Calling Architecture, Power, and National Identity the "best work published in the last two years contributing to our understanding of the physical environment," the Society of Architectural Historians has given its first Spiro Kostof Book Award to Lawrence Vale, Mitsui Career Development Professor of Urban Studies and Planning.
"Within a clear and comprehensive intellectual framework, Vale analyzes parliamentary complexes in capital cities on six continents as products of the political and cultural balance of power within their societies," the citation said. "Against a background of familiar examples from Washington, DC to Canberra, he brings into discussion the capitals of four newly independent Asian countries, expanding the subject and enriching our understanding of it."
The book was published in 1992 by Yale University Press. It "sets an appropriate model and high standard as the first winner of the Kostof Award." the citation concluded.
A version of this article appeared in the May 11, 1994 issue of MIT Tech Talk (Volume 38, Number 32).
