Center for Architecture Foundation Announces First Recipient of the Walter A. Hunt, Jr. Scholarship

The Center for Architecture Foundation is pleased to announce the winner of the Walter A. Hunt, Jr. Scholarship. The scholarship is awarded to a high school senior attending a New York City public or charter school who plans to pursue an undergraduate degree in architecture at an NAAB-accredited school within New York State. The $15,000 scholarship is awarded annually, in the amount of $7,500 per year for the first two years of study to subsidize the student’s college tuition and related costs. The jury was pleased to receive applications from students throughout Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan who will go on to study architecture at an impressive list of schools – Pratt Institute, Syracuse University, Cornell, Cooper Union, University at Buffalo, and RPI. The rigorous application process included essays, letters of recommendation, and a portfolio submission. Three finalists, selected from among the many talented applicants, were interviewed by the scholarship jury comprised of Stanley Stark, FAIA, co-chair of the Scholarship Committee, Madeline Burke-Vigeland, AIA, of Gensler, and CFAF Program Manager Sarah Cloonan. After careful consideration, Farzana Anika, a 2014 graduate of Stuyvesant High School was selected as the recipient of the inaugural scholarship. Anika’s submission stood out from among the many thoughtful applications for its combination of careful craft and the strength of her essays. When asked to name her favorite building in New York, Anika chose the Metropolitan Museum of Art not because of the impressive collection it contains, but for the ways in which the building continues to morph and adapt to its environment in an ever-changing city. This fall, Anika will begin the five-year B. Arch program at Pratt Institute.

In March 2012, the retirement of Walter A. Hunt, Jr., FAIA, Vice Chairman Emeritus of Gensler, was celebrated with a fundraiser which raised $150,000. Principal contributors included the Gensler Foundation, partners and staff at Gensler, and the Hunt family. In addition to the Walter A. Hunt, Jr. Scholarship, the Center for Architecture Foundation, in partnership with the AIA New York Chapter, administers three scholarships and three grant awards annually. The next Walter A. Hunt, Jr. submission deadline is May 15, 2015.