James Polshek

James (Jim) Stewart Polshek is the chief architect of the Clinton Library. He is the founder of the Polshek Partnership and former Dean of the Columbia University School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation (1972-1987). With his partner Richard Olcott, Polshek in 1999 presented the winning bid for the Library, a design he called the "Bridge to the 21st Century." Bill Clinton selected the design after examining a twenty-four foot annotated drawing prepared by Polshek and his firm.

Polshek had initially designed the building to jut out over the Arkansas River, but the "Secret Service nixed that," he said. "The concern was that a ship with explosives could pull up underneath. But when you get to the end of the building, you'll feel like you're out on the river."

Polshek and his six partners are responsible for award-winning designs for the Rose Center for Earth and Space at the American Museum of Natural History, the main entrance of the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Scandinavia House, the Flushing branch of Queens Borough Public Library, and the College Point, Queens, New York Times printing plant.

Polshek's work is often described as Modernist, and the Clinton Library falls into that category. He studied under I. M. Pei in Paris. He describes his approach to such buildings: "I will never be defensive about taking human comfort seriously ... so that there is more nurturing and less swaggering."

Polshek's father was a businessperson in Akron, Ohio. Polshek himself began his education in hopes of becoming a psychiatrist, but changed directions in earning a Yale University master's degree in architecture.

Polshek works out of the Greenwich Village office of Polshek Partnership in New York City.

References

• Fred A. Bernstein, "Archive Architecture: Setting the Spin in Stone," New York Times, June 10, 2004.
• Celestine Bohlen, "Built for Substance, Not Flash: James Stewart Polshek Says Architecture Should Serve People Instead of Egos," New York Times, January 22, 2001.