PROVIDENCE – Friedrich St. Florian, a professor emeritus of the Rhode Island School of Design and the designer of the $160 million World War II Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., has been elected to the American Institute of Architects’ College of Fellows for his contributions to the profession, the AIA of Rhode Island announced today.
The designation honors architects with at least a decade of membership who have made contributions of national significance to aesthetic, scientific and practical efficiency; to architectural education, training and practice; to the building industry, through leadership in the AIA and other professional organizations; to improved living standards; and to society, through public service.
“St. Florian was elected to receive this honor not only because of his award-winning design, but also his significant contributions to architectural education,” the AIA said.
Best known internationally for his WWII Memorial, St. Florian also served as design architect for the $450 million Providence Place and its Skybridge. In years past, he designed “a range of private residences in and around Providence, marking the beginning of his architectural practice,” the AIA said.
His full-service architectural, interior design and master planning group, Friedrich St.Florian, Architect, is located at 146 Westminster St.
A native of Austria, where he earned a master of architecture degree from the Technical University (Technische Universitaet) in Graz, he came to the United States as a Fulbright Fellow studying at the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture and Planning, where he received a Master of Science degree in 1962.
St. Florian joined the RISD faculty in 1963, helping launch the European Honors Program in Rome, which he directed from 1965 to 1967. He served as dean of Architectural studies from 1978 to 1988, and acting vice president for academic affairs from 1981 to 1984. Named a RISD professor emeritus in 2005, he continues to serve as an adjunct faculty member in the school’s Department of Architecture.
His previous honors include being named a Fellow of the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, from 1970 to 1976, and a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, in 1994. He received an honorary doctorate in fine arts from Brown University in 2006.
Drawings by St. Florian are in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and the Georges Pompidou Center in Paris.
He and 115 other new AIA Fellows will be invested into the College of Fellows on May 16, in a ceremony during the 2008 AIA National Convention and Design Expo in Boston. AIA Fellows, who comprise about 3 percent of the trade group’s 81,000 members, are entitled to use the designation “FAIA” after their names.
To learn more about Friedrich St. Florian’s education and career, visit www.risd.edu. For more information about the Providence-based Friedrich St.Florian, Architect, a group of about 10 design and architecture professionals, visit www.fstflorian.com.
The American Institute of Architects, Rhode Island Chapter, is a component of a nationwide association based in Washington, D.C. The local chapter represents more than 250 design professionals and 50 affiliate members from allied professions. To learn more about the national or local AIA, visit www.AIA-ri.org .
