Florida architect and founder of Merrill, Pastor & Colgan Architects, Scott Merrill has been named the 14th recipient of the Richard H. Driehaus Prize at the University of Notre Dame. Lauded for his "extensive knowledge of vernacular and classical traditions in architecture," Merrill is best known for his Seaside Chapel in Florida.
“Scott Merrill has demonstrated how the principles of classicism can be used as a foundation for designing buildings that respond to and express regional character while employing the richness of precedents found throughout the ages, including our own,” said Michael Lykoudis, Driehaus Prize jury chair and Francis and Kathleen Rooney Dean of Notre Dame’s School of Architecture. “His applications of architectural forms from various times and places to modern settings are used to reinforce the values of community, beauty and sustainability without sacrificing economy.”
“The jury’s selection of Scott Merrill as the 2016 Driehaus Prize laureate brings into focus his remarkable ability to apply the principles of traditional architecture to a wide variety of building types while integrating unique regional identities,” said Richard H. Driehaus, founder, chairman and chief investment officer of Chicago-based Driehaus Capital Management LLC. “His work beautifully demonstrates the inherent versatility of traditional architecture.”
Established in 2003 through the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture, the Richard H. Driehaus Prize is the most significant recognition traditional design in the contemporary built environment. Merrill will be awarded the $200,000 prize and a bronze miniature of the Choregic Monument of Lysikrates during a ceremony on March 19 (Saturday) in Chicago.
Past winners include David M. Schwarz, Pier Carlo Bontempi, Thomas H. Beeby, Michael Graves, Léon Krier, Robert A.M. Stern, and more.
