Yesterday, AIA Chicago announced that it will present its 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award to Richard Driehaus, founder of Chicago-based investment firm Driehaus Capital Management. The award recognizes local individuals who make significant contributions to architecture in Chicago and worldwide.
A philanthropist known for his preservation efforts, Driehaus has supported several architecture programs, such as the Richard H. Driehaus Prize for Classical Architecture, administered by the University of Notre Dame, in Indiana. Established in 2003, the $200,000 prize recognizes a living architect whose work exemplifies the values of traditional and classical architecture in a contemporary built environment. He has also sponsored several Chicago design competitions, which have produced works such as the IIT Campus Center by the Office for Metropolitan Architecture, The Millennium Park Lurie Garden by Gustafson Guthrie Nichol, and the Daniel Burnham Memorial by Woodhouse Tinucci Architects.
In 1983, he established the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, which provides grants to support historic preservation, conserve open spaces, and enhance the built environment, among other causes.
"Richard's engagement with preservation, his recognition of working architects, and his philanthropic reach have had an immeasurable impact on the practice," said AIA Chicago executive vice president Zurich Esposito in a press release. "His commitment to classical architectural and planning ideas, forms and principles—coupled with his willingness to support and embolden those actively working in the profession—has left a lasting legacy on the contemporary landscape."
The 2014 winner of AIA Chicago's Lifetime Achievement Award was John Vinci, FAIA. Past winners include Stanley Tigerman, FAIA, Natalie de Blois, Walter Netsch, John Holabird Jr., and jointly, Daniel Burnham and Edward Bennett, AIA.
Driehaus will receive the award on Oct. 23 at Designight, the 60th annual Design Excellence Awards held at Navy Pier's Grand Ballroom, in Chicago.
