Design practice WEISS/MANFREDI has won the 2020 Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Architecture. Presented by the University of Virginia and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello, the award is one of four honors recognizing achievements in architecture, citizen leaderships, global innovation, and law. The Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medals recognize the exemplary contributions of recipients to the endeavors in which Jefferson excelled and held in high regard.
Marion Weiss and Michael Manfredi are teh co-founders of the multidisciplinary design practice, WEISS/MANFREDI, known for redefining the relationships between landsape, architecture, infrastructure and art through their award-winning projects. They are awarded alongside Dr. Rajiv J. Shah, president of The Rockefeller Foundation, Ted Turner, a media pioneer and philanthropist, and Sonia Sotomayor, an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Due to ongoing efforts to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus and limitations on events and travel, this year’s in-person events have been cancelled and the medals will be given in absentia.
“I was very much looking forward to welcoming these extraordinary men and women to Grounds, but the virus had other ideas,” said UVA president Jim Ryan. “Still, I hope they will accept these medals as a token of our admiration and gratitude. Together, they have devoted their lives to areas of study and practice that Thomas Jefferson cared deeply about. And they have done so with an eye towards improvement—recognizing that, while our pursuit of high ideals will always be imperfect, hope lies in the striving.”
The medals are presented annually by the president of the University and the president of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, the independent, nonprofit organization that owns and operates Jefferson’s home, Monticello. “As Thomas Jefferson once counseled, we must ‘do to our fellow-men the most good in our power,’” said Leslie Greene Bowman, president and CEO of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation. “This year’s medalists embody the spirit of this charge through their selfless, determined work. We are disappointed that we cannot award these honors in person, but no less pleased to recognize their tireless efforts to create a better future.”
News via The Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello, University of Virginia
