Kansas State University

MANHATTAN -- The College of Architecture, Planning & Design at Kansas State University hosts Thomas Phifer at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 2, in the K-State Student Union's Little Theatre. Phifer will present "Current Work" as part of the Architecture Distinguished Lecture Series, which is free and open to the public.

Phifer, an executive of his firm, Thomas Phifer and Partners, is a highly regarded modernist architect favoring a humanist standpoint. He has been honored by the American Institute of Architects, receiving its National Honor Award seven times, a fellow at the American Academy in Rome and also earning a Medal of Honor.

After serving as design partner in the international firm of Richard Meier & Partners for a decade and prior to that as senior design associate for Gwathmey Siegel & Associates, Phifer founded his own interdisciplinary office in 1996. The firm is now engaged in commissions for notable public and private buildings in the United States and Europe.

"Thomas Phifer and Partners makes innovative use of technology to create architecture with a different spirit: architecture that connects us with nature, rather than separating us from it," Phifer said. "We take our instructions from the environment, allowing the elements of nature to inform design. We strive to make architecture that is enriched by the awareness of location and landscape, the movement of the sun, the changes in weather."

The firm is challenged to create buildings that foster a sense of tradition and culture, that make permeable the boundaries between inside and outside, enabling their inhabitants to experience the passing time of both days and seasons.

For more information about Phifer and his company, visit http://www.thomasphifer.com.