Architect Kelly Sutherlin McLeod, FAIA, Receives USC School of Architecture 2015 Distinguished Alumni Award

LONG BEACH, Calif., May 6, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Kelly Sutherlin McLeod, FAIA, receives the University of Southern California School of Architecture 2015 Distinguished Alumni Award, one of the most prestigious architectural honors in the United States. McLeod accepts the award tonight at the annual USC Architectural Guild Gala Dinner that is being held in her honor. As a unique tribute to McLeod's work, the Gala Dinner for 600 guests is being held for the first time on the lawn and grounds surrounding the celebrated Gamble House. McLeod was the project architect for the conservation of Charles and Henry Greene's Gamble House, a National Historic Landmark in Pasadena, CA.

"As we just celebrated 100 years of Architecture at USC, we are very proud to recognize Kelly Sutherlin McLeod with our Distinguished Alumni Award for 2015," says Robert Harris, FAIA, Hon. ASLA, Emeritus ACSA Distinguished Professor and former Dean of the USC School of Architecture. "She represents the very best in our profession, a prolific practitioner, a highly accomplished advocate for design excellence and Heritage Conservation, a true citizen-architect and public servant." 

As an architect who has won multiple awards for new construction and for the rehabilitation of historic buildings, McLeod has been instrumental in bringing the issues of conservation and preservation into the mainstream of international architectural discourse. With this honor, the USC School of Architecture acknowledges the importance of Heritage Conservation as a critical part of its academic and professional curriculum. "The impact of Kelly's work in architectural preservation reaches far beyond the United States," says Atsuko Tanaka, of the Nippon Institute of Technology near Tokyo. "As an architectural historian and scholar based in Japan, I have been aware of her projects for many years, including her extensive work on Charles and Henry Greene and on other architecture deeply influenced by intercultural exchanges between the US and Japan, such as the Huntington Japanese House and the International Style architecture of Edward Killingsworth, FAIA."

Other renowned architects, including the Pritzker Prize winners Frank Gehry and Thom Mayne, have also been recognized as USC Distinguished Alumni, but McLeod is the first woman to receive this honor. The processes and techniques that McLeod and her teams have developed on their many projects set new standards and best practices for architectural preservation, and advanced the understanding and conservation of our cultural heritage and history.

Kelly Sutherlin McLeod's recently completed projects include the restoration of the Hafley House in Long Beach, CA, designed by Richard Neutra in 1953, and the rehabilitation of landmark buildings for the Westridge School for Girls in Pasadena and Pitzer College in Claremont.

DOCOMOMO US, (international committee for the documentation and conservation of buildings, sites, and neighborhoods of the modern movement) awarded McLeod's restoration of Richard Neutra's Hafley house the prestigious Modernism in America Award of Excellence. The Hafley house was the only residential project in the US to be honored with this award in 2015. McLeod will accept the award at the US National DOCOMOMO Symposium in Minnesota on June 5. The Los Angeles Conservancy awarded the Hafley House an LAC 2015 Preservation Award. The project team, led by McLeod, will receive the award at the 34th Annual Preservation Awards Luncheon on May 7 at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles.

Kelly Sutherlin McLeod Architecture, Inc. (KSMA) has been selected by the University of California at Santa Barbara for a major sustainable design and energy conservation focused project located at the Sedgwick Reserve - a unique, vast and historic cultural landscape rich in tradition and history. The site is part of a world-class research, conservation and education nature reserve in the Santa Ynez Valley. 

KSMA is a member of the design/build team of Plenary - Edgemoor Civic Partners, for the redevelopment of the Long Beach Civic Center. This project will revitalize an extensive urban cultural landscape, including a new City Hall, Port Headquarters, the Main Library, and Lincoln Park. This team also includes other major design and construction firms Clark Construction Group, Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, LLP, and Gustafson Guthrie Nichol, among others.

About USC School of Architecture and USC Architectural Guild: For further information about the USC Architectural Guild, contact Carrie Banasky, Director of Alumni and Constituent Relations at 213.821.1845 or [email protected]. The sold out Annual Dinner is one of the premier events for the Southern California design build industry.

About Docomomo: DOCOMOMO US works to exchange knowledge, stimulate interest, and advocate for the appropriate protection and preservation of significant modern buildings, sites, neighborhoods and landscapes in the United States. DOCOMOMO US is committed to the principle that modern design merits the same attention to preservation currently received by earlier periods of architecture. For more information please visit http://www.docomomo-us.org

About KSMA: Based in Long Beach, Calif., Kelly Sutherlin McLeod Architecture, Inc. (est. 1988) is an award-winning firm with a commitment to architectural integrity and innovative design. The firm has been recognized by the American Institute of Architects, California Preservation Foundation (CPF), Los Angeles Conservancy, and the California Governor's Historic Preservation Award, among others. Kelly Sutherlin McLeod, FAIA, was the project architect for the internationally recognized Gamble House conservation project and for the restoration of the Japanese House at the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. She lectures for the USC School of Architecture's Heritage Conservation program and at conferences around the country. She is a member of the Board of Councilors for the USC School of Architecture; the Urban Land Institute; CPF Board of Trustees; Board of Directors for the Association for Preservation Technology International (APTi) and serves as co-chair for APTi's Technical Committee on Modern Heritage. For more information please visit http://www.ksmarchitecture.com.

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SOURCE Kelly Sutherlin McLeod Architecture, Inc.

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