During the Spring 2017 semester, the college’s schools and departments each held award ceremonies to honor and recognize faculty, students, alumni and friends. Below is the listing of the top awards recipients.
Architecture:
Lifetime Achievement Award
Carl Abbott, BA 1959
Distinguished Service Award
Alberto Alfonso, MAARC 1983
Young Architects Design Award
Brent Linden, BDES 1998
Design Excellence Award
Mario Gooden
Landscape Architecture:
Landscape Architecture Distinguished Service Award
Kevin White, BLA 2002
Architecture:
Lifetime Achievement Award
Carl Abbott
BA 1959
Abbott began his career as an Architect here at UF. He then went to Yale as part of Paul Rudolph’s Masters Class. In 1966, he opened his office in Sarasota, becoming part of the “Sarasota School.”
For the last five decades, Abbott has been one of the most highly awarded architects in the Florida/Caribbean AIA. He has lectured widely – including UF, Yale, Harvard and Maya at the Playa Global Conference.
In “IN/FORMED by the LAND,” a book on Abbott’s work, Robert McCarter wrote “Abbott has practiced his craft with a consistency of elegance and experiential quality unparalleled by almost any other architect of his generation.”
Distinguished Service Award
Alberto Alfonso
MAARC 1983
Born in Cuba, Alfonso was educated at the University of Florida where he received his M.A. He founded Alfonso Architects, Inc. with his brother Carlos and partner Angel del Monte. He received 1987 Eduardo Garcia Award from the Florida Central Chapter of The American Institute of Architects as well as firm of the year in 2003 and 2007.
Recent projects recognized by the State of Florida AIA Design Awards program include design work for Tampa International Airport Airside C, Nielsen Media Research Global Technology Center, University of South Florida College of Medicine Center for Advanced Healthcare Frank and Carol Morsani Center, the University of South Florida Medical Office Building, Mission of St. Mary Chapel, the University of South Florida School of Psychology Building, The Chihuly Collection at the Morean Arts Center and the Tampa Covenant Church.
Alfonso was one of four architects included in the book “Four Florida Moderns” by Saxon Henry. Alfonso is also included in “100 Florida Architects and Interior Designers,” edited by Damir Sinovcic.
Young Architects Design Award
Brent Linden
BDES 1998
Linden is an Associate Principal and Design Director at Allied Works Architecture. He has worked with founding principal Brad Cloeplfil since 2003 as a creative lead on designs for arts institutions, arts education facilities and creative agency work spaces. Notable examples include the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver, the National Music Centre of Canada in Calgary and the Fast Retailing World Design Headquarters in Tokyo.
Linden is also instrumental in leading efforts for the firm’s major competition entries, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art – Contemporary Arts Wing in New York and the United Kingdom’s National Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre in London. He earned his architecture degrees from the University of Florida and Rice University. He was a visiting professor at the University of Oregon in 2008 and 2010 and a studio critic at Cornell University in 2012 and the University of Texas in 2017.
Design Excellence Award
Mario Gooden
Gooden is principal of Huff + Gooden Architects, whose practice is dedicated to the creation of architecture as an exploitation of culture and knowledge. He is an award winning architect and his firm’s work has been featured in journals and publications, including Architect Magazine, Architectural Record Magazine, Metropolis, Wallpaper, The New York Times, Architecture & Urbanism (A+U) and ARTFORUM International Magazine.
Huff + Gooden Architects’ work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including the International Exhibition of Architecture Biennale in Venice, Italy, the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAi), the National Building Museum in Washington, DC and the Municipal Arts Society in New York. His firm is currently designing the California African-American Museum in Los Angeles.
He previously worked in the offices of Zaha Hadid in London and Steven Holl in New York. He is also a Professor of Practice at the Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) of Columbia University, where he is the co-director of the Global Africa Lab (GAL).
Landscape Architecture:
Landscape Architecture Distinguished Service Award
Kevin White
BLA 2002
Kevin White, PLA, ASLA earned his Bachelor’s of Landscape Architecture in 2002 and his Bachelor’s of Science in Agricultural Operations Management in 1995. He is a Project Manager with Causseaux, Hewett & Walpole, Inc. (CHW). The company provides professional consultant services for planning, design, surveying, landscape architecture, civil engineering and construction services.
White specializes in Planning and Landscape Architecture with a skillset that resonates in Urban Design, Transit-Oriented Development and Recreational Master Planning projects. He is a Licensed Landscape Architect in the State of Florida and holds professional affiliation positions with the Florida Chapter of American Society of Landscape Architects, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences and the International Society of Arboriculture. He teamed with the AIA Jacksonville Chapter to host an annual golf tournament with all proceeds going to scholarships for Architecture and Landscape Architecture students.