Michael Graves, MArch ’59
Michael Graves Design Group and Michael Graves & Associates
Mr. Graves will give a short biographical history, which will center on key influences in his career. He will also touch on this life as a “figurative” architect and what that means to his buildings and his art.
Michael Graves, FAIA, has been in the forefront of architecture and design since he founded his practice in 1964. Today, his two firms–Michael Graves & Associates, the architecture and interior design practices, and Michael Graves Design Group, the product design and graphic design practices–employ over 100 people in offices in Princeton, New Jersey and New York City, New York. MGA has designed over 300 buildings worldwide and MGDG has designed over 2,000 consumer products, which include both building components such as lighting, hardware, bath and kitchen products, and a wide variety of consumer products for home, office and personal use. Michael Graves and the firms have received over 185 awards for design excellence, including the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal and the national Medal of the Arts, presented by President Clinton in 1999.
A native of Indianapolis, Graves received his architectural training at the University of Cincinnati and Harvard University. In 1960, he won the Rome Prize and studied at the American Academy in Rome, of which he is now a Trustee. In 1962, Graves began a nearly 40-year teaching career at Princeton University, where he is now the Robert Schirmer Professor of Architecture, Emeritus. He has received 12 honorary doctorates and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters as well as a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.
