Architecture professor receives city of Krakow Laurel Award


LAWRENCE — Wojciech Lesnikowski, University of Kansas professor in the School of Architecture, Design and Planning, received the Krakow Laurel Award from the mayor of Krakow, Poland, earlier this month. Representatives of the city’s science, art and business communities select the recipients. It was given in the City Council’s debating chamber.

Lesnikowski has been teaching in the Department of Architecture since 1988 and is its Donald Hatch Distinguished Professor. He leads the department’s foreign studies programs in Paris and China, and he is also a professor of architecture at the Ecole Superieure d’Architecture Val de Seine, Paris. He also regularly lectures at the Technical University of Krakow.

At the event, Lesnikowski recalled the moment he arrived to study in Krakow. "It opened up the world to me and defined my life when I was a young man.”

He worked in Poland for several years after receiving a Master of Architecture, Engineering and Planning from the Krakow School of Architecture and Urban Planning, and in 1965 he was given an internship to the Paris office of the renowned architect Le Corbusier. A few years later he found himself working in Chicago, where he says he learned,  “American dynamism, optimism and a global view.”  

During the presentation Mayor Jacek Majchrowski said, "Professor Lesnikowski, I thank you for your invaluable contribution in strengthening the ranks of Krakow's research centers. Thank you for your scientific work and teaching, and making Krakow famous in Europe, the U.S. and the rest of the world.”   

In addition to his teaching career, Lesnikowski has designed buildings in the U.S., Paris and Poland. He has lectured at many universities including Syracuse, Yale and Cornell, the Polytechnics of Oxford, Delft, Prague, Geneva and the Ecole Speciale d’ Architecture in Paris.

His work has been published in dozens of architectural magazines, books, monographs and research publications.

 

Tue, 05/28/2013

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Charles Linn

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Charles Linn

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