University of Detroit Mercy's Dean of the School of Architecture receives AIA Detroit Gold Medal Award

Dan Pitera, who serves as the Dean of the University of Detroit Mercy School of Architecture and Community Development (or SCAD), was recently named the recipient of AIA Detroit’s 2023 Gold Medal Award.

The Gold Medal Award is generally considered to be the highest honor that AIA Detroit can bestow: it recognizes distinguished service to their local chapter of the American Institute of Architects, or the practice or theory of the field of architecture itself.

Pitera also works as a professor of Architecture and Community Development at Detroit Mercy. He will be presented with the award at the chapter’s 2023 Celebration of Architecture which is slated to take place at Eastern Market on September 21.

In an article posted on the University of Detroit Mercy’s website, Pitera reflected on his award, saying, “It is still sinking in that I received the Gold Medal. I truly believe that I share this recognition with every faculty member, student, staff and administrator at SACD.”

He has worked at the University’s School of Architecture and Community Development for the past four years. He joined UDM back in 1999 as executive director of the Detroit Collaborative Design Center; he held that position for 20 years.

The Detroit Collaborative Design Center is the nonprofit community design organization of the School of Architecture and Community Development and earned a number of honors while Pitera was in charge there. One such award was the National AIA’s 2017 Whitney M. Young Jr. Award.

In addition to his position at UDM, Pitera also serves as treasurer of AIA Michigan’s board of directors, and was the winner of AIA Detroit’s 2018 Charles Blessing Award. In 2010, he was inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects. Previous to that, he was a 2004-05 Loeb Fellow at Harvard University.

He spoke more about the importance of this new award to him, and what it represents for the work he is trying to accomplish at UDM, saying, “Our community has a long history of working together to engage the very messy and complex issues that others either miss or dismiss," Pitera said. “We embrace and work toward a cultural understanding that well-designed spaces are for all people, not just some people. We champion work that confronts climate change and climate justice and ultimately prepares for a near-term future of climate migration. We strive for a better symbiotic relationship between buildings, people and the environment. Receiving the Gold Medal should not be about the person who won the award. Instead, it is a wonderful acknowledgement and amplification of the importance of this work to society at large.” 

More information about the University of Detroit Mercy can be found on the school’s website.