Even as a lowly undergraduate at the University of Cincinnati in the late 1950s, Michael Graves cut an impressive figure on campus.

        Indianapolis architect Robert Kennedy remembers him well, buzzing around town in his sporty red MG and already commanding the attention and envy of his peers.

        More than four decades later, Mr. Graves has become the 58th recipient of the American Institute of Architects' highest honor, the Gold Medal.

        He will accept the award Feb. 16 in Washington, D.C.

        The 66-year-old architect is internationally known for his designs of the Disney corporate offices in Burbank, Calif.; the Netherlands Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport at The Hague; the sleek Humana Tower that forever changed the Louisville skyline; and Cincinnati structures like Riverbend Music Center and the UC Engineering Research Center.

        Mr. Graves joins a long list of architectural luminaries who have received the prestigious award: Frank Lloyd Wright, Frank Gehry, Louis Sullivan, Thomas Jefferson and Le Corbusier, to name a few.

        Despite a lifetime of accomplishment and more than 200 buildings to his credit, Mr. Graves says he is humbled to have been chosen by a jury of his peers.

        “Architects are very competitive,” he said, laughing. “I think it's amazing that they can vote for each other at all.”

        Mr. Graves is also well-known for the telephones, toasters and whistling teakettles that make up his extensive collection of housewares and interior-design products for the home.

        Last year, Target introduced the 150-piece Michael Graves Design collection, which is enjoying brisk sales throughout the nation.

        In addition, he runs a full-time practice with offices in both Princeton, N.J., and New York.

        “He's a true modernist,” said Matthew Kelty, president of the Fort Wayne, Ind., chapter of AIA. “He designs everything from salt-and-pepper shakers to huge complexes.

        “He believes that an architect has the ability to influence quality of life, and everything from your teapot to your home to the place that you worship can carry depth of meaning and improve your life.”

        These are themes Mr. Graves stresses often to students in the architecture school at Princeton University where he has taught since 1962, a job he considers most dear.

        “We've never had more work, and we're terribly, terribly busy,” he said. “But teaching, for me, can never take a backseat.”

        Besides Riverbend and the UC building in Cincinnati, Mr. Graves also designed a 5,500-square-foot Indian Hill home built in 1998 for Chris Bergen and Candace Bryan, executives at Kendle International. He has been working with the Cincinnati Art Museum to create a plan for future changes at the building in Eden Park.

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