We are very aware of the Green fad that has taken all industry by storm at the moment. It’s great to see awards being given to pioneers of the Green revolution. People who have always understood the importance of minimal impact and reduced cost to the environment.

Australian architect Glenn Marcus Murcutt is the recipient of the 2009 AIA Gold Medal, the coveted honor annually bestowed by the American Institute of Architects (AIA). Known for his focus on sustainability and socially responsibility, the 65th Gold Medalist designs Modernist suburban and rural homes with natural materials.

“Recently our architectural field experienced an ‘ecological boom,” writes 2005 AIA Gold Medalist Tadao Ando in a letter of support for Murcutt’s nomination. “However, without relation to such a trend of time, Glenn Murcutt has always been focusing on the geographical and regional conditions, from the very beginning of his career.”Murcutt was born in London in 1936, and spent his childhood in the remote Morobe district of New Guinea. In 1970, he launched his own firm in Sydney.

Murcutt will receive the award at the American Architectural Foundation’s Accent on Architecture Gala in February.

In 2002, Murcutt took home the Pritzker Architecture Prize, considered by many to be architect’s highest honor.

Previous AIA Gold Medalists include Thomas Jefferson, Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan, LeCorbusier, Louis Kahn, I.M. Pei, Cesar Pelli, Edward Larrabee Barnes, and last year’s recipient, Renzo Piano.

The AIA also named Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects the recipient of the 2009 AIA Firm Award, the highest honor bestowed on an architecture firm, and Adèle Santos of Santos Prescott and Associates recipient of the 2009 Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architectural Education Award.

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