Galloway Lecture Series to feature internationally known architect Tom Kundig
LAWRENCE — Since 2008, the Thomas D. Galloway Lecture Series has brought internationally acclaimed experts in architecture, design and planning to the University of Kansas. The next series speaker is Tom Kundig, one of the most recognized architects in North America.
The public is invited to attend the free presentation at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 6, at the Lawrence Arts Center, 940 New Hampshire St., Lawrence.
Examples of residential, commercial and institutional architecture by Kundig, of the firm Olson Kundig Architects, can be seen around the world.
"I try to approach each project differently, because each context is different," said Kundig. "Each client, program and landscape leads to something unique. I listen to the client and walk the site, thinking hard about it, absorbing impressions and letting ideas jell. I'm fascinated by the nature of nature: what makes a place uniquely itself and how architecture can reveal something about that truth."
Kundig earned undergraduate and graduate architecture degrees from the University of Washington. He has received numerous awards for architectural design, including an award from the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. His books include "Tom Kundig Houses." His work has been published more than 450 times in publications around the world. His firm, Olson Kundig Architects, was the American Institute of Architects' 2009 Firm of the Year.
Dan Rockhill, professor of architecture at KU's School of Architecture, Design and Planning, said he was delighted that Kundig will speak in Lawrence. "Becoming familiar with Tom Kundig's work, especially in an art-based community like Lawrence, would take someone a step closer to appreciating the widespread potential architecture has to move the spirit," said Rockhill. "This program will provide a perspective on the level of work that dominates our built environment without being questioned. We are indebted to Sharon Perry Galloway; without her support, we would not be able to bring such a prominent architect to Lawrence."
The lecture series is made possible by Sharon Perry Galloway, of Lawrence and Roswell, Ga., and her family. They provided funds to KU Endowment to establish the series in memory of Galloway's husband, Thomas Galloway, who died in 2007. Thomas Galloway was the founding chair of the graduate program in urban planning in KU's School of Architecture, Design and Planning, where he was a professor from 1971 to 1980.
As a professor, Galloway encouraged his students to deepen their understanding of the present by studying social, cultural, environmental, ideological and philosophical entities. He charged his students to go out into the world and change it with a sense of responsibility and humility.
Galloway held the position of dean of the College of Architecture at Georgia Institute of Technology until his death in 2007. He was well-known for establishing partnerships with Ecole Nationale Superieure d'Architecture de Paris LaVillette in France and the Shenyang Technological University in China. He chaired a team that reviewed a new College of Engineering and Design at the University of Abu Dhabi and served as an urban planning consultant to the Sheik.
During his career, Galloway was honored both academically and professionally. He was listed among the "30 Leaders Who Bridge Practice and Education" in America's Best Architecture and Design Schools, published in the 2005 edition of Design Intelligence, and was named a Lexus Leader of the Arts by Public Broadcasting Atlanta.
KU Endowment is the independent, nonprofit organization serving as the official fundraising and fund-management foundation for KU. Founded in 1891, KU Endowment was the first foundation of its kind at a U.S. public university.