Architecture student wins $15,000 award from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts

August 22, 2006

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AUSTIN, Texas—Timothy Parker, doctoral student in the School of Architecture at The University of Texas at Austin, has been awarded the 2006 Carter Manny Award by the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts.

This is the first time since the award’s inception in 1996 that a student at the university has won the prestigious honor.

The $15,000 award funds the research and writing of academic dissertations focusing on topics concerned with architecture or with arts that contribute to the study of architecture.

Parker’s dissertation topic, “The Modern Church in Rome: Architecture, Theology and Community, 1945-80” examines the tension between modern and traditional ideas and forms in Catholic parish churches in Rome in the decades following World War II and surrounding the Second Vatican Council. His research focuses on the advent of modernism and the rise of secularism that characterizes modernity.

“Religious institutions struggled in various ways with modernity, from outright condemnation to nuanced critique,” said Parker. “This included modern movements in various areas of human endeavor, including theology, that sought to reconcile religious tradition with modernity.

“My research seeks to better understand the struggle to form a religious architecture that is fully modern in both architectural and religious terms.”

Parker’s study of six parish churches, selected from more than 40 he visited in Rome, provides a fuller understanding of the historical situation of modern religious architecture.

The Carter Manny Award was initiated in 1996 to honor Carter H. Manny Jr., who was director of the Graham Foundation for 23 years and was known for his dedication to the support of young scholars and their work. The annual award program is one of the few sources of substantial funding for doctoral-level work on architectural topics. Each year the competition attracts proposals from doctoral students enrolled in schools in the U.S. and Canada who were nominated by their departments.

For more information contact: Amy Maverick Crossette, School of Architecture, 512-573-1078.