In this interview, architect, historian, curator, and educator Robert A.M. Stern reflected on his family background and education, including his study of history at Columbia University and architecture at Yale, where he encountered figures such as Paul Rudolph and Philip Johnson. He discussed his early career, including directing the Architectural League of New York and curating its “40 Under 40” exhibition in 1966.
The interview traced Stern’s role in American architectural discourse through New Directions in American Architecture (1969), the “Young New York Architects” exhibition and symposium (1971), and his framing of the “Whites versus Grays” debate in the 1973 “Five on Five” publication. It also addressed his teaching at Columbia and involvement in developing its undergraduate architecture curriculum. Stern recalled major events that shaped architectural debate from the 1970s through the 1980s, including the 1976 and 1980 Venice Architecture Biennales, the “Charlottesville Tapes,” the “Chicago Tapes,” and MoMA’s 1988 “Deconstructivist Architecture” exhibition. The interview concluded with his role in connecting architects with the Disney Corporation and his deanship at Yale from 1998 to 2016.