The Secretive Story Behind Robert A.M. Stern’s Hiring

Most of us know that starchitect and presidential library builder Robert A.M. Stern had landed the gig to do some new building on Yale‘s campus, but now the Yale Daily News has put together a fascinating piece on how the decision to hire Stern all came about, complete with sneaky, secret meetings and the University working with a small, tight-lipped team. What’s even more interesting is although Stern was eventually brought in on all this secret talk, before he’d landed the job, he’d begun to get frustrated with Yale for utterly ignoring him while they made their plans internally:

The School of Architecture alumnus desperately wanted to get in on the project to build two new residential colleges. He reached out to the University through intermediaries. His firm sent a portfolio to the University Planner’s office, pulling favors to get it to the top of the pile. An aide even e-mailed a reporter to ask for help in getting his name in the mix.

Yet as of a few weeks ago, she and her boss hadn’t heard a peep from the University. “We’re still waiting,” she said.

UPDATE: Thanks to a comment we just received, the whole thing does seem a little strange, given that Stern also happens to be the dean of Yale’s School of Architecture, the same place that supposedly wouldn’t reveal who had landed the commission.

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