Memorial Service for Architect Michael Graves Set for April 12th

Graves
Graves

A memorial for architect and designer Michael Graves will be held in Richardson Auditorium at Princeton University on Sunday, April 12, at 1 p.m.

RSVP to attend the service online by following the link.

Princeton University will be offering shuttle service to Richardson Auditorium from the school’s parking lot off Faculty Road called Lot 23.

Graves died on March 12. He was 80.

His architecture firm designed more than 400 buildings worldwide,  including large-scale master plans, corporate headquarters and other office buildings, hotels and resorts, restaurants and retail stores, facilities for sports and recreation, healthcare facilities, civic projects such as embassies, university buildings, museums, theaters and public libraries, housing and single-family residences. In 1982, he designed the Portland Building in Oregon, which is regarded as the first major example of postmodern architecture.

His product design firm has designed more than 2,000 products, including a variety of consumer products for home, office and personal use, as well as building components such as lighting, hardware, bath and kitchen products.

Named the Richard H. Driehaus Prize Laureate in 2012, Graves received the 1999 National Medal of Arts from President Bill Clinton. In 2001, the American Institute of Architects awarded Graves its gold medal, the highest award bestowed upon an individual architect. He was the recipient of the 2010 Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architectural Education, and was also the first architect inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame.

In  2003, Graves became paralyzed from the waist down as a result of a spinal cord infection. He later became internationally recognized as a healthcare design advocate, and in 2010, the Center for Health Design named him one of the top 25 most influential people in healthcare design. In March 2013, President Obama appointed Graves to the U.S. Access Board.

A native of Indianapolis, Graves received his architectural training at the University of Cincinnati and Harvard University. In 1960, he won the Rome Prize and studied at the American Academy in Rome for two years, where he later served as a trustee. He began his 39-year teaching career at Princeton University in 1962, received 14 honorary doctorates, and was a member of the National Academy. He was a professor emeritus at Princeton University at the time of his death.