Thomas Phifer

Thomas Phifer received the prestigious Rome Prize in Architecture from the American Academy in Rome in 1995 and was awarded the Medal of Honor from the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects in 2004. He was elected as an Academician of the National Academy of Design in 2011. In 2013, Mr. Phifer received the Arts and Letters Award in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2016, he was honored by the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects with the President’s Award and by the Sir John Soane’s Museum Foundation. In 2019, he was awarded the National Design Award in Architectural Design from the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum. In 2022, he was elected as a lifetime member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2025, he received Architectural Record’s inaugural “Architect of RECORD” award, established to recognize an exceptional career and body of work. Mr. Phifer is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and serves on the boards of the Architectural League of New York and the New York Review of Architecture.

Thomas Phifer has served as a visiting professor at numerous architecture schools, including the Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Cooper Union, Georgia Tech, University of Southern California, University of Texas, University of Pennsylvania, and Cornell University College of Architecture, Art, and Planning. Mr. Phifer has been appointed the Eero Saarinen Visiting Professor of Architectural Design, the William Henry Bishop Visiting Professor of Architectural Design, and the Louis I Kahn Visiting Professor of Architectural Design, all at the Yale School of Architecture. Mr. Phifer received his Bachelor of Architecture in 1975 and his Master of Architecture in 1977, both from Clemson University. In 1977 he studied at the Clemson Architecture Center in Genoa, Italy.