Myron Goldsmith Visiting Chair Lecture

Please join the College of Architecture for the Myron Goldsmith Visiting Chair Lecture on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, from 5–6:30 p.m. in S. R. Crown Hall. “Five Futures:” Challenges and Opportunities in the Built Environment will be presented by the current Goldsmith visiting chair Craig Schwitter, PE.

Schwitter is the senior partner, chair of the Global Board for Buro Happold, and founded the first North American Buro Happold office in New York City more than 25 years ago. Under his leadership, the global firm has expanded to multiple cities throughout the United States and now totals over 400 staff regionally. Craig is a champion of integrated engineering and the appropriate use of technology, which allows his projects to be flexible, efficient, and engaging for users. Focused on creating innovative structures for the built environment, he has led the successful delivery of many iconic projects that have transformed cities throughout the world, including New York City’s High Line, a stretch of elevated rail line that was converted to a public park and has now become one of the most successful urban renewal projects in the city, as well as Harvard University’s recently completed Science and Engineering Complex outside Boston, which is among the most cutting-edge teaching and research facilities in the world.

Schwitter’s portfolio of signature engineering projects spans across sectors—from cultural, higher education, and civic developments to transportation, stadia, and master planning initiatives. Recognized as a pioneering thought leader, he currently serves on the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Board and frequently speaks at international industry conferences and events. He also lectures at colleges and universities throughout the country and has held previous teaching roles at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, and Cornell University.

This fellowship is named after Myron Goldsmith, who worked with Mies van der Rohe before his long career at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. He designed three landmark buildings on Illinois Tech’s Mies Campus, including Arthur Keating Hall, Robert A. Pritzker Science Center, and John T. Rettaliata Engineering Center, and was inducted into the university’s Hall of Fame in 2019. Goldsmith’s wife and family established the fellowship in his honor and to continue the tradition of design innovation that Goldsmith labeled “Structural Architecture.”