James Stewart Polshek FAIA, internationally renowned architect, former Dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, and founder of Polshek Partnership (the precursor to Ennead Architects) passed away on September 9, 2022 at 92. His distinguished six-decade career has left an indelible impact on the practice of architecture.

As a designer, educator, and civic advocate, James Polshek advanced a singular vision, based on his core belief in the sustaining power of an architecture that synthesizes ethics and aesthetics. For Polshek, pragmatism and idealism were co-equals. From his earliest residential projects, solving human problems and reinforcing the optimistic aspects of the art and craft of building permeated his work. These foundational values drew generations of talented and like-minded architects to the office, defining a studio culture of collaboration and a practice model informed by social responsibility and environmental stewardship, which continues forward with new generations at Ennead.

耶鲁大学建筑学院就读时期

学生时代作品 © 詹姆斯·波尔谢克

Student Project, Yale University, © James Polshek

Born in Akron, Ohio in 1930, James Polshek was raised in a home shaped by his parents’ commitments to social justice, which seeded his approach to architecture. He entered Case Western Reserve University in 1948. His pursuit of medical studies was short-lived; nevertheless, healing was a cornerstone of his design philosophy and practice. He cited a Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired house in an Akron suburb and the design’s implicit and confident critique of the historically derivative eclecticism of the neighboring houses as a turning point.

At Yale University School of the Arts (M. Arch., 1955), Case Western Reserve’s Beaux Arts classicism collided with Modernism. The non-conformist George Howe was Dean of the Department of Architecture; Eugene Nalle’s polytechnic rigor defined the first two years of the four-year curriculum; Louis I. Kahn was Polshek’s studio critic in his final year. Polshek described Yale as an “incubator”: the expansive curriculum and diverse faculty presaged both his deanship at Columbia University and the culture of his practice.

He explored developments in socialized housing in Denmark on a Fulbright Fellowship to the Royal Academy of Fine Art in Copenhagen (1956-57). The unity of art and craft and the interdependence of architecture and context that marked both the modern and vernacular design cultures of Scandinavia would find expression in his later work.

Drawn to academia by the dual opportunities to affect aspiring architects and to advance the notion of architecture as a powerful agent for change, Polshek served as Dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation for fifteen years, from 1972-1987. His earlier stints as studio instructor under the deanship of Charles Moore at Yale and John Hejduk at The Cooper Union underscored the value of opposing perspectives.

詹姆斯·波尔谢克先生任职

美国哥伦比亚大学

建筑、规划和保护学院的院长时期，1972-1987

James Polshek,

Dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of

Architecture, Planning, and Preservation,

1972-1987

Columbia University President William McGill appointed Polshek Dean in 1972 – a tumultuous moment marked by the threat of nuclear weapons and the continuing Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement, the aftermath of late-1960s upheavals on college campuses, and the oil crisis. Polshek led the school’s resurrection, creating a fertile field for progressive academic discourse: he assembled an ideologically diverse faculty, with whom he developed a socially relevant curriculum; he created degree-granting programs in planning and preservation; and he established the interdisciplinary Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture. Significantly, under his deanship, the school’s name was expanded to acknowledge planning and historic preservation as distinct disciplines.

Asserting the interdependence of academia and practice in professional education, Polshek negotiated the creation of a new position – Special Adviser to the President for Design and Planning – as a condition of his accepting the deanship. In that capacity, he elevated stewardship of the historic McKim, Mead & White campus to an imperative and assumed a critical role in reviewing designs for contemporary interventions.

帝人生物医学研究所，日本东京 © 川澄建筑摄影事务所

Teijin Central Research Institute, Tokyo, Japan, 1963

© Kawasumi Architectural Photographic Office

James Polshek’s lasting professional legacy demonstrates the sustained relevance of foundational precepts to design. From his early projects in Japan to his final works, principles of humanism were interpreted as recurring design intentions: protection of the natural environment, improvement of the urban fabric, and respect for cultural memory. These intentions were, in turn, manifested in the formal elegance, clarity, and technical excellence of the built projects, each an expression of unique identity.

Following his graduation from Yale, Polshek worked in the offices of I.M. Pei and Ulrich Franzen. A townhouse renovation and the design of a weekend retreat for two scientists led serendipitously to two projects, which he called “Cinderella commissions.” From 1962 to 1964, Polshek and his family relocated to Japan, where he designed a textile research laboratory and a pilot plant, which attracted international attention. Upon his return to New York City, he established James Stewart Polshek, Architect. His early projects, including a series of small pavilions, owed much to experiences in Japan and Scandinavia.

