Joshua Prince-Ramus, author of the MCHAP Finalist Seattle Central Library, will deliver the MCHAP Lecture on Wed., Apr. 1 at 6:30 p.m. in S. R. Crown Hall as part of the Spring 2015 Dean's Lecture Series.

Joshua Prince-Ramus is a principal of REX. REX is an internationally acclaimed architecture and design firm based in New York City, whose name signifies a re-appraisal (RE) of architecture (X). Joshua was the founding partner of OMA New York—the American affiliate of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture/Rem Koolhaas—and served as its Principal until he repositioned the firm as REX in 2006. 

Joshua Prince-Ramus, author of the MCHAP Finalist Seattle Central Library image via arch.iit.edu

While REX was still known as OMA New York, Joshua was Partner in Charge of the Guggenheim-Hermitage Museum in Las Vegas and the Seattle Central Library, hailed as Timemagazine’s 2004 Building of the Year and by Herbert Muschamp in the New York Times as “the most exciting new building it has been my honor to review in more than 30 years of writing about architecture.” In 2005, the Seattle Central Library was awarded the top honors bestowed by the American Institute of Architects, the American Council of Engineering Companies, and the American Library Association.

Seattle Central Libraryby OMA image via arch.iit.edu

The work of REX and Joshua Prince-Ramus has been exhibited and published extensively. Joshua has been credited as one of the “5 greatest architects under 50” by The Huffington Post, one of the world’s most influential young architects by Wallpaper*, one of the twenty most influential players in design by Fast Company, and listed among “The 20 Essential Young Architects” by ICON magazine. Underscoring REX’s faith in architectural performance over mere imagery, Joshua was cheekily dubbed “the young savior of American architecture” by Esquire in an article examining his “holy war against the sculptors, starchitects, and fey theoreticians of his profession.”

Joshua was the Eero Saarinen Visiting Professor at the Yale School of Architecture, and a visiting professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation; Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design; the MIT School of Architecture + Planning; and Syracuse University’s School of Architecture. Joshua is a member of the TED Brain Trust—along with thinkers such as Bill Gates, Craig Venter, Dean Kamen, Jeff Bezos, Larry Page, and Sergey Brin—and shared REX’s design methodologies for the Seattle Central Library, the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre, and Museum Plaza at the TED2006 and TEDxSMU conferences. Videos of these TEDTalks can be found online at http://www.ted.com.

> via arch.iit.edu/life/lectures