Yale School of Architecture Showcases Recent Graduates

Some of the most distinguished and innovative young architects of our day will be celebrated this fall when the Yale School of Architecture turns the spotlight on its own recent graduates.

Titled “New Blue: Recent Work of Graduates of the Yale School of Architecture, 1978-1998,” the exhibition will present the work of such illustrious alumni as Maya Lin, Marion Weiss, Doug Garafolo, Lise Anne Couture, Constance Adams, Patricia Patkau, Carol Burns, Gilbert Schafer, Alexander Gorlin, Charles Lazor and many others who have already made their indelible mark on the visual landscape.

“Our graduates have historically been leaders of the profession for generations,” said Robert A.M. Stern, dean of the School of Architecture. “This is the generation that was raised in the post-modernism debate of the 1980s, and they are now flourishing.”

The exhibition examines the work of the men and women who studied at the School during the tenures of deans Cesar Pelli, Thomas Beeby and Fred Koetter. It was a time when, in the wake of the collapse of Modernism, Yale emerged as a forum for opposing views and a center of vibrant diversity, renowned for its challenges to the fashionable dogmas of the day. Visiting professors, such as the influential theorists Leon Krier and Demetri Porphyrios, helped to keep the atmosphere charged with fresh and stimulating ideas.

If the exhibition demonstrates grounding in the exploration of those ideas, it also shows that the generation has risen to the challenges of the new media, Stern says.

Indeed, among the 43 individuals in the group are many who have ventured forth into cyberspace: Garafolo has recently completed work on one of the world’s first all-digitally designed buildings, the Korean Presbyterian Church in New York; Couture and partner Hani Rashid, founders of Asymptote, are designing the Guggenheim Virtual Museum; and Lazor has made the mass-market, mail-order furniture he designs a significant online success. A designer of way stations for astronauts, Adams has made an important contribution in real space.

On September 14-15, there will be a symposium in conjunction with the show, “White, Gray, and New Blue: Evaluating the Work of Yale Graduates since 1978,” which will assemble a distinguished roster of architects, critics and historians to review the work of these graduates within a wider historical and cultural context.

The exhibition, curated by Aaron Betsky, also a graduate and now director of the Netherlands Architecture Institute, consists of 44 multi-media panels designed by the firm Pentagram. It will be at the gallery of the Architecture Building, 150 York Street, from September 4 to October 19, with an opening reception on September 5.

Hours for the gallery are Monday - Saturday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. For more information, contact the Yale School of Architecture, 203-432-2288, or visit their web site at www.architecture.yale.edu