Every field has its heroes. In architecture, heroic designers have often been celebrated both for their skills and as public personalities. Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Kahn were icons in the 20th century. In the 21st, Zaha Hadid was as bold and evocative as her buildings, and she became a “starchitect” (to use the industry-specific parlance), her untimely death further elevating her to what-might-have-been status. But heroes are only human, and their deaths do not automatically convey a permanent place in the pantheon. They do, however, allow for a fresh perspective on the living.1

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But perspective changes over time. The deaths in recent years of designers Pelliand Roche and Yale architectural historian Vincent Scully have brought to many a sharp focus to the reality that time is fleeting, that even the great are mortal. We all have limited time on this planet, so this post-mortem consciousness raises the value of appreciating living practitioners as well. Rather than continually looking to the past, let’s listen to those who are here and who have changed the world in ways small and large.

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  • 1. I reside in the New Haven, Connecticut, area, a relatively small city with an outsize architectural legacy. For many decades, Yale has created a fertile field for architects. It is both a world-class patron of buildings and home to an architecture school that has played a huge role in shaping the profession. The school’s deans—luminaries including Paul Rudolph, Charles Moore, Cesar Pelli, Robert A.M. Stern, and now Deborah Berke—are also often worldwide cultural figures. In this same little city, Kevin Roche, Herb Newman, and (in nearby Hartford) Tai Soo Kim won large commissions and saw their structures celebrated across the globe.