New York architect and professor Diane Lewis has passed away, The Cooper Union announced in a statement today. She was the first woman appointed to the school's full-time architecture faculty and tenured in 1993. Since then, she was a “beloved and influential voice” in the community, wrote Nader Tehrani, dean of the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture.

Lewis won the 1976 Rome Prize in Architecture, being one of the youngest recipients of the award. In addition to her experience at the American Academy in Rome, she spent her formative years working at Richard Meier's office from 1977-78, followed by six years at I.M. Pei and Partners from 1978-83, while launching her teaching career.

Photo © Rob Mattson, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, via Asia Contemporary Art Week.

Then in 1983, she established her eponymous firm, Diane Lewis Architects. She fiercely dedicated her practice to studio teaching and critical writing on architecture, and she integrated the approach of “the architecture of the city” into all her projects — which include commissioned competition entries and built work.

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In 2007, a monograph of her work, “Diane Lewis: Inside-Out Architecture New York City” was published. The next year, she received the National Design Award from the Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt, in recognition of her first 25 years of independent architectural practice.

In his statement, Dean Nader Tehrani wrote: 

“...today we can look back at more than thirty years of [Lewis'] contributions and come to realize that we are, in fact, defined by the culture of her teaching [...] She led the school symbolically, and when things did not go her way, she led a parallel school of thought alongside the very deans that gave rise to her platform. Her agency represents the very ethos of the key protagonists that a school would want inside its walls. She had a voice, she used it, and she led with it.

In the past days and weeks, I have been touched by the many students, alumni, and academic associates who have reached out to me inquiring about her well-being. Diane was loved by many and respected by all. She was fiercely loyal to her students, and she made no secret of her advocacy of the many friends she held dear in both personal and intellectual complicity. To that end, I can only see that this loss is shared far and wide by many [...]”

h/t The Architect's Newspaper