Lee H. Skolnick

Lee H. Skolnick (born September 17, 1953 in New York City) is an American architect and the Founding Partner and Design Principal of SKOLNICK Architecture, a New York-based design firm specializing in both cultural/institutional and private residential projects.

Early life and education Lee attended Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, majoring in music and art. It was here, that Lee was first introduced to the profession of architecture and decided to pursue it as a career choice. Lee graduated with honors from the school in 1979. He is credited for the philosophies of “design as interpretation” and “narrative design” and has advanced these approaches through professional practice, lecturing, teaching and writing. Lee has also served as an instructor at Cooper Union, New York University, Bank Street College of Education and as an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Leicester in Great Britain. Lee has served on design juries and foundations’ grants committees for the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, the Municipal Art Society, New York City’s Department of Cultural Affairs, the local and national AIA.

Design projects Aileron: Center for Entrepreneurial Education, Dayton, OH Ani Villas, Little Bay, Anguilla, BWI Hello again! Beach House, Sagaponack, New York B’nai Yisrael Synagogue, Armonk, NY Children’s and Young Adult Reading Rooms at East Hampton Library, East Hampton, New York (RAMSA, Architect; SKOLNICK, Interior Design) Children’s Museum of the East End, Bridgehampton, NY Creative Discovery Museum, Chattanooga, TN DiMenna Children’s History Museum, New-York Historical Society, New York, NY Discovery Zone at the Florida Museum of Natural History, Gainesville, FL East Hampton Library Education Center at the Rubin Museum of Art, New York, NY Global Crossing Headquarters, New York, NY Jackie & Harold Spielman Children’s Library at Port Washington Public Library, Port Washington, NY Luxembourg Science Center (Concept Design), Differdange, Luxembourg Miami Children’s Museum, Miami, FL (Arquitectonica, Architect; SKOLNICK, Exhibit Design) Mohonk Preserve Visitor Center, Gardiner, NY Muhammad Ali Center, Louisville, KY (in partnership with Beyer Blinder Belle) Muzeiko – America for Bulgaria Children’s Museum, Sofia, Bulgaria NYU Langone Health - Hassenfeld Children's Hospital Qualcomm Wireless Technology Center (Concept Design), Beijing, China Roper Mountain Science Center Environmental Science and Sustainability Building, Greenville, SC (Design Architect: SKOLNICK; Architect of Record: Craig Gaulden Davis) Royal Alberta Museum, Bug Gallery and Children’s Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta, CA Sag Harbor Church (The Church), Sag Harbor, NY Sony Wonder Technology Lab, New York, NY The National Track and Field Hall of Fame, New York, NY

Awards and honors Since the 1980s, Skolnick has been awarded Architectural Digest “AD100,” Cooper Union’s “John Q. Hejduk Award,” House & Garden's “Design Obsession,” the Presidential Citation for Outstanding Achievement from The Cooper Union, and local, state and national AIA Honor Awards including the “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Long Island Chapter of the AIA. In 2022, Skolnick received the Innovator Award from Hamptons Cottages & Gardens Magazine.

Articles Architectural Digest (Sept 2020) "Inside a Light-Filled Town House in New York's Historic Greenwich Village" Skolnick, Lee H. (July–August 2019). So You Think You Want to Build a New Science Center… Dimensions Magazine. 18-23. Washington, DC, Association of Science and Technology Centers Incorporated. Skolnick, Lee H. (April 18, 2019). Lee Skolnick and Robert Stilin Create a Modern Hamptons Escape Galerie Magazine online edition. Skolnick, Lee H. (October 2017). The Invasion of the McRanchions The East Hampton Star. East Hampton, NY, Helen S. Rattray. Skolnick, Lee H. (July 2016). Superb Geometry Galerie Magazine. 166-183. New York, NY, Hudson Publishing LLC. Skolnick, Lee H. and Secor, Jo Ann. (Vol 31. Numbers 2-3, Summer/Fall 2017) One Museum Opens: Three Perspectives: The Children’s Museum as an Urban Revitalization Anchor Hand 2 Hand Quarterly Journal of ACM. 26-27. Arlington, VA, Association of Children's Museums. Skolnick, Lee H. (Issue 146, September–October 2017). Architecture and Design as Interpretation Informal Learning Review. 8-13. Denver, CO, Informal Learning Experiences, Inc. Skolnick, Lee H. (Vol. 33, No. 1, Spring 2014). Master Class: Design as Interpretation Exhibitionist. 74-78. Washington, DC, American Alliance of Museums (AAM), National Association for Museum Exhibition (NAME). Skolnick, Lee H. (No. 3, 2012). Sketchbook: Inside Lee Skolnick’s head for the design of the Muhammad Ali Center Environmental Graphics Magazine. 60-61. Washington, DC, Society for Environmental Graphic Design (SEGD). Skolnick, Lee H. (Volume XXI Number 3, Winter 2008/2009) The Re-Greening of Anguilla Part 1 Anguilla Life Magazine. 15. Anguilla, BWI and New York, NY, Claire Devener. Skolnick, Lee H. (Volume XXII Number 2, Fall 2009) The Re-Greening of Anguilla Part 2 Anguilla Life Magazine. 16-17. Anguilla, BWI and New York, NY, Claire Devener. Skolnick, Lee H. (Volume XXII Number 3, Winter 2009/2010) The Re-Greening of Anguilla Part 3 Anguilla Life Magazine . Anguilla, BWI and New York, NY, Claire Devener. Skolnick, Lee H. (Fall 2008). Mo Sex, Less Sex Exhibitionist. 51-58. Washington, DC, American Alliance of Museums (AAM), National Association for Museum Exhibition (NAME). Skolnick, Lee H. (1997) The Space Between the Stone Ridgelines. New Paltz, New York, The Mohonk Preserve.

Books Skolnick, Lee H. (2020). Skolnick Architecture + Design Partnership: Public/Private (in English) Pointed Leaf Press. Skolnick, Lee H. (2012). ‘Beyond Narrative: Designing Epiphanies'‘Beyond Narrative: Designing Epiphanies', in Suzanne Macleod, Laura Hourston Hanks, Jonathan Hale (ed.) Museum Making: Narratives, Architectures, Exhibitions (Museum Meanings) Routledge, pp.83–94. Skolnick, L., Lorenc, J., & Berger, C. (2007) What is Exhibition Design? (in English) Mies, Switzerland: Rotovision. Skolnick, Lee H. (2005) ‘Towards a New Museum Architecture’, in Suzanne MacLeod (ed.) ‘Reshaping Museum Space (Museum Meanings) Routledge, pp. 118–132. Skolnick, Lee H. (2000). ‘Creating a Learning Experience’, by Connie Sprague, James Grayson Trulove, and Steel Colony (ed.) This Way: Signage Design for Public Spaces Rockport Publishers, pp. 10–13.