JOEL LEVINSON

Architect, Interior Designer, Author, Photographer

Photo: Gayle Block

 

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Architecture, 1963
University of Pennsylvania, School of Fine Arts

 

ARCHITECTURE and INTERIOR DESIGN

Founder/Owner: Joel Levinson Associates – Architecture and Interior Design, formed in 1967.

 

HONORS AND AWARDS

Levinson’s drawings, correspondence, and models are currently being collected and preserved by the Architectural Archives at the University of Pennsylvania. Publication of a book is planned: THE HOUSES OF JOEL LEVINSON

Levinson’s Arbor House was included in a tour of the works of Louis I. Kahn and the ‘Philadelphia School’ organized by the Society of Architectural Historians and the Architectural Archives at Penn. The tour also included works by Robert Venturi, I.M. Pei, Mitchell/Giurgola, Frank Furness, and George Howe. 2008

Projects exhibited at the University of Pennsylvania, The Legacy of the Philadelphia School: An Exhibit of the Work of Students and Colleagues of Louis I. Kahn, 1991

Arbor House exhibited at Columbia University’s Center for the study of American Architecture. The exhibit, American Architecture: Innovation and Tradition, became a national traveling exhibition. 1983

Hillside House exhibited at Yale University, Exhibition of 7 Projects, the Ideology of Making Architecture, 1981.

Semi-finalist, Arnold W. Brunner Grant, New York Chapter, AIA, 1979

“40 under 40”, selected by Architecture and Urbanism for the 1977 issue honoring work by 40 architects under 40 years of age, 1977

Honored by the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in their lecture series The Architecture of our Times, 1975.  Levinson lectured to Institute members in his Hillside House, Rydal, PA.

National Design Award, Western Wood Products Association, 1972.

First Prize for the R. M. Shoemaker offices in Philadelphia Magazine’s first Office Interior Design Contest.

Brasler residence selected for tour by the Society of Architectural Historians and the International Committee for the Documentation and Conservation of Buildings, Sites, and Neighborhoods of the Modern Movement.

“Samuel J. Huckel Prize in Architecture,” University of Pennsylvania, 1962.

 

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

Chairman, Urban Design Division, Mayor’s Science and Technology Advisory Council, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1972

Urban Design Consultant, Franklin Institute Research Laboratories, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1972-1976.

Board of Directors, Philadelphia Chapter, American Institute of Architects, 1975-1976.
Trustee and Chairman of Buildings and Grounds Committee, Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, 1976-83.

 

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

University of Pennsylvania, School of Fine Arts, “Energy Conservation and Architecture”, 1973-1974.

Visiting Architectural Juror: University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University, and Temple University.

 

PUBLICATIONS

Levinson’s architectural and interior design work has been published in a number of national and international professional journals including:

Progressive Architecture, in an article about “Philadelphia’s Phantom School – Architects after Kahn” Architecture and Urbanism.

GA (Global Architecture), The Arbor House.

Japan Architect

Steel Institute Journal

Philadelphia Magazine

Philadelphia Home Magazine

Building Stone Magazine, The Hillside House, 1982

Levinson’s work has also been profiled in several books and newspaper articles including:

Architecture in Philadelphia by Teitelman and Longstreth.

A Guide to Twentieth Century Contemporary Architecture, by Carole Rifkind.

Encyclopedia of Energy-Efficient Building Design: 391 Practical Case Studies, by Dr. Kaiman Lee.

High Access Homes, Rizzoli International

Dream Houses of Greater Philadelphia

Spectacular Houses of Greater Philadelphia

Chestnut Hill Local, Local Renaissance Man Gets a Life’s Work Show, 2011

 

AUTHOR

Outdoor Rooms, GA Houses, 1982

The Hillside House, text for Exhibit at Yale University, 1981, reprinted in Building Stone Journal, 1982.

Architectural Ornament, text for the Architectural League Exhibition, Philadelphia Art Alliance, 1980.

Using The Sun To Brighten The Crisis, AIA Journal, 1974.

Eye Of An Architect, a column on design and other topics published in the CHESTNUT HILL LOCAL since 2012.

Historian and writer for The Historic Gowen Estate House Tour.

Catalogue editor, Broad Street Comes Alive, The Architectural League of the Philadelphia Art Alliance.

The Daring Diagonal, in progress.

The Reluctant Hunter, a novel set in worn-torn Bosnia, 2012.

 

PHOTOGRAPHY

In addition to various commissions, Levinson’s work has been exhibited at the following venues:

One Man Show, Sid Meyers Gallery, Philadelphia

Member Show, Philadelphia Art Alliance, Honorable Mention

Retrospective, Nichols Berg Gallery, Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, 2011

Gaudi and the Spanish Landscape, Offices of Elfant-Wissahickon, Philadelphia

One Man Show, The Pickled Heron restaurant, Philadelphia

One Man Show, University City Science Center Gallery, University of Pennsylvania

Illustrated Lecture, Learning Architecture from Photography, Photography Sesquicentennial Project in Philadelphia, 1990

 

SPECIAL PROJECTS

Broad Street Comes Alive, Exhibit Creator and Catalog Author and Editor, Philadelphia Art Alliance, 1978

Philadelphia Renaissance, Executive Director of a City Beautification Program funded in part by The William Penn Foundation, 1975.

Avenue of National History Development Group, Founder and Director.

SpaceGroup, Founder of a salon focused on discussing cosmology, astrophysics, cognition, and philosophy

The Architectural League of the Philadelphia Art Alliance, Founder and Director, 1977.

Spaetrium House: Commissioned by the American Wood Council to design a prototype energy conservation house.

Co-researcher, Broad Street Corridor Solar Energy Study, under a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.