Phyllis Lambert (M.S. ARCH '63), has been awarded the 2016 Wolf Prize in Architecture. The Wolf Prizes are known as "Israel's Nobel" honors and Laureates receive their awards from the President of the State of Israel. The prize presentation takes place at a special ceremony at the Knesset Building (Israel´s Parliament), in Jerusalem.
The jury noted Lambert's contributions to “the culture of architecture over six decades. Playing all possible roles of designer, planner, artist, writer, photographer, curator, museum director, patron and philanthropist, she ultimately stands for professional rigor and aesthetic elegance, but also for intellectual doubt and political critic. From the mid-1950s to the present, she has been vigorously involved in the realization of seminal innovative buildings, exemplary urban preservation and regeneration projects and leading architectural research institutes.”
Since 1978, five or six Wolf Prizes have been awarded annually, by the Wolf Foundation, in the Sciences. Prize fields comprise: AGRICULTURE, CHEMISTRY, MATHEMATICS, MEDICINE and PHYSICS. In the Arts, the prize rotates annually among ARCHITECTURE, MUSIC, PAINTING and SCULPTURE.
In September 2015, Phyllis Lambert, founder of the Canadian Centre for Architecture, was honored for her many contributions to the world of architecture, to IIT, and to our College of Architecture by induction into the IIT Hall of Fame.
Lambert's contributions to architecture are legendary. At her urging, her father agreed to hire Mies van der Rohe to design the iconic Seagram Building in New York City for which she served as director of planning. She later studied under Mies here at IIT College of Architecture where she received her master's degree in architecture.
In 1979, Lambert founded the Canadian Centre of Architecture, the preeminent archive, museum, and study center in the field of architecture. Through CCA, Lambert has served as an educator of generations of architecture scholars. She has also been an advocate for IIT and the College of Architecture. She has served as a long-time overseer, supported the renewal of our architecture, and served as a proponent of the university and our architecture.
She is the recipient of many significant awards and 26 honorary degrees from universities around the world. In 2014 Lambert was awarded the Golden Lion Award for lifetime achievement at the 14th Venice Architecture Biennale, one of the highest recognitions in the world.