Portman Prize Studio Critic
The purpose of the Portman Prize and the Portman Visiting Critic Program is to foster design excellence and student creativity in the School of Architecture at Georgia Tech. Recognizing student accomplishment and excellence in the integration of technical considerations is a key constituent of the design process pursued through the Portman Prize. It is awarded through competition by a distinguished jury chaired by the Portman Visiting Critic who also participates over the semester as a roving design studio critic and public lecturer.
The competition jury awards ranked prizes, each carrying monetary awards. The top prize winner is also offered a summer internship in the office of John Portman & Associates.
2025 Portman Prize Critic: Thomas Phifer, FAIA
Thomas Phifer, FAIA
Thomas Phifer and Partners
Since founding Thomas Phifer and Partners in 1997, Thomas Phifer has completed an expansion of the Glenstone Museum in Potomac, Maryland, the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York, the United States Courthouse in Salt Lake City, Utah, the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, North Carolina, the Raymond and Susan Brochstein Pavilion at Rice University in Houston, Texas, the Moody Amphitheater in Austin, Texas, and houses across the United States.
Projects under construction include the Museum of Modern Art and TR Warszawa Theatre in Warsaw, an artists' retreat in Maine, and the Wagner Park Pavilion, a key component of the South Battery Park City Resiliency Project in Lower Manhattan. Thomas Phifer is also engaged in private residences in Texas, Maine, and New York.
Since 1997, Thomas Phifer and Partners has received more than thirty honor awards from the American Institute of Architects. Mr. Phifer is the recipient of the Rome Prize in Architecture from the American Academy in Rome, the Medal of Honor and President’s Award from the New York Chapter of the AIA, the Arts and Letters Award in Architecture, and the National Design Award in Architectural Design from the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum. In 2022, he was elected as a lifetime member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.