ARCC King Student Medal Program

For Excellence in Architectural + Environmental Research

For the current King Medal Award Announcement, please check here.

Named in honor of the late Jonathan King, co-founder and first president of the Architectural Research Centers Consortium (ARCC), the ARCC King Student Medal Award is given to one student per ARCC member college, school, institute, or unit each year. Selection of recipients is at the discretion of the individual member institutions, but is based upon criteria that acknowledge innovation, integrity, and scholarship in architectural and/or environmental design research.

ARCC defines ‘architectural research’ broadly and inclusively across a range of domains in support of advancing knowledge of the built environment.

The award may be made at either the graduate or the undergraduate level. For poster announcement, click here.

IMPORTANT:  ARCC member schools must be in ‘good standing’ before recipient’s medal will be shipped.  Please confirm that the school’s 2022-2023 ARCC membership dues have been paid prior to submitting a nomination.  Thank you.

About Professor Jonathan King, HAIA
Professor Jonathan King, HAIA (1926-1997) began a lifelong career of service to the profession of architecture in 1958 at the Ford Foundation, where he was Vice President and Treasurer of the Educational Facilities Laboratories until 1970. After serving for six years as Senior Vice President at CRS in Houston, he joined the staff at the University of Michigan as Professor of Architecture and Director of the Architectural Research Laboratory, later achieving Professor Emeritus status in 1986.

In 1992, Professor King came out of retirement to join the architecture faculty at Texas A&M University as a visiting professor and, subsequently, director of the newly formed CRS Center. While at the Center, Professor King capped a lifelong career of writing about results of research, views on architecture and humanism, and architecture education by completing work on a series of oral histories about CRS. He retired for the second time in June 1997. During his career, Professor King stimulated, guided and performed some of the most innovative research into the built environment in the last half of the 20th century. Although he had no formal training as an architect, he became a professor of architecture and a member of the profession. King is perhaps best known for his work in building systems which changed the shape of American schoolhouses. In addition to his own creative work, he was a highly regarded advisor, critic and mentor to several generations of architecture students.

In November 1997, the Architectural Research Centers Consortium, of which he was the first president, passed the following resolution:

“ARCC is deeply appreciative of the long-standing commitment of Jonathan King to the advancement of architectural research. During his early days at the Educational Facilities Laboratory at the Ford Foundation, as a partner in CRS, as director of the Architectural Research Laboratory at the University of Michigan and, more recently, as director of the CRS Center at Texas A&M University, he stimulated others to understand and explore how to systematically link the process of architectural design to human satisfaction. As a founder of the original ARCC and its first president, he has raised the aspirations of the university-based architectural research community to link their efforts in a manner that would make the sum of their efforts greater than the parts.”

ARCC King Medal Program Nomination Details
The Architectural Research Centers Consortium (ARCC) is pleased to be able to award an “ARCC King Student Medal for Excellence in Architectural + Environmental Design Research” to one student from each ARCC member institution. Selection of a nominee from each member institution is left generally to the discretion of the member (school, college, department), within the guidelines outlined below. We look forward to celebrating the best in research/scholarship from your students this year — and in years to come.

ONE King Medal will be available to EACH member institution for award to the STUDENT the institution selects as most deserving of the award;

  • member institutions may establish their own selection criteria and process, with an understanding that the intent of the program is to provide recognition for innovation, integrity, and scholarship in architectural and/or environmental design research;
  • although the process of identifying each institution’s awardee to ARCC is termed “nominating,” this does not imply competition among/between nominees from the various member institutions; the nominee must have been enrolled at the institution for at least one semester (or quarter) during the current or previous academic year (i.e., the award is to be for “current” work);
  • each institution must submit information (a form for submitting the necessary information is provided below) on their nominee to Dr. Brian R. Sinclair (the King Medal awards administrator) no later than midnight (PST) on the following rolling deadlines:

    Rolling Deadlines for King Medal Submissions:
This year’s Deadlines can be found here

  • each institution may physically award the Medal to its recipient as it sees fit (during a graduation ceremony, an awards banquet, end-of-year party, etc.);

ARCC will publicize the program and the award winners. 

Nomination Form for ARCC KING MEDAL
Please cut and paste this information (deleting the “example” information) and send the completed form to Dr. Brian R. Sinclair at < brian.sinclair@ucalgary.ca >

Name of member institution:
(example: Department of Architecture, University of Oregon)

Name of student being nominated for medal:
(example: Justice P. Smythe)

Student’s position at institution:
(example: graduating M. Arch student)

Research work for which nomination is made:
(example: Master’s Thesis entitled “Vital Signs: A Bird’s Eye Review”)
(example: exemplary effort as Research Assistant on Project XYZ)

Abstract of work for which nomination is made (300 word maximum):
(if a collaborative effort, clearly identify student contribution)

Nomination submitted by:

Date:

Certification: As nominator for ____(Institution name)____ I certify that the institution is an ARCC member in good standing for the current academic year.

Medal should be sent to:

(provide full & clear mailing address — the intention is that the Medal be mailed to an institutional representative for award to the student at an appropriate venue; if this is not possible, the student’s address may be provided for direct delivery)

This e-mail nomination form must be followed by a hard-copy nomination form on institutional letterhead signed by an appropriate institutional representative.

Send all medal nominations, digital via email and hard-copy via regular mail, to:

Dr. Brian R. Sinclair, FRAIC
School of Architecture, Planning + Landscape
2500 University Drive NW
University of Calgary
Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4
brian.sinclair@ucalgary.ca