Paul Stevenson “Steve” Oles, FAIA, a part time instructor in the University of New Mexico School of Architecture and Planning, worked with internationally known architect I.M. Pei on the National Gallery of Art East Wing in Washington, D.C. from 1969 through 1971.
Acclaim and recognition for that project comes on Wednesday, March 3, when the American Institute of Architects will award the project AIA's 25-Year Award at the Accent on Architecture Gala to be held in Washington.
In 1969, Oles was a fresh young architect who, upon learning that Pei got the commission on the National Gallery's East Wing, contacted him about providing drawing services.
“The overarching point is that Pei and I got together in a serious and wonderful way under that commission. I am still working with him , and we are good personal friends,” said Oles.
Pei liked Oles' drawings; they are now in the archives of the National Gallery. “It was the offer of a lifetime that couldn't be refused. Seven people were on the design team working over the course of two and a half to three years in the design and development of the project. I had to bring all those ideas and concepts together in the drawings,” Oles recalled. Oles used the drawings in a textbook he wrote, “Architectural Illustration,” published in 1979. “An original drawing depicting the exterior of the National Gallery is on the front cover. The rear jacket features a photograph of the gallery as built,” he said.
Of Oles' association with UNM, Andy Pressman, director of the architecture program, said, “We were very fortunate to recruit perhaps the most talented perspectivist in the world to teach a week-long course, “Hybrid Visualization,” that was recently co-sponsored by AIA/Albuquerque. Steve has donated to us some of his beautiful renderings commissioned by such luminaries as Pritzker Prize and AIA Gold-Medalist Richard Meier.
We look forward to continuing a most fruitful relationship between Steve, the architecture program and our students.”
Oles is a practicing architect, experienced teacher and highly regarded perspectivist. As an architect, his work in housing and energy-efficient design has been widely recognized and published. He has taught at RISD, Yale, MIT and Harvard, where he was also a Loeb Fellow in Advanced Environmental Studies.
A co-founder of the American Society of Architectural Perspectivists, he is the author of numerous articles and two major books on architectural illustration, and has lectured and exhibited worldwide. In 1989, he was advanced to the AIA College of Fellows, which described him as “the dean of architectural illustrators in America.” In 1996 he won the Hugh Ferriss Memorial Prize for his pencil drawing of a Paris office tower, designed by Henry N. Cobb, FAIA.
Contact: Carolyn Gonzales (505) 277-5920
Posted by kwentworth at February 12, 2004 04:33 PM