Publication Disputes Rules Were Violated

We appreciate the generally favorable coverage given to our P/A Awards architectural competition by your critic Sam Hall Kaplan in his article (Jan. 26), but we must take issue with some of the statements.

He questions the eligibility under our competition rules of the award-winning house designed by Robert Mangurian Studio Works of Venice. He then states that such doubts “prompted the magazine to comment that it will reconsider the award as well as reexamine the administration of the program.” We are not reconsidering the award, nor is this “situation” having any exceptional impact on our continuous monitoring of the program’s administration.

After hearing inquiries and allegations from Mr. Kaplan, our managing editor recontacted the personal secretary to the client, Gilbert Friesen (not just “a secretary in Friesen’s office,” as Kapaln would have it), who reconfirmed for us that Friesen expects to build the house.

Our procedure for verifying eligibility is consistently applied, and this year two out of nine finalists in the category of architectural design were ruled ineligible through this procedure. The Friesen house survived this test.

Kaplan’s article also makes misleading comments on the accomplishments of the architect, Robert Mangurian, saying that “he has never had any of his own designs executed.” For almost his entire career to date, Mangurian worked exclusively with Craig Hodgetts on the design of buildings for which they shared the credit. It is patently unfair to state that someone who has produced some outstanding completed buildings through collaborations has not executed any “on his own.”

JOHN MORRIS DIXON, FAIA

Stamford, Conn.

Dixon is editor of Progressive Architecture magazine.