1985 年，建筑师詹姆斯·斯图尔特·波尔谢克先生在他位于曼哈顿的办公室接受《纽约时报》采访时曾说，“对建筑而言，最重要的是以人为本而非华而不实。”

© 唐·霍根·查尔斯，《纽约时报》

The architect James Stewart Polshek at his office in Manhattan in 1985.“The true importance of architecture,” he once said,“lies in its ability to solve human problems, not stylistic ones.”

© Don Hogan Charles, The New York Times

The diversity of approaches, intergenerational collaboration, and creative discourse that Polshek fostered at Columbia found its analogue in the design and evolution of the Polshek Partnership as an open field for architectural experimentation and invention. The office that Polshek began in 1963 as, James Stewart Polshek Architect evolved through multiple iterations. Following his retirement in 2005, the firm transitioned in 2010 from Polshek Partnership to Ennead Architects.

ADPSR海报 | 波尔谢克先生著作 《建筑，记忆》，2014

Architects, Designers, Planners for Social Responsibility | Build, Memory, 2014

克林顿总统纪念中心

© ennead architects LLP

William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Center

克林顿总统与詹姆斯·波尔什克先生（右一）和ennead设计合伙人理查德•奥尔科特（左一）

President William Jefferson Clinton with James Polshek and ennead design partner Richard Olcott

For Polshek, theory needed be realized with action. He wrote and spoke extensively about architecture as an agent for social change and about the ethical and moral obligations of the architect. Emblematic of his optimism and his acute sensitivity to architecture’s impact on our cities and landscapes and on our common culture was his civic engagement.

詹姆斯·斯图尔特·波尔谢克先生

Mr. James Stewart Polshek

Following the model of the anti-nuclear Physicians for Social Responsibility, in 1981, he and colleague Sidney Gilbert founded Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility to promote nuclear disarmament and the primacy of social services over excess military expenditure. Since the 1990s, the organization focused much of its effort on ecologically and socially responsible development; in 1993, ADPSR received a national AIA Institute Honor award for “its strong resounding voice for social and political justice.”

2001年，波尔谢克先生摄于其主创设计的美国自然历史博物馆，罗斯地球与太空中心

© 米歇尔·V·阿金斯，《纽约时报》

Mr. Polshek in 2001 at the Rose Center for Earth and Space at the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan, another building he designed

© Michelle V. Agins, The New York Times

美国自然历史博物馆罗斯地球与太空中心

 © ennead architects LLP

American Museum of Natural History, 

Rose Center for Earth and Space

In 2006, Mayor Michael Bloomberg appointed Polshek to the New York City Public Design Commission. The only architect among eleven commissioners charged with ensuring excellence and innovation in designs for city-owned properties, Polshek critically reviewed countless projects during his tenure.

Towards the end of his career, his involvement with Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park on Roosevelt Island was of great personal importance. In 2005, William J. van den Heuvel spearheaded the effort to build the project, designed by Louis I. Kahn in 1973. Polshek was the interpretive consultant, realizing the work of one of his early inspirations and teachers.

James Stewart Polshek was highly lauded in the field. He was a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and received many honors throughout his career, including the Municipal Art Society’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Medal, the Brooklyn Museum's Augustus Graham Medal for excellence in architecture, and election to the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He received honorary degrees from Columbia University, Pratt Institute, Parsons the New School for Design, and New Jersey Institute of Technology. In 2018 he received the American Institute of Architects’ highest honor, the Gold Medal, and in 2019 he was the recipient of the Fulbright Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2022, he received the American-Scandinavian Foundation Cultural Award.

