1987
J. Max Bond Jr., FAIA
BASED
New York City
RECOGNITION
Social advocacy, community development
New York architect and educator Max Bond, FAIA, was honored with the 1987 Whitney Young Award for his long-standing service in the public sector.
With an undergraduate degree and M.Arch from Harvard University, Bond was a professor of architecture at Columbia University for 16 years. He chaired the division of architecture at Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture and Planning, where he was known for his sought-out design studios and a dedication to his students. At Columbia and then as a dean at City College, he promoted a more global perspective on architecture, expanding architectural history curricula and hosting design faculty from all corners of the world.
During the late 1960s, Bond served as executive director of the Architects Renewal Committee in Harlem, leading a campaign for urban revival and affordable housing in Harlem. He later would serve on the New York City Planning Commission in the 1980s as its only architect member. Bond’s private practice has echoed this concern for socially-responsible architecture, particularly in his designs for the award-winning Bolgatanga Library in Ghana and the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Center for Nonviolent Change in Atlanta.