SACRAMENTO, CA. In early 2000, the Crocker Art Museum appointed a selection committee to search for an internationally acclaimed museum architect that would lead the Museum through master planning and the design of an expanded facility. After an 11-month search, the field was narrowed to three candidates and Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects was eventually chosen because of their collaborative approach, and experience with master planning and museum projects.

By leading the master planning process in an openly collaborative manner, Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects ensured that the Crocker expansion project created a world-class facility that satisfied the many needs of the Museum and the community. The resulting design reflects the holistic approach for which the internationally renowned firm is known.

Founded in 1968, Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects has completed more than 400 projects for educational, healthcare, corporate, cultural, government and private clients throughout the United States and abroad. The firm has received the American Institute of Architects' highest honor – the Firm Award – for "approaching every project with a fresh eye, a meticulous attention to detail, a keen appreciation for environmental and economic concerns and a strong belief in collaborative effort."

Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects’ international reputation for architectural excellence is confirmed by more than 100 design awards, continuing recognition in the professional and general press, and inclusion in exhibitions and histories of contemporary architecture.

Charles Gwathmey received his Master of Architecture degree in 1962 from Yale University, where he won both The William Wirt Winchester Fellowship as the outstanding graduate and a Fulbright Grant.

In the decades since, Mr. Gwathmey has been honored with the Brunner Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1970 and elected to the Academy in 1976. In 1983, he won the Medal of Honor from the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects and in 1985, he received the first Yale Alumni Arts Award from the Yale School of Architecture. Three years later, the Guild Hall Academy of Arts awarded Mr. Gwathmey its Lifetime Achievement Medal in Visual Arts, followed in 1990 by a Lifetime Achievement Award from the New York State Society of Architects.

Mr. Gwathmey has served as President of the Board of Trustees for The Institute of Architecture and Urban Studies and was elected a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 1981.

From 1965 through 1991, Mr. Gwathmey taught at Pratt Institute, Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, Princeton University, Columbia University, the University of Texas, and the University of California at Los Angeles. He was Davenport Professor (1983 and 1999) and Bishop Professor (1991) at Yale, and the Eliot Noyes Visiting Professor at Harvard University (1985).

Mr. Gwathmey was the spring 2005 William A. Bernoudy Resident in Architecture at the American Academy in Rome.