League president Walter Chatham (right) presents the Michael Friedsam Medal to Michael Eisner
“Michael D. Eisner, through his intense personal commitment, has made the Walt Disney Company an international leader in the creative use of architecture to support business. From the playfulness of new buildings at Disney’s studios in Burbank, to the masterful renovation of the New Amsterdam Theater in New York, to the careful exploration of the components of community at Celebration in Florida, Eisner has led Disney in a demonstration of how architecture communicates as it shelters. Pursuing an architectural program that seeks to enliven existing places as well as create fantasy worlds, Eisner and the Walt Disney Company have shown that architecture, the most public of the arts, can not only help business achieve
its goals, but also fulfill a great civic responsibility.” Citation
