Sylvester Damianos, FAIA Pittsburg, Pennsylvania Term: December 2002 to December 2003
Sylvester Damianos, FAIA The 41st Chancellor of The American Institute of Architects College of Fellows
F
ollowing his graduation from Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University), studying as a Fulbright Scholar at the Technological Institute of Delft in The Netherlands, and serving in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Syl Damianos has balanced a career in architecture and art.
Having served in community and art leadership roles throughout his career, he continues to serve as Chair of the Friends of Art for Pittsburgh Public Schools as well as Vice-Chair of the District Design Committee of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.
Elevated to Fellowship in 1982, he served in three national leadership roles; as the 1990 AIA National President, the 2003 Chancellor of the AIA College of Fellows and the 1991-04 Chairman of The American Architectural Foundation.
Sculpture continues to be his major interest in conjunction with furniture-crafting. A unique and rare opportunity to collaborate on a chapel project with the late George Nakashima created a passion for working with wood and, to paraphrase Nakashima, “giving new life to trees”.
Sylvester is the recipient of the Edward C. Kemper Award and was honored by the architectural societies of Japan, Canada and Mexico. He was also cited by the Tau Sigma Delta Honorary Fraternity of Architecture and Allied Arts and received the Alpha Rho Chi Medal of the National Fraternity of Architecture. AIA Pennsylvania honored Mr. Damianos with The Medal of Distinction and the Honor Award for furthering Artistic Appreciation.
His entire life has dealt with the impact of the environment on the human being and he maintains a strong advocacy for solving the issues of access through Universal Design. Most important in this career was his role in bringing together the leadership of the AIA and the American Architectural Foundation to work with Dr. Jonas Salk in discussing and collaborating on issues that led to the creation of the Academy for Neuroscience in Architecture.
E-Mail Address
syld@comcast.net
Phone
412-398-6974
Address
14 Winding Way | Verona, PA 15147
Spouse
Lu
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