Norman J. Johnston FAIA

AIA Seattle Medal 1990
Norman Johnston FAIA (1918-2016) (born in Seattle, raised in Olympia; BA Art UW 1942; BArch U of Oregon 1949; MUP 1959 and PhD 1964, U of Pennsylvania) has given a lifetime of service to the profession, and particularly to the architects of Seattle and Washington. 
Recipient of the AIA Seattle Medal in 1990 and the Jennie Sue Brown Award for distinguished service from AIA Washington Council in 1997, he has taught and written material read by thousands of architects and many many more.
Among his most significant achievements in shaping architectural practice, he helped establish and develop design curricula at the University of Washington College of Architecture and Urban Planning, in a variety of roles during his 29-year tenure -- as Professor, Chair of the Department of Architecture, and Associate Dean of the College of Architecture and Urban Planning, and continuing as an Emeritus Professor in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Design and Planning.  
He served as AIA Seattle President in 1981, and two terms on the Washington State Board of Registration for Architects, doing yeoman work with the NCARB Examination Committee and interviewing hundreds of candidates for licensure.  Among expressions of his dedication to public space, he took an active role in the founding of the activist organization Allied Arts of Seattle and as its President 1967-68; and served lengthy terms on campus planning committees for Olympia's Capitol Campus, the University of Washington, and Washington State University.

A historian of environmental design who has achieved breadth of study while avoiding pedantry, he has advanced both scholarly and public awareness through his extensive lecturing and publication.  Published works include Cities in the Round (UW Press 1983); Washington's Audacious State Capitol and Its Builders (UW Press 1998); The Campus Guide: University of Washington (Princeton Architectural Press 2001); The Fountain & the Mountain: The University of Washington Campus in Seattle (UW Press 2004); The College of Architecture and Urban Planning, 75 Years at the University of Washington: A Personal View (1991); A History and Directory of the AIA College of Fellows (AIA Press, 1992); Shaping Seattle Architecture:  A Historical Guide to the Architects (acknowledged as initiator and editorial contributor; University of Washington Press, 1994).

With his wife Jane Hastings FAIA, also a recipient of the AIA Seattle Medal (1995), Norm has had a remarkably productive career in AIA at the local, national, and international scale, and has brought countless individuals from around the world into freshened and thoughtfully informed appreciation of architecture.

Reference:  "Remembering architect, author, critic Norman Johnston, 1918-2015"