Laurie Ann Hawkinson (born March 25, 1952) is an American architect. She worked at

Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies The Institute for Architecture & Urban Studies is a non-profit architecture studio and think tank located in Manhattan, New York, United States. IAUS (1967–1984) The Institute of Architecture and Urban Studies was founded in 1967 as a non-pr ...

and is a partner at Smith-Miller + Hawkinson Architects. Hawkinson is also a Professor of Architecture at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

’s Graduate School of Architecture.

Early life and education

Hawkinson was born on March 25, 1952. She was educated at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

where she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts and

Master's Degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

. After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, Hawkinson travelled to New York to enrol in the

Whitney Museum The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–194 ...

's Independent Study Program. While there, she was encouraged by director Jane G. Rice to apply as an art handler, which she accepted. According to the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

, Hawkinson was the only woman art handler in a major New York museum at the time.

Career

After graduating from Cooper Union, Hawkinson co-founded an architecture firm with Henry H. Smith-Miller in 1983. The following year, Hawkinson collaborated with Erika Rothenberg and John Malpede to create the ''Freedom of Expression National Monument,'' in

Battery Park City Battery Park City is a mainly residential planned community and neighborhood on the west side of the southern tip of the island of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by the Hudson River on the west, the Hudson River shoreline on the north ...

for its

Creative Time Creative Time is a New York-based nonprofit arts organization. It was founded in 1974 to support the creation of innovative, site-specific, socially engaged artworks in the public realm, particularly in vacant spaces of historical and architectura ...

Art on the Beach project. Their monument was a giant megaphone aimed at encouraging people to voice their opinions. In 2004, their monument was again exhibited in Lower Manhattan from August to November. During this time, Hawkinson sat as a panelist for the New York State Council on the Arts in Architecture, Planning and Design from 1986 until 1989. In 1987, Hawkinson (AP) and Smith-Miller were selected to design the

Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia The Institute of Contemporary Art or ICA is a contemporary art museum in Philadelphia. The museum is associated with the University of Pennsylvania, and is located on its campus. The Institute is one of the country's leading museums dedicated to e ...

at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

. They were subsequently awarded the 1989–1990 Faculty Design Award from the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture. The following year, Hawkinson was named an Eeero Saarinen Visiting Professor at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

. She then spent three years at the Southern California Institute of Architecture as a Visiting Critic and Graduate Thesis Advisor. While serving as the director of Columbia's Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation (GSAPP), Hawkinson collaborated with Vishaan Chakrabarti to connect New York's Financial District to Governors Island through a land bridge made of landfill. In 2016, she was appointed to the Public Design Commission by New York mayor Bill de Blasio.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hawkinson, Laurie 1952 births Living people California women architects University of California, Berkeley alumni Cooper Union alumni Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation faculty 20th-century American architects 21st-century American architects 21st-century American women