(1953–2019). Philip G. Freelon founded The Freelon Group in 1990. Over the past 21 years, the firm, based in Durham, NC, has grown to a total of 51 staff members, including 21 licensed architects. Focusing on higher education, science and technology, and museum/cultural center projects, Freelon’s firm has successfully delivered award-winning building design within a collaborative and innovative studio environment. The firm has completed major museum projects in Baltimore, San Francisco, and in Greensboro and Charlotte, NC. The team of Freelon Adjaye Bond was selected by the Smithsonian Institution to design the new National Museum of African American History and Culture, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., which opened in 2016. The Freelon Group joined Perkins & Will in 2014.
Freelon’s work has been published in national professional journals, including Architecture, Progressive Architecture, Architectural Record, and Contract magazine, where he was named Designer of the Year for 2008. Metropolis and Metropolitan Home magazines and the New York Times have also featured Freelon and his firm. The Freelon Group has received 37 AIA design awards at the national, regional, and state levels and also received AIA North Carolina’s Outstanding Firm Award in 2001.
Freelon has served as an adjunct professor at the College of Design, North Carolina State University, and has been a visiting critic and lecturer at Harvard University, MIT, the University of Maryland, Syracuse University, Kent State University, the University of Cincinnati, Catholic University, and the New Jersey Institute of Technology, among other institutions. In 1989, Freelon was awarded the Loeb Fellowship and spent a year of independent study at Harvard University Graduate School of Design. He is a member of the faculty of MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning.
One of 29 LEED® Accredited Professionals in his firm, Freelon is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. He has served on numerous design award juries, including the National AIA Institute Honor Awards for Architecture. He is also the 2009 recipient of the AIA Thomas Jefferson Award for Public Architecture and the 2010 recipient of AIA North Carolina’s Gold Medal. President Barack Obama appointed him to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts in 2011, where he served from 2012 to 2016. In 2017, Fast Company named him Architect of the Year.
A native of Philadelphia, Freelon holds a Bachelor of Environmental Design (Architecture) from North Carolina State University’s College of Design (1975) and a Master of Architecture from MIT (1977).
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Louis Kahn: Architecture as Philosophy by John Lobell
Louis Kahn: Architecture as Philosophy
By John Lobell
Publisher: The Monacelli Press
Published: June 2020
Noted Louis I.Kahn expert John Lobell explores how Kahn’s focus on structure, respect for materials, clarity of program, and reverence for details come together to manifest an overall philosophy.
Our Days Are Like Full Years: A Memoir with Letters from Louis Kahn by Harriet Pattison
Our Days Are Like Full Years: A Memoir with Letters from Louis Kahn
By Harriet Pattison
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: October 2020
An intimate glimpse into the professional and romantic relationship between Harriet Pattison and the renowned architect Louis Kahn. Harriet Pattison, FASLA, is a distinguished landscape architect. She was Louis Kahn’s romantic partner from 1959 to 1974, and his collaborator on the landscapes of the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, and the F.D.R. Memorial/Four Freedoms Park, New York. She is the mother of their son, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Nathaniel Kahn.
Louis I. Kahn: The Nordic Latitudes
Louis I. Kahn: The Nordic Latitudes
By Per Olaf Fjeld and Emily Randall Fjeld
Publisher: University of Arkansas Press
Published: October 4, 2019
A new and personal reading of the architecture, teachings, and legacy of Louis I. Kahn from Per Olaf Fjeld’s perspective as a former student. The book explores Kahn’s life and work, offering a unique take on one of the twentieth century’s most important architects. Kahn’s Nordic and European ties are emphasized in this study that also covers his early childhood in Estonia, his travels, and his relationships with other architects, including the Norwegian architect Arne Korsmo.
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Reading Graphic Design History: Image, Text, and Context by David Raizman
Reading Graphic Design History: Image, Text, and Context
By David Raizman
Publisher: Bloomsbury Visual Arts
Published: December 2020
An innovative approach to graphic design that uses a series of key artifacts from the history of print culture in light of their specific historical contexts. It encourages the reader to look carefully and critically at print advertising, illustration, posters, magazine art direction, and typography, often addressing issues of class, race, and gender.
David King: Designer, Activist, Visual Historian by Rick Poynor
David King: Designer, Activist, Visual Historian
By Rick Poynor
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: September 2020
A comprehensive overview of the work and legacy of David King (1943–2016), whose fascinating career bridged journalism, graphic design, photography, and collecting. King launched his career at Britain’s Sunday Times Magazine in the 1960s, starting as a designer and later branching out into image-led journalism, blending political activism with his design work.
Teaching Graphic Design History by Steven Heller
Teaching Graphic Design History
By Steven Heller
Publisher: Allworth Press
Published: June 2019
An examination of the concerted efforts, happy accidents, and key influences of the practice throughout the years, Teaching Graphic Design History is an illuminating resource for students, practitioners, and future teachers of the subject.
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