The architectural firm of Perkins & Will, whose projects range from schools to health care facilities to office buildings, has won the 1999 Architecture Firm Award from the American Institute of Architects.
The honor, previously bestowed upon such firms as I.M. Pei & Partners and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, recognizes a practice has produced distinguished architecture for more than 10 years. Perkins & Will has offices in Chicago, six other U.S. cities and Paris.
Perkins & Will’s first great success, designed with Eliel and Eero Saarinen, was the Crow Island School in Winnetka, completed in 1940. Crow Island’s human scale and village-like arrangement influenced scores of schools built in the postwar era.
More recent Perkins & Will work includes the International Terminal at O’Hare International Airport and the Morton International Building at 100 N. Riverside Plaza.
The award will be presented at a ceremony in Washington on Feb. 6.
`MESSAGE FROM GOD’
Funk singer Rick James says his recent stroke may have been a message from God.
“It’s fate. It’s got to mean something. Maybe it’s God giving me a message: `Get your life in order,’ ” he said Tuesday.
James, 50, was hospitalized with a stroke on Nov. 9, just days after a blood vessel in his neck ruptured during a concert in Denver. He returned home this week. While his speech was strong and clear, he has double-vision and trouble walking.
James scored a hit in 1981 with “Super Freak.”
