Christine G.H. Franck has been chosen as the recipient of the 2016 Clem Labine Award. The Award is given annually to the person who, in the judgment of the Award Selection Committee, has done the most to “foster beauty and humane values in the built environment.”

Franck will formally receive the honor at the Active Interest Media Annual Awards Dinner in New Haven, CT, July 19, 2016.  The Awards Dinner is part of the Traditional Building Exhibition and Conference, which is being held in New Haven, CT, July 19-20.

Christine G. H. Franck. Photo credit: Rod Foster.

The goal of the Award is to honor an individual who, over an extended period of time, has demonstrated a personal commitment to infusing humane values into the creation of public and urban spaces. The Award’s underlying conviction is that the humanist principles of the classical tradition are essential to creating a civil society. The winner of the Clem Labine Award is recognized more for personal achievement than for what he/she is paid to do as an occupation. The winning individual is always an example of “a life with a purpose.”

“Of all the people considered, Christine stood out for her untiring efforts – in both her professional and pro bono work – to inject humane values into architectural education,” said Clem Labine. “She has been a consistent advocate for beauty, civility, and improved quality of life in the built environment.”

Franck joined the University of Colorado Denver College of Architecture & Planning in 2013 to develop the new Center for Advanced Research in Traditional Architecture (CARTA), and has applied her usual energy, knowledge and imagination to launching this new research center. She has secured funding and developed new activities such as the College’s Career Fair, a new library and cast collection, several scholarship programs, lectures, exhibits, a new symposium, and opportunities for CU Denver students to earn the ICAA Certificate in Classical Architecture.

This represents just the tip of the iceberg in her achievements and contributions as an educator, author and designer. “It is primarily for her advocacy as an educator for beauty in the built environment for which she is being honored,” Labine stresses.

A graduate of the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture and the University of Virginia School of Architecture as well as numerous study-abroad programs, Franck has also taught at the University of Notre Dame, the Georgia Institute of Technology College of Architecture, the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art in New York, and has lectured widely, always promoting beauty in the built environment and in urban planning.

She has also designed numerous project throughout the country and is currently working on a project in her new home state of Colorado.

Previous recipients of the Clem Labine Award include Alvin Holm, Alvin Holm A.I.A. Architects; Steven W. Semes, Professor and Director of the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation, University of Notre Dame School of Architecture; Ray Gindroz, cofounder of Urban Design Associates (UDA), Jean Carroon, FAIA, LEED, Principal for Preservation, Goody Clancy; Milton W. Grenfell, Grenfell Architecture; and Robert Baird, Vice President, Historical Arts & Casting.

For more information on the award program and its sponsor, see here.