The holder of the Driehaus Prize 2012 is Michael Graves

American architect Michael Graves was announced on December 14, 2011, as the laureate of the Driehaus Prize for Classical Architecture. The most prestigious global award for contemporary traditionalist architects, associated with a monetary reward of $200,000, was granted to him by a committee established by the School of Architecture at the University of Notre Dame in the USA. Its members include, besides sponsor Richard Driehaus, architects Michael Lykoudis and Léon Krier, critics Paul Goldberger and Witold Rybczynski, Seaside founder Robert Davis, and president of the American Academy in Rome, Adele Chatfield-Taylor. At the same time, the Henry Hope Reed Award ($50,000), intended for non-architects for the cultivation and promotion of traditional building and arts, was awarded to Elizabeth Barlow Rogers, president of The Foundation for Landscape Studies and a specialist in the care of historic parks. Both awards will be presented on March 24, 2012, at a ceremonial event in Chicago.

Michael Graves was born on July 9, 1934, in Indianapolis. He was a member of the New York Five (with Peter Eisenman, Richard Meier, etc.), and he founded his own studio in 1964, which has completed over 350 realizations worldwide, mostly in the USA. He is an emeritus professor of architecture at Princeton University. Graves' award has sparked controversy, as most of Graves' work is postmodern, not in traditional styles: according to the jury, classicism should not mean "replication", but "creativity", where "a deep understanding of the past only enriches the creative process." 

Realizations and projects in Europe
- Library in the American Academy building, Rome, 2006-07 
- Louwman Museum (National Automobile Museum), The Hague, 2005
- Castalia (Ministry of Health and Sports), The Hague, 1993-2000
- Office and residential buildings in Brussels, Amsterdam, 's-Hertogenbosch, hotel and chalets in the Swiss mountain resort of Leukerbad, and a hotel project for Berlin

> architecture.nd.edu/Driehaus_Prize/The_Driehaus_Prize/Past_Recipients/Michael_Graves
> www.michaelgraves.com/architecture/home.html