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Lewis receives AIA Iowa Medal of Honor Calvin F. Lewis, professor and chair of the Iowa State University department of architecture, received the Medal of Honor from the Iowa Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA Iowa) at the Central States Region/AIA Iowa Annual Convention in Des Moines on Oct. 16. The award recognizes an AIA Iowa member for distinguished service to the architecture profession. 10/26/08
Contacts:
Calvin Lewis, Architecture, (515) 294-2665,
calewis@iastate.edu
Heather Sauer, College of Design communications, (515)
294-9289, hsauer@iastate.edu
AMES, Iowa -- Calvin F. Lewis, professor and chair
of the Iowa State University department of architecture, received the Medal of
Honor from the Iowa Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA Iowa)
at the Central States Region/AIA Iowa Annual Convention in Des Moines on Oct.
16.
The award recognizes an AIA Iowa member for distinguished
service to the architecture profession. Lewis is the 11th recipient of this
honor.
 "Cal has consistently made contributions to the profession
through his design and organizational acumen -- as a designer, firm principal,
and educational leader, among other accomplishments," said Gregory Palermo,
professor and coordinator of the ISU undergraduate architecture program.
"He is nationally recognized by his peers as an outstanding designer,
critic and juror. Under his leadership, the quality of our graduates has been
widely recognized through consistent ranking in the top 15 undergraduate
programs in the nation by DesignIntelligence," a bimonthly publication for
leaders in design professions.
Lewis has served as professor and chair of the ISU
architecture department since 2000. He had been a part-time adjunct professor
in the 1980s and led the department's professional Architecture Advisory
Council for nearly 20 years.
Lewis began his architectural career at Charles Herbert and
Associates in Des Moines after receiving a bachelor's degree in architecture
from Iowa State in 1969. He became a founding principal of Herbert Lewis Kruse
Blunck Architecture (HLKB) in 1987.
His professional work has garnered more than 70 national,
regional and state awards, including a "Best of Design" award from Time magazine for the adaptive re-use of the Meredith
Corporation building in Des Moines, two international design awards from I.D. magazine, a national "Good Design is Good Business"
Award from Business Week and Architectural
Record magazines, an AISC (American
Institute of Steel Construction)/AIA Award for Innovative Design, and three
national AIA Honor Awards, which are the top design recognition given by the
profession. He was named one of the top young architects in the country by
Metropolitan Home magazine in 1983. His design efforts helped lead HLKB to be
honored with the National AIA Firm Award in 2001, the highest recognition given
to an architecture firm in the US.
"Few people have contributed more to the face of
architecture in Iowa, in so many capacities, and to such consistent levels of
excellence, as Cal Lewis has," said Paul Mankins, a 1985 architecture graduate
of Iowa State and a principal of Substance Architecture in Des Moines."
Lewis's work on the Meredith Corporation project spanned
over 30 years. The project played an important role in the redevelopment of
downtown Des Moines and was named the Iowa "Building of the Decade" for the 1990s by
AIA Iowa. Civic projects Lewis helped design in Des Moines include the Simon
Estes Riverfront Amphitheater and the Gray's Lake Park pedestrian bridge, and
he is now collaborating on the renovation of Nollen Plaza.
A particularly meaningful project for Lewis on the Iowa
State campus was the Jacobson Athletic Building, where he was "able to combine my
background as a Cyclone football player with my profession as an architect," he
said.
Lewis is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects
and serves as a national design consultant for the US General Services
Administration’s Design Excellence Program. He has lectured widely and served
on numerous professional award juries throughout the US. His work has appeared
in a range of national architectural publications, including a cover story in
Architectural Record.
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