The 25 – Thomas Norman Rajkovich

Thomas Norman Rajkovich is an architect and urban designer whose 40-year career has combined professional practice, teaching, lecturing, drawing, painting, and writing. The son of two educators, his lifelong objective has been to instill in others a passion for what Henry Hope Reed called “The Classical,” and to teach students the essential principles and skills required to meaningfully contribute to that great tradition.

Rajkovich is an Affiliated Fellow of the American Academy in Rome (1985) and a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts Manufactures and Commerce. He has taught at several universities, beginning in 1987 at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and at his alma mater, the University of Notre Dame, where he was tasked with restructuring the Rome Program curriculum on a classical model, a curriculum that continues to this day.

“I’m intellectually indebted to the Italian Renaissance for my approach to classical architecture as a language,” reveals Rajkovich. “It is a privilege to learn from and aspire to rival these brilliant mentors distanced by time and to bring those lessons to bear on contemporary projects.”

The architect has served as a guest critic at numerous institutions, including Yale University under the deanship of Robert A. M. Stern, and was recently the Michael C. Duda Visiting Professor of Architecture at Notre Dame’s graduate program. He has taught under four deans at Notre Dame over the past 35 years.

An avid painter whose watercolor wash drawings are held in several private collections, Rajkovich regularly speaks on classical architecture to academic and general audiences. He has received the Arthur Ross Award in Architecture in 1987 from Classical America (now the ICAA), numerous ICAA Chicago-Midwest Chapter Acanthus awards, and a 2025 Palladio Award.

Explains the architect: “I’ve intentionally struck a balance in my professional life between architectural practice and teaching in a university setting. I believe that the classical tradition necessarily involves building and making as well as mentoring future generations. I find joy in the dynamic between the two.”