A Documentation Citation of Merit in the Student category is awarded for the student thesis project The Roof Takes Flight: A History and Analysis of the Butterfly Roof, by Jessica Radomski. This thorough study of an iconic feature of midcentury design addresses a gap in scholarship through extensive archival research, case studies, and comparative analysis. It traces the butterfly roof from its practical origins in Georgian and Victorian England through its adoption by the railroad industry and adaptation by Modernist architects including Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Oscar Niemeyer, and Marcel Breuer. The research demonstrates how a form rooted in practical drainage evolved into an expressive architectural element that connected buildings to their sites, organized interior programs, and responded to regional and climatic conditions. Particularly valuable is the examination of the butterfly roof’s dissemination through postwar American housing, and its subsequent international adaptations. By situating the form within broader architectural, technological, and cultural contexts, the research challenges the assumption that Modernism was defined solely by utilitarianism or the flat roof. 

Jessica Radomski, Author; Suzanne Singletary and Grace Ong-Yan, Advisors