The American Academy in Rome has announced the winners of the 2020-1 Rome Prize and Italian Fellowships. Selected from a pool of 1,031 applications from 46 US states and territories, including Puerto Rico and the District of Colombia, and 15 different countries, those selected consist of 22 American and two Italian artists and scholars. Each will receive a stipend, workspace, and room and board for four to seven months at the Academy's campus in Rome.

Due to COVID-19, the residential Fellowships will begin in January 2021 and end in August. The Academy is also welcoming a new director: Avinoam Shalem, who was a 2016 Resident. Shalem will begin a three-year term in January with the Fellows. He is currently the Riggio Professor for the Arts of Islam in the Department of Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University.

“We look forward to welcoming Avinoam and some of the world’s brightest artists and scholars to the Academy in January,” said Mark Robbins, AAR President and CEO in ...

American Academy in Rome is shutting down entirely due to COVID-19

2020-03-18T17:36:00-04:00

The American Academy in Rome (AAR) has announced that it will be shutting down its campus in Rome in response to the novel coronavirus-19 epidemic.

In a letter published to the AAR website, Mark Robbins,
AAR President and CEO, writes, “In consideration of the safety of those residing in Rome and the institution as a whole, we have made the difficult decision to close the Academy’s campus on April 3.”

Robbins adds, “While the situation continues to rapidly change in both Italy and the United States, it is clear that this will continue for months. The AAR has done its best to keep the community safe in the weeks since the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy, but is no longer able to house everyone until the end of the Fellowship year. All who are able to leave before April 3 are being encouraged to do so.”

In order to help the current crop of Rome Prize fellows, who are typically in residence at AAR for between six months and a year, AAR “will continue to support our Fellows in every way we c...

I Melt With You: "Indoor City" installation explores dissolving spatial boundaries in an era of climate change

2017-03-14T17:44:00-04:00

With layered narration from writers and the input of a climate scientist, the 40-foot long table installation known as "Indoor City" designed by Founder Rome Prize Fellows Phu Hoang and Rachely Rotem (MODU) with Jonathan Berger, Hussein Fancy, Christoph Meinrenken, Jack Livings and Matthew Null, tackles the dire conceptual heft of designing for massive systemic weather change.

By placing carbon ice on the installation, the idea is to track how divisions between urban spaces and the environment release more carbon dioxide into the air, thereby creating more stress on the environment (and making the urban spaces quite unpleasant to live in as a result). The project advocates for a more integrated design concept while allowing visitors to enjoy what amounts to a trippy installation. Here's a video of the installation, which is part of the 2017 Cinque Mostre show and will be viewable in person at the American Academy in Rome until April 4th:

American Academy in Rome Announces the 2014-2015 Rome Prize Winners

2014-04-14T15:16:00-04:00

The American Academy in Rome has announced the winners of the 118th annual Rome Prize Competition at a festive ceremony in New York City.

Among many other fields, the two 2014-15 Rome Prize winners in the field of Architecture are:

Firat Erdim (Founders Rome Prize)
Vincent L. Snyder (James R. Lamantia, Jr. Rome Prize)

American Academy in Rome Announces 2013-2014 Rome Prize Winners

2013-04-19T18:45:00-04:00

The American Academy in Rome yesterday announced the winners of the 117th annual Rome Prize Competition. Winners of the prestigious prize are provided with a fellowship that includes a stipend, a study or studio, and room and board for a period of six months to two years in Rome.

Among many other fields, these are the two 2013-14 Rome Prize winners in the field of Architecture:

Thomas Kelley (James R. Lamantia, Jr. Rome Prize)
Visiting Assistant Professor, School of Architecture, University of Illinois at Chicago
Partner, Norman Kelley, LLC, Chicago, IL and New York, NY
Economy of Illusions: A (re)Valuation of Rome’s Visual Culture
Catie Newell (Cynthia Hazen Polsky and Leon Polsky Rome Prize)
Assistant Professor of Architecture, Taubman College, University of Michigan
Principal, *Alibi Studio, Detroit, MI
Involving Darkness

The 2012-13 Rome Prize Winners Are Announced

2012-04-30T14:29:00-04:00

The American Academy in Rome recently announced the winners of the 116th annual Rome Prize Competition. Recipients of the 2012-2013 prizes are provided with a fellowship that includes a stipend, a study or studio, and room and board for a period of six months to two years in Rome, Italy.

Among many other fields, these are the 2012-13 Rome Prize winners in the fields of Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Design:

PABLO CASTRO ESTÉVEZ (Architecture, James R. Lamantia, Jr., Rome Prize)
Principal, OBRA Architects, New York, NY
Seeking a New Poetic of Dwelling: The Lessons of Modern Social Housing in Europe in the Early Twentieth Century

WILLIAM O’BRIEN, JR. (Architecture, Founders Rome Prize)
Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Principal, William O'Brien, Jr., LLC, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Anachronous Formalisms: The Renewed Novelty of Architectures of Rome

ROSS BENJAMIN ALTHEIMER (Landscape Architecture, Prince Charitable Trusts Rome Prize)
Landscape Architecture Studio Leader, Hammel Green and Abrahamson, Minneapolis, MN
Welds and Quips in Subterranean Rome

KAREN M’CLOSKEY (Landscape Architecture, Garden Club of America Rome Prize)
Assistant Professor, Department of Landscape Architecture, Univ...

Lonn Combs Awarded “Rome Prize” Fellowship

2011-06-16T17:07:28-04:00

Combs is the winner of the 2011 Rome Prize, awarded by the American Academy in Rome, a recognition that includes a fellowship to explore the architectural resources of Italy, Europe, and the Academy. The Rome Prize is awarded annually to about 30 individuals who represent the highest standard of excellence in the arts and humanities.