Renzo Piano Frank Lloyd Wright When in Turin for... Artissima 16 When in... Chicago I.M. Pei Goes Gold World Monuments Fund Lists 93 Endangered Sites Design Digest Endangered Frank Lloyd Wright Temple Celebrates Centennial

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Piano's accomplishments range from the Menil Collection in Houston to the Art Institute of Chicago's Modern Wing, now under construction, to the recently completed New York Times headquarters in New York. The Washington, D.C.-based institute praised Piano's structures as "sculptural, beautiful, technically accomplished and sustainable." Previous winners of the medal include Frank Lloyd Wright, I.M. Pei, and Santiago Calatrava.

The Institute also awarded Chicago architect and educator Stanley Tigerman with its 2008 Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architectural Education. Tigerman is a cofounder of Archeworks, a socially oriented Chicago design school. In October he and his cofounder Eva Maddox announced that they would soon step down from their positions.