Lee H. Skolnick

Lee H. Skolnick (born September 17, 1953 in New York, NY) is an architect and the Founding Partner and Design Principal of SKOLNICK Architecture + Design Partnership, a New York City based design firm specializing in both cultural/institutional and private residential projects. 
== Early life and education ==
Skolnick grew up with a passion for both art and music. He played in numerous bands and wrote music for advertising before the age of 18. He attended Hamilton College in Clinton, NY, majoring in music and art. It was here that he was introduced to the discipline, art and profession of architecture and, upon deciding to pursue it as a career choice, left the college to work in an architecture firm in the Boston area, attend the Boston Architectural College at night, and then travel to Arizona to work on the construction of Arcosanti, a utopian community designed by the visionary Italian architect, Paolo Soleri. In 1975, Skolnick entered the architecture program at the Cooper Union in New York City, where he studied under the legendary educator and Dean of the school, John Hejduk. Skolnick graduated with honors from the school in 1979.“5 Things: Lee Skolnick AR ‘79”, Cooper Union Office of Alumni Affairs & Development He worked for one year with the architects Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio before leaving to start his own firm in September of 1980. 
== Career ==
=== Architecture ===
Skolnick has led the firm, now called SKOLNICK Architecture + Design Partnership, along with his Business Partner, Paul Alter and his wife and Partner, Jo Ann Secor for the past 40 years, developing an international reputation for thoughtful and individualized design projects ranging from small residential assignments to major museums throughout the world. He has pioneered the philosophies of “design as interpretation” Skolnick, Lee H. “Architecture and Design as Interpretation”, Informal Learning Review, September-October 2017. and “narrative design” and has advanced these approaches through professional practice, lecturing, teaching and writing."Lee H. Skolnick, FAIA – SKOLNICK Architecture + Design Partnership". www.skolnick.com. The design firm has grown from a handful of employees to as many as 46 staff members at various times. In addition to leading the creative output of SKOLNICK, he has taught at Cooper Union, New York University, Bank Street College of Education and as an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Leicester in Great Britain. The firm has a strong record of providing pro bono services to social and cultural not-for-profits throughout its history. Skolnick has also served on design juries and foundations’ grants committees for the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, the Municipal Art Society, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the local and national American Institute of Architects. He has sat on various Boards of Trustees and Boards of Directors, including: The Cooper Union, Architecture Omi, The LongHouse Reserve, SEGD, The Village Temple, and others. 
=== Music ===
Skolnick has been an avid musician throughout his life. He began playing the guitar at age 10 and followed up soon afterward with the piano. He quickly started playing in bands and writing songs. By 16, he was working in a recording studio, No Soap Radio, in New York’s Greenwich Village and writing music for commercials for advertisers including Arrow Shirts and Hellmann's and Best Foods. Next, he broke into the New York music scene, playing at such legendary venues as The Bitter End, Village Gate, Kenny’s Castaways, and The Back Fence. He continued on to Hamilton College as a Music Theory and Composition major, before committing to training for his ultimate career in architecture. However, he never stopped playing, singing, writing, and performing. At present, he is giving public performances and also hosting a radio show on WLNG-FM in Sag Harbor, New York, titled “The Originals”, which highlights local musicians and singers/songwriters on the East End of Long Island. Recent guests have included Jimmy Buffett, members of The B-52's, the Saturday Night Live Band, Pure Prairie League, and others.
== Design projects ==
* Aileron: Center for Entrepreneurial Education, Dayton, OHSkolnick, Lee H. “Epiphany on an Air-Sickness Bag”, The New York Times, January 19, 2009.
* Ani Villas, Little Bay, Anguilla, BWI Hello again!Wynter, Orrett H. “Creating Epiphanies”, Design Anguilla, August-October 2012. 
* Beach House, Sagaponack, New YorkGoldstein, Andrew M. “Architect Lee Skolnick on Building a Minimalist Beach House for a Megacollector’s Art”, Artspace, April 27, 2015. 
* B’nai Yisrael Synagogue, Armonk, NY 
* Children’s and Young Adult Reading Rooms at East Hampton Library, East Hampton, New York (RAMSA, Architect; SKOLNICK, Interior Design) 
* Children’s Museum of the East End, Bridgehampton, NY 
* Creative Discovery Museum, Chattanooga, TNStein, Karen D. “Serious Fun”, Architectural Record, August 1995
* DiMenna Children’s History Museum, New-York Historical Society, New York, NY 
* Discovery Zone at the Florida Museum of Natural History, Gainesville, FL 
* Education Center at the Rubin Museum of Art, New York, NY 
* Global Crossing Headquarters, New York, NYGeran, Monica. “Some Nerve!”, Interior Design, May 2002 
* Jackie & Harold Spielman Children’s Library at Port Washington Public Library, Port Washington, NYKim, Sheila. “A Library by Skolnick Architecture + Design Partnership Features Colorful Wayfinding”, Architectural Record, June 3, 2019. 
* Luxembourg Science Center (Concept Design), Differdange, LuxembourgSkolnick, Lee H. “So You Think You Want to Build a New Science Center", Dimensions Magazine, July-August 2019. (refers to Luxembourg Sci Ctr) 
* Miami Children's Museum|Miami Children’s Museum, Miami, FL (Arquitectonica, Architect; SKOLNICK, Exhibit Design) 
* Mohonk Preserve Visitor Center, Gardiner, NY 
* Muhammad Ali Center, Louisville, KY (in partnership with Beyer Blinder Belle) 
* Muzeiko – America for Bulgaria Children’s Museum, Sofia, BulgariaFerro, Shaunacy. “Take a Peek Inside Bulgaria’s First Children’s Museum”, Mental Floss, October 9, 2015.
