Award-winning alumni of Syracuse Architecture to lecture at The Warehouse

Award-winning alumni of Syracuse Architecture to lecture at The WarehouseJanuary 31, 2008Mary Kate O’Brienmcobrien@syr.edu

Architects Margaret Griffin and John Enright of the Los Angeles firm Griffin Enright Architects will speak at the Syracuse University School of Architecture on Wednesday, Feb. 13, at 4:30 p.m. in the main auditorium at The Warehouse, 350 W. Fayette St. The lecture, “Hidden Agenda,” is free and open to the public.

Griffin and Enright, both graduates of the Syracuse University School of Architecture, established Griffin Enright Architects in 2000 and are visiting critics at the School during the spring 2008 semester, during which time they will teach a studio with a site based in China. Their versatile practice includes projects ranging from large-scale commercial and residential commissions to furniture design and gallery installations. “Keep Off the Grass!: Planar Landscape Phenomena,” an installation created for the SCI-Arc Gallery in L.A., presented a critique on the use of water in Los Angeles and the negative impact that use has on the environment. The firm’s work moves beyond the traditional scope of architectural practice, underscoring connections with the surrounding urban fabric and landscape by reinforcing existing conditions or creating new ones that allow architecture, urban context and landscape to be experienced in new ways. The firm is the recipient of numerous awards for design excellence including the 2006 American Architecture Award from the Chicago Athenaeum.

Prior to establishing Griffin Enright Architects, Enright was one of two associates in the firm Morphosis, led by Pritzker Prize winner Thom Mayne. His contributions were recognized internationally through numerous awards and publications and included three first-place competition entries: the Science Center School in Los Angeles, the Diamond Ranch High School in Pomona and the Hypo Alpe Adria Center in Klagenfurt, Austria. Recognition for his work at Griffin Enright Architects includes the John Jerde Visiting Professorship at USC, and the being named winner of the Vertical Garden Competition for Schindler House, sponsored by the MAK Center, Vienna.

Griffin has more than 14 years of experience teaching at universities, including SCI-Arc (Southern California Institute of Architecture), USC, UCLA and SU. Recognition and awards for her work at Griffin Enright Architects, include the 2005 John Jerde Visiting Professorship at USC, the 26th Annual Interiors Award (2005), being named a finalist for the MoMA/P.S. 1 Young Architects Competition (2004), Los Angeles AIA Next LA Award (2001, 2002), California Council AIA Merit Award (2002) and the Los Angeles AIA Interior Architecture Award (2001). Her work has been published locally, nationally and internationally in journals, including Architectural Record, Architectural Digest, Progressive Architecture, Interior Design, LA Architect, Praxis, Metropolis, Contract, and Architecture Magazine.