The Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Architecture is one of the most prestigious honors awarded in the discipline of architecture and its related fields, arising from the unique environment afforded by Jefferson’s design for the University of Virginia. Since 1966, the medal has recognized the architects, historians, politicians, and benefactors behind some of the most influential designs of the last half century, including Shigeru Ban, Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, Richard Rogers, Jane Jacobs, Frank Gehry, Robert Venturi, Vincent J. Scully, Lawrence Halprin, Philip Johnson, I. M. Pei, Kenzo Tange, Marcel Breuer, Alvar Aalto, and Mies van der Rohe.

This handsome volume catalogues the first forty recipients of this honor, outlining their achievements in brief biographies and showcasing their most famous work in color photographs. As School of Architecture Dean Karen Van Lengen writes in the introduction, the Medal "acknowledg[es] the comprehensive nature of the design and development of our public realm.... As democracy is a process, so too is design a process that shapes current aesthetic and technological innovations and gives our culture meaning. The Medalists in this book reflect these values and principles in many different ways."