* Qualcomm Wireless Technology Center (Concept Design), Beijing, China
* Roper Mountain Science Center Environmental Science and Sustainability Building, Greenville, SC (Design Architect: SKOLNICK; Architect of Record: Craig Gaulden Davis)
* Royal Alberta Museum, Bug Gallery and Children’s Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta, CA
* Sag Harbor Church (The Church), Sag Harbor, NYSpears, Dorothy. “Building a New Sanctuary on Long Island for Culture Lovers”, The New York Times, May 31, 2020. 
* Sony Corporation of America|Sony Wonder Technology Lab, New York, NY
* National Track and Field Hall of Fame|The National Track and Field Hall of Fame, New York, NY 
== Awards and honors ==
Since the 1980s, Skolnick has been awarded Architectural Digest “AD100,” Skolnick, Lee H. "Lee H. Skolnick", Architectural Digest, The AD 100 Architects Issue, August 15, 1991. Cooper Union’s “John Q. Hejduk Award,” House & Garden (magazine)|House & Garden's “Design Obsession,” the Presidential Citation for Outstanding Achievement from The Cooper Union, and local, state and national AIA Honor Awards including the “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Long Island Chapter of the AIA. In 2003, Skolnick was elevated to the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows. He became an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Leicester, UK in 2007 and in 2009, he was inducted into Cooper Union Alumni Hall of Fame. 
== Articles ==
Architectural Digest (Sept 2020) Inside a Light-Filled Town House in New York's Historic Greenwich Village
Skolnick, Lee H. (July-August 2019). So You Think You Want to Build a New Science Center… Dimensions Magazine. 18-23. Washington, DC, Association of Science and Technology Centers Incorporated. 
Skolnick, Lee H. (April 18, 2019) Lee Skolnick and Robert Stilin Create a Modern Hamptons Escape Galerie Magazine online edition. 
Skolnick, Lee H. (October 2017). The Invasion of the McRanchions The East Hampton Star. East Hampton, NY, Helen S. Rattray. 
Skolnick, Lee H. (July 2016). Superb Geometry Galerie Magazine. 166-183. New York, NY, Hudson Publishing LLC. 
Skolnick, Lee H. and Secor, Jo Ann. (Vol 31. Numbers 2-3, Summer/Fall 2017) One Museum Opens: Three Perspectives: The Children’s Museum as an Urban Revitalization Anchor Hand 2 Hand Quarterly Journal of ACM. 26-27. Arlington, VA, Association of Children's Museums.
Skolnick, Lee H. (Issue 146, September-October 2017). Architecture and Design as Interpretation Informal Learning Review. 8-13. Denver, CO, Informal Learning Experiences, Inc. 
Skolnick, Lee H. (Vol. 33, No. 1, Spring 2014). Master Class: Design as Interpretation Exhibitionist. 74-78. Washington, DC, American Alliance of Museums (AAM), National Association for Museum Exhibition (NAME).
Skolnick, Lee H. (No. 3, 2012). Sketchbook: Inside Lee Skolnick’s head for the design of the Muhammad Ali Center Environmental Graphics Magazine. 60-61. Washington, DC, Society for Environmental Graphic Design (SEGD).
Skolnick, Lee H. (Volume XXI Number 3, Winter 2008/2009) The Re-Greening of Anguilla Part 1 Anguilla Life Magazine. 15. Anguilla, BWI and New York, NY, Claire Devener.
Skolnick, Lee H. (Volume XXII Number 2, Fall 2009) The Re-Greening of Anguilla Part 2 Anguilla Life Magazine. 16-17. Anguilla, BWI and New York, NY, Claire Devener.
Skolnick, Lee H. (Volume XXII Number 3, Winter 2009/2010) The Re-Greening of Anguilla Part 3 Anguilla Life (magazine)|Life Magazine . Anguilla, BWI and New York, NY, Claire Devener.
Skolnick, Lee H. (Fall 2008). Mo Sex, Less Sex Exhibitionist. 51-58. Washington, DC, American Alliance of Museums (AAM), National Association for Museum Exhibition (NAME).
Skolnick, Lee H. (1997) The Space Between the Stone Ridgelines. New Paltz, New York, The Mohonk Preserve. 
== Books ==
Skolnick, Lee H. (2020). Skolnick Architecture + Design Partnership: Public/Private (in English) Pointed Leaf Press. ISBN-10: 1938461835, ISBN-13: 978-1938461835 
Skolnick, Lee H. (2012). ‘Beyond Narrative: Designing Epiphanies'‘Beyond Narrative: Designing Epiphanies', in Suzanne Macleod, Laura Hourston Hanks, Jonathan Hale (ed.) Museum Making: Narratives, Architectures, Exhibitions (Museum Meanings) Routledge, pp.83-94. ISBN-10: 0415676037, ISBN-13: 978-0415676038 
Skolnick, L., Lorenc, J., & Berger, C. (2007) What is Exhibition Design? (in English) Mies, Switzerland: Rotovision. ISBN-10: 2940361665, ISBN-13: 978-2940361663 
Skolnick, Lee H. (2005) ‘Towards a New Museum Architecture’, in Suzanne MacLeod (ed.) ‘Reshaping Museum Space (Museum Meanings) Routledge, pp. 118-132. ISBN-13: 978-0415343459, ISBN-10: 0415343453 
Skolnick, Lee H. (2000). ‘Creating a Learning Experience’, by Connie Sprague, James Grayson Trulove, and Steel Colony (ed.) This Way: Signage Design for Public Spaces Rockport Publishers, pp. 10-13. ISBN 10: 1564967522, ISBN 13: 9781564967527 
Category:1953 births
Category:American architects
Category:People from New York City
Category:Hamilton College (New York) alumni