Margaret McCurry Lectureship in the Design Arts: James Wines

James Wines – born in Chicago, IL 1932 – is the founder and president of SITE, an environmental art and architecture organization, chartered in New York City in 1970. He is the former Chairman of Environmental Design at Parsons School of Design and a retired Professor of Architecture at Penn State University. His architecture, landscape, and public space projects are based on a site-specific response to surrounding contexts. Prof. Wines’ educational philosophy advocates ‘integrative thinking,’ as a means of including multi-disciplinary ideas from outside the design professions. He has written seven books on art and design, including ON SITE-ON ENERGY – Scribners & Sons 1974, DE-ARCHITECTURE – Rizzoli International 1987, and GREEN ARCHITECTURE – Taschen Verlag 2000. He has designed more than one hundred and fifty buildings, public spaces, exhibitions, landscapes, and environmental art works for private and municipal clients in eleven countries. He was awarded the Smithsonian Institution’s 2013 National Design Award for Lifetime Achievement, the ANCE Annual Award for an International Architect (Italy 2011), and the Chrysler Award for Design Innovation (USA 1995). He is also the recipient of fellowships and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Kress Foundation, American Academy in Rome, Guggenheim Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Graham Foundation, and Ford Foundation. In 2021 there was a retrospective of his drawings for SITE at the Tchoban Museum in Berlin. Prof. Wines continues to work on international art and design projects, write, lecture, and engage in educational programs based on environmental initiatives.