For Immediate Release: October 24, 2011
Media Contacts: Emma Filar, Marketing & Communications Associate
Visit the Press Room
National Building Museum Awards William K. Reilly Its Vincent Scully Prize
Award presentation and lecture will be held at the National Building Museum on November 8, 2011
WASHINGTON, D.C.—The National Building Museum presents its thirteenth Vincent Scully Prize to former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, William K. Reilly, for his lifetime work promoting sustainability and design. In announcing his selection, members of the Vincent Scully jury recognized Mr. Reilly's commitment to smart environmental planning, comprehensive land use, and preservation of open space.
A public award ceremony to celebrate Reilly’s receipt of the prize will be held at the National Building Museum on Tuesday, November 8, 2011 from 6:30 to 8:00 pm. The public program features an original talk by William K. Reilly. In this presentation Mr. Reilly will advocate for a contemporary agenda for revitalizing older communities and building new ones while stressing the incorporation of sustainable practices in energy and climate readiness, the preservation of amenities and important landscapes, the integration of nature into community life, and the fostering of economic competitiveness and opportunity. Mr. Reilly will argue these ideas are as vital for rapidly developing countries such as China and India as they are for the United States.
The Scully jury recognized that as EPA administrator, Mr. Reilly increased the national profile of environmental concerns. As president of World Wildlife Fund, he helped to preserve open space and critical habitats across the world. And as a Presidentially-appointed member of the Presidio Trust, he worked to successfully transform this historic property into a national park in the heart of San Francisco. The jury noted his current work lecturing widely about the importance of safeguarding the environment even as we pursue a healthy, productive economy. The Prize jury chair is David Schwarz and members are Deborah Berke, Ned Cramer, Gary Haney, and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk.
The Vincent Scully Prize and endowment were established by the National Building Museum in 1999 to recognize exemplary practice, scholarship, or criticism in architecture, historic preservation, and urban design. The National Building Museum honored Vincent Scully himself with the first Vincent Scully Prize in 1999. The prize grew rapidly in international prominence with the selection of laureates known for their advocacy of thoughtful urban spaces and historic preservation, exemplary practice of planning and design, commentary on design in contemporary life, and promotion of traditional arts in architecture.
Mr. Reilly follows twelve other internationally acclaimed authors, scholars, educators, and practitioners in the fields of architecture and urbanism who have been awarded the Vincent Scully Prize.
Past recipients are listed here with their affiliation at the time of their selection:
-
Vincent J. Scully, sterling professor emeritus of the History of Art at Yale University
-
Jane Jacobs, urbanist and author of The Nature of Economies
-
Andrés Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, founders of Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co
-
Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown, architects and urban planners, Venturi, Scott Brown, and Associates
-
His Highness the Aga Khan
-
His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales
-
Phyllis Lambert, architect, educator, philanthropist, and activist
-
Witold Rybczynski, architectural critic, professor, and essayist
-
Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation
-
Robert A.M. Stern, dean of the Yale School of Architecture
-
Christopher Alexander, architect and author of seminal books including The Nature of Order: An Essay on the Art of Building and the Nature of the Universe
-
Adele Chatfield-Taylor, president of the American Academy in Rome
About William K. Reilly, Thirteenth Laureate of the Vincent Scully Prize
William K. Reilly (born January 26, 1940) was administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under President George H.W. Bush. He served as president of World Wildlife Fund, as a founder or advisor to several business ventures, and on many boards of directors. In 2010, he was appointed by President Barack Obama co-chair of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling to investigate the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
In 1968, fresh from planning school and a four-month project in Turkey, Reilly joined Urban America, Inc., where he worked to integrate century-old concerns for urban beautification. This issue had been brought to the forefront of the American conscience by the civil rights movement - concerns which would grow into the environmental justice movement which he dealt with when he was at the EPA.
In 1970, during the Nixon Administration, Reilly became a senior staff member of the President’s Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) under Russell Train, who would later become the second EPA Administrator in 1973. At CEQ, Reilly focused on land use issues and historic preservation.
In 1972, he became executive director of the Rockefeller Task Force on Land Use and Urban Growth and editor of the report, "The Use of Land; a Citizen's Policy Guide to Urban Growth," which proved an influential guide for new planning concepts, constitutional interpretation regarding land use regulation, and public expectations regarding urban growth in America.
Following this, Reilly became president of The Conservation Foundation, which affiliated with World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in 1985. He served as president of World Wildlife Fund until taking over as administrator at the EPA in 1989. During his tenure, the EPA moved towards regulating acid rain and played a central role in reforming the Clean Air Act. Barely two months in office, the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred. Reilly championed place-based environmental initiatives, including elevating priority for restoration of the country’s major productive water bodies.
After leaving EPA in early 1993, Reilly became a visiting fellow at Stanford University and subsequently founded Aqua International Partners, L.P., a private equity fund associated with the Texas Pacific Group and dedicated to investing in the water sector in developing countries.
About Vincent J. Scully and the Scully Prize
The Vincent Scully Prize was instituted in honor of Vincent J. Scully, the Sterling Professor Emeritus of the history of art at Yale University and Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Miami and one of the country’s leading architectural historians and critics. For more than six decades his teaching and scholarship have profoundly influenced prominent architects and urban planners.
A scholar whose work covers both ancient and modern architecture, Scully is a leading commentator on the changing design of urban areas and its effect on the populace. As a popular teacher, Scully has taught thousands of undergraduates about architectural history. His courses are credited with introducing some of Yale’s most famous alumni to architecture and art history. He was twice selected by Time magazine for its survey of "Ten Outstanding American College Teachers." Scully was also a Mellon Visiting Professor of History at the California Institute of Technology and a Louis I. Kahn Professor at the American Academy in Rome. He is a former member of the Board of Trustees of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Scully’s numerous awards include the National Medal of Arts, the nation’s highest honor for artists and arts patrons.
The National Building Museum is grateful for the generous donations to the Vincent Scully Prize received since its inception, which sustain the program.
Registration Information for the November 8, 2011 Public Program
Tickets for the public lecture are $12 for Museum members and students and $20 for non-members. Pre-paid registration required. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.nbm.org or call 202.272.2448.
The National Building Museum is America’s leading cultural institution dedicated to advancing the quality of the built environment by educating people about its impact on their lives. Through its exhibitions, educational programs, online content, and publications, the Museum has become a vital forum for the exchange of ideas and information about the world we build for ourselves. Public inquiries: 202.272.2448 or visit www.nbm.org. Connect with us on Twitter: @BuildingMuseum and Facebook.
