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Phyllis Lambert

Vincent Scully Prize

January 19, 2006

The National Building Museum presented its seventh Vincent Scully Prize to Phyllis Lambert on Thursday, January 19, 2006, in a ceremony and public program in the Museum's Great Hall. The award recognizes Lambert’s outstanding contributions to the design of the built environment, advancement of public awareness of design, and dedication to architectural preservation. The ceremony included tributes by Elizabeth Diller, founding principal of Diller, Scofidio + Renfro; the Honorable Frank McKenna, Ambassador of Canada to the United States of America; and Pierre Théberge, director of the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa.

Following the ceremony, Ms. Lambert gave a lecture, Ironies in the Public Life of Architecture: The Seagram Building, 1954-58, which detailed the public reception and long-term impact of the Seagram Building on architectural culture.

Phyllis Lambert and the Built Environment

Over the past 50 years, Phyllis Lambert—architect, educator, activist, and philanthropist—has championed excellence in the design of the built environment and worked to improve public understanding of modern design. Early in her career, Lambert served as the director of planning for the Seagram Building, which was designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and is now considered one of the greatest structures of the 20th century.

In the 1960s, Lambert designed the award-winning Saidye Bronfman Centre in Montreal. A life-long advocate for historic preservation, Lambert led the effort in the ‘70s to save the historic Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles from demolition and founded Heritage Montreal. In 1979 Lambert founded the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) in Montreal. Her leadership has developed the CCA into a world-renowned institution, producing such critically acclaimed exhibitions as Mies in America and numerous seminal studies of architecture.