• 1930: Born in Akron, Ohio

  1930 出生于俄亥俄州阿克伦市

   

• 1951: Receives Bachelor of Science, Case Western Reserve University

  1951获得凯斯西储大学理学学士学位

   

• 1952: Marries Ellyn Margolis

  1952 与艾琳·马戈利斯女士喜结连理

   

• 1955: Receives Master of Architecture, Yale University School of the Arts

  1955 获得耶鲁大学艺术学院，建筑学硕士学位

   

• 1955: Moves to New York City

  1955 移居纽约市

   

• 1955: Apprenticeship, I.M. Pei and Partners

  1955 贝聿铭合伙人事务所，建筑师

   

• 1956: Fulbright Fellowship, Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen

  1956哥本哈根皇家艺术学院富布赖特研究员

   

• 1957: Apprenticeship, Ulrich Franzen

  1957 乌尔里希•弗兰岑建筑事务所，建筑师

   

• 1964: Office of James Stewart Polshek established in New York

  1964 于纽约建立詹姆斯·斯图尔特·波尔谢克建筑设计事务所

   

• 1970: Firm name changes to James Stewart Polshek and Associates

  1970 事务所更名为詹姆斯·斯图尔特·波尔谢克与其伙伴事务所

   

• 1972: AIA National Honor Award, New York State Bar Center

  1972 纽约州立律政中心荣获美国建筑师协会国家级建筑奖

   

• 1973: Becomes Dean of the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University and Special Advisor to the President for Planning and Design

  1973 美国哥伦比亚大学建筑、规划和保护学院的院长；校园规划于设计校长特别顾问

   

• 1980: Firm name changed to James Stewart Polshek and Partners

  1980 事务所更名为詹姆斯·斯图尔特·波尔谢克与合伙人事务所

   

• 1981: Co-founds the group Architects / Designers / Planners for Social Responsibility

  1981 建筑师/设计师/规划师社会责任公益团体创始/发起人

   

• 1986: Receives Gold Medal, AIA New York Chapter

  1986 美国建筑师协会纽约州分会金奖受冕人

   

• 1988: Publishes the book Context and Responsibility (Rizzoli)

  1988 出版《背景与职责》一书

   

• 1992: AIA Architecture Firm Award

  1992 美国建筑师协会国家卓越建筑事务所奖

   

• 1994: Firm name changed to Polshek and Partners

  1994 事务所更名为波尔谢克与合伙人事务所

   

• 1995: Pratt Institute, Doctor of Fine Arts, Honorary

  1995 普拉特学院艺术学荣誉博士

   

• 1998: Firm name changed to Polshek Partnership

  1998 事务所更名为波尔谢克合伙人建筑设计事务所

   

• 1999: New School University, Doctor of Fine Arts, Honorary

  1999 新学院艺术学荣誉博士

   

• 2002: New Jersey Institute of Technology, Doctor of Humane Letters, Honorary

  2002 新泽西理工大学人文学荣誉博士

   

• 2002: Municipal Art Society of New York, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Medal

  2002纽约市政艺术协会杰奎琳•肯尼迪•奥纳西斯奖

   

• 2002: American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Fellow

  2002 美国艺术科学院院士

   

• 2003: AIA New York Chapter President's Award

  2003 美国建筑师协会纽约分会总统奖受冕人

   

• 2004: Firm receives Cooper Hewitt National Design Award

  2004 库珀·休伊特国家建筑设计事务所奖

   

• 2005: Retires from partnership, becomes Senior Design Counsel

  2005 退休，兼任事务所资深建筑设计顾问

   

• 2005: American Academy of Arts and Letters, Fellow

  2005 美国艺术文学院院士

   

• 2006: Appointed to Public Design Commission by Mayor Michael Bloomberg

  2006时任纽约市长迈克尔·布隆伯格任命为纽约市公共设计委员会委员

   

• 2006: American Academy in Rome, William A. Bernoudy Resident in Architecture

  2006罗马美国学院，威廉·A·伯努迪建筑基金会理事

   

• 2009: Receives Brooklyn Museum of Art Augustus Graham Medal

  2009布鲁克林博物馆奥古斯都•格雷厄姆卓越建筑成就奖

   

• 2014: Publishes the book Build, Memory (Monacelli Press)

  2014 出版《建筑，记忆》一书

   

• 2018: Receives Gold Medal Award from the American Institute of Architects

  2018 美国建筑师协会终身成就奖，AIA金奖受冕人

   

• 2019: Fulbright Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award

  2019哥本哈根皇家艺术学院富布赖特基金会终身成就奖

   

• 2022: American-Scandinavian Foundation Cultural Award

  2022 美国斯堪的纳维亚基金会文化奖

   

• 2022: Columbia University, Doctorate of Humane Letters, Honorary

  2022 哥伦比亚大学人文学荣誉博士