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| 19 Sep 2025 | |
| Design Award Winners |
Congratulations to Stephen Kieran, FAIA and James Timberlake, FAIA on being selected as the 2025 John Frederick Harbeson Award Recipients!
The John Frederick Harbeson Award is presented annually to a long-standing member of the architectural community and is intended to recognize their significant contributions to the architectural profession and its related disciplines over their lifetime. The recipient of this award will distinguish themselves throughout their career by their contributions to the architectural profession, the American Institute of Architects, the education of the architectural community, and their contributions to the Philadelphia community at large.
Founding Principal | KieranTimberlake, Philadelphia, PA | Founded KieranTimberlake in 1984
Steve is an international leader in the design of new and renovated architecture. He works across all scales and types, from homes to institutional, religious, and civic architecture, and planning. Since founding the firm in 1984, a primary focus has been planning and design at colleges and universities, including new engineering facilities at Brown and Carnegie Mellon, arts and music facilities at Wellesley College, the renovation of six Yale residential colleges and four Harvard Houses, along with new and renovated student residential projects at MIT, Duke, the University of Washington, UCLA, UC San Francisco, and UC Berkeley.
From early adoption of building information modeling and environmental analysis tools to close collaboration with fabricators and engagement with materials scientists, Steve shifts expectations of the role of architect. Examples include Loblolly House, an off-site fabricated home in the Chesapeake Bay; SmartWrap™, a mass-customizable building envelope exhibited at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum; Cellophane House™, a fully recyclable, energy-gathering dwelling exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York; and the Embassy of the United States in London, which employs strategies to significantly reduce energy consumption and sets an agenda to achieve carbon neutrality.
Under his guidance, the firm has received over 300 design citations, including the AIA Firm Award in 2008 and the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award in 2010. Steve and Partner James Timberlake were the 2021 Louis I. Kahn Awardees and the inaugural recipients of the Benjamin Latrobe Fellowship for architectural design research from the AIA College of Fellows in 2001. Since 2002, they have co-authored seven publications on architecture, including the influential book refabricating Architecture and their latest monograph, KieranTimberlake: Fullness.
Steve lectures internationally to academic and industry audiences and to the broader public, with talks in London, Puerto Rico, Rome, Melbourne, Beijing, and Tel Aviv. He has served on several award juries, including the AIA College of Fellows Benjamin Latrobe Prize Jury.
In addition to his architectural practice, Steve is a member of the Harvard Design Advisory Committee and has held visiting professorships at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Washington, Yale University, Syracuse University, the University of Michigan, and a full-time position at Princeton University.
Founding Principal | KieranTimberlake, Philadelphia, PA | Founded KieranTimberlake 1984
James has led KieranTimberlake to design, innovate, and invent for a broad range of clients in North America and overseas. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA), a recipient of the inaugural Benjamin Latrobe Prize for architectural design research from the AIA College of Fellows, the Louis I. Kahn Award, and an American Academy in Rome Prize Laureate. With Partner Stephen Kieran he has co-authored seven books on architecture, including the influential refabricating Architecture, and their latest monograph, KieranTimberlake: Fullness.
James breaks new ground exploring many of today's important topics—holistically performative structures, novel uses of building materials, and a contemporary appreciation of “commodity, firmness and delight” in architecture. Examples include Atwater Commons at Middlebury College, where recycled stones are incorporated into the facade walls; Melvin J. & Claire Levine Hall at the University of Pennsylvania, which employs the first actively ventilated curtainwall of its type in North America; SmartWrap™, a mass-customizable building envelope exhibited at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum; Cellophane House™, a fully recyclable, energy-gathering dwelling exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York; and the Embassy of the United States in London, which utilizes strategies to significantly reduce energy consumption and sets an agenda to achieve carbon neutrality.
James has directed programming, planning, and design for government clients including the new Embassy in London for the U.S. Department of State and the master plan and design for the Foreign Affairs Security Training Center (FASTC), a 1,100-acre campus for the General Services Administration (GSA). He has also provided expertise to educational institutions including New York University, Cornell University, several University of California campuses, and Rice University. James' current planning studies include the Comprehensive Campus Plan at St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire.
James lectures internationally to academic and industry audiences and to the broader public, with talks in Singapore, London, Cambridge, Melbourne, New Delhi, and Mumbai. He has served on design award juries in the United States, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, and Spain.
In addition to his architectural practice, James has held numerous visiting professorships at the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, the University of Washington, Yale University, the University of Michigan, and the University of Texas at Austin, among others. In 2012, he was appointed by President Obama to serve on the Board of the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS).
