Acclaimed American architect, author, and educator Michael Sorkin, Honorary Member of World Architecture Community, has been awarded the 2019 Collaborative Achievement Award by the American Institute of Architects (AIA). 

The AIA has also recognized Jan Gehl, Hon. FAIA and Anne Taylor, Hon. AIA for its 2019 Collaborative Achievement Award, alongside Michael Sorkin. 

The Collaborative Achievement Award recognizes and encourages distinguished achievements of design professionals, clients, organizations, architect teams, knowledge communities and others who have had a beneficial influence on or advanced the architectural profession.

"Through his prolific writings, Michael Sorkin has become a role model for design professionals seeking to practice architecture in public and spirited ways. Inspiring countless architects and planners in their pursuit of more just and sustainable communities, his roles of provocative author, publisher, and teacher have made him a definitive conscience to the profession," said the AIA in a press statement.

Michael Sorkin Studio is currently working for a revitalization project in Belfast, commissioned by the Northern Ireland. Image courtesy of Michael Sorkin Studio

Michael Sorkin runs his office Michael Sorkin Studio in New York and China, focusing on both practical and theoretical projects at all scales with a special interest in the city and green architecture. 

In 2005, Sorkin founded Terreform, a nonprofit studio dedicated to investigating policy, technology, and practice to create an equitable future for an urbanizing planet. 

Terreform's published books. Image courtesy of Terreform

Particularly important in the context of an ever-shrinking design press, Terreform’s publishing arm Urban Research (UR) provides a platform for writers and critics who might not otherwise be able to present their work to the public. While other publishers continue to pare down their offerings, UR has doubled down on the production of thought-provoking work.

Terreform's books can be purchased from Terreform's website. 

Image courtesy of Terreform

For more than 40 years, beginning with his tenure as architecture critic for the Village Voice to his current stint as critic at The Nation, Sorkin has used journalism to present the challenges of the built environment to a broad audience. Tackling complex issues with lucid prose, he has continuously engaged society while challenging architects. 

In regular op-ed columns for Architectural Record, Sorkin never shies from confronting topics such as urban inequalities, towering figures in the profession, and the architectural consequences of world events. His 1991 anthology, Exquisite Corpse: Writing on Buildings, was heralded by The Guardian as "a thorn in the flesh of America’s more complacent architects."

Michael Sorkin Studio won a competition for Xi’an Forest Park in 2017. Image courtesy of Michael Sorkin Studio.

Sorkin serves as a distinguished professor and director of the Graduate Program in Urban Design at the City College of New York, he seeks a clearer definition of urban design and its implementation in an effort to improve life in cities. His Urban Design graduate program devotes a semester to solving issues in locales across the globe. Hanoi, Johannesburg, Gaza, and New Orleans have all been studied, and last year’s subject, San Jose, Costa Rica, involved students at CCNY, the University of Pennsylvania, and two Costa Rican architecture schools.

"With his quick mind and silver tongue, Sorkin has cemented his place as the profession’s most influential provocateur. His commitment to new avenues of thought continues to diversify design’s voices," added the AIA.

The jury composed of Katie Wilson, AIA (Chair), Vera Iconica Architecture, Jackson, Wyoming, Mark Chambers, NYC Mayor's Office of Sustainability , New York, NY, Curtis Fentress, FAIA, Fentress Architects, Denver, CO, Stephanie Herring, Assoc. AIA, Cambridge Seven Associates, Inc., Boston, MA and Margaret Montgomery, FAIA, NBBJ, Seattle, WA.

Top image: Michael Sorkin, image © Jeff Barnett Winsby

> via AIA