The University of Virginia and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello will present the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Architecture on April 13 to Professor Rafael Moneo.
Kim Tanzer, Dean of the School of Architecture at University of Virginia, said Moneo’s legacy, as both a practitioner and an educator, cannot be overstated. “His clear, persistent architectural vision – respectful of historic contexts, yet utterly of the present – first came to the attention of the international community as an antidote to the excesses of post-modern historicism,” Tanzer said. “Later, as chair of the Harvard Graduate School of Design’s Department of Architecture, he went on to provide leadership for several generations of architects and academics, grounding their studies in a thoughtful and poetic material sensibility.”
The Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medals are the highest external honors bestowed by the University, which grants no honorary degrees. They recognize achievements of those who embrace endeavors in which Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence and third U.S. president, excelled and held in high regard. The Medal presentation will be followed with a lecture by Moneo.