No Gold Medal for architects

The American Institute of Architects will not have a Gold Medal winner in 2003. At a meeting in Washington Thursday, the organization’s board of directors did not achieve the three-fourths majority needed to select the winner of its highest honor, which is awarded annually to an architect whose work has had “a lasting influence on the theory and practice of architecture.”

The AIA did not release names of the nominees, in accordance with the organization’s bylaws. Nor would its spokeswoman, Tricia Chamberlain, say how many of the 48 board members were present for the vote.

Although the Gold Medal comes up for consideration each year, the board is not required to award it annually -- there have been only 59 recipients since the first Gold Medal was awarded in 1907.

The AIA did announce other major awards Thursday, including naming the Seattle firm Miller/Hull Partnership as recipient of the 2003 AIA Architecture Firm Award, the highest honor bestowed on an architecture firm. Architect and educator Marvin J. Malecha, dean of the College of Design at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, was named the 2003 recipient of the Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architectural Education.