Jane Cady Rathbone, FAIA, Chief Executive Officer of Hanbury in Norfolk, will be recognized with the William C. Noland Medal at the Visions for Architecture gala on Friday, Nov. 3, 2017, at the Hotel John Marshall. The William C. Noland Medal is the highest award bestowed on a member architect and is intended to honor a distinguished body of accomplishments, sustained over time, that spans a broad spectrum of the profession and that transcends the scope of normal professional activities.
Through her prolific body of work and practice of nearly 40 years, Rathbone has become an international influence on the planning and design of living-learning communities as vital components in the academic, social, and architectural fabric of university campuses throughout America and abroad. Her colleague and nominator Nicholas Vlattas, AIA, says, “She has caused universities to recognize that intentional planning of the collegiate residential experience results in significant out-of-the-classroom learning and fosters sustained emotional attachment to place.” Today, her influence, and that of the firm is felt on more than 150 campuses.
One shining example of Rathbone’s campus vision is Tennessee’s Rhodes College, for which she led a team in 2000 to envision a master plan for the 21st century. Already a beautiful campus, the new construction, and renovations over nearly two decades were designed to enrich their architectural heritage, to create a robust student experience and to increase faculty/student interaction. Just five years into the transformation, Rhodes awarded Rathbone the College’s Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award for selfless service to the College and its campus. The success shows as Rhodes has experienced an unprecedented increase in retention and academic rankings over the past 17 years.
While guiding Hanbury, Rathbone has grown her award-winning firm into an internationally recognized practice. Hanbury has earned more than 100 design awards, and she has led a significant number of these award-winning projects. Rathbone seeks opportunities to motivate good design throughout the firm, leading the firm’s learning culture by inviting provocative lecturers and organizing programs to stimulate thinking, discussion and personal growth. In 2004, the firm was named the T. David Fitz-Gibbon Virginia Firm of the Year by AIA Virginia.
Rathbone shares her deep knowledge with colleagues, clients, students, the public and the profession, from teaching Hanbury’s Summer Scholars about “Strategic Planning in a Design Practice” to serving on the board of the Design Futures Council. Notably, she served on the board of the Virginia Foundation for Architecture as its home at The Branch Museum of Architecture and Design was established.
For her design excellence and dedicated leadership, AIA Virginia awards Jane Cady Rathbone the William C. Noland Medal.