Roland Wank, FAIA, 1898–1970
Roland Wank, FAIA (1898–1970) studied at the Technical University of Brno, Czechoslovakia from 1919-21, a center dedicated to progressive ideas in Modern architecture. Wank later immigrated to the US in 1924, and by 1927, found employment with Fellheimer & Wagner. Two of his designs won Gold Medal awards from the AIA for the Amalgamated Clothing Workers’ Housing, NYC (1929) and the Cincinnati Union Terminal (1929–1933). During the Great Depression, Wank found work as the chief architect for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in 1933—only two months after its inception—where he remained for the next eleven years. There, he was responsible for designing fifteen dams and their associated buildings—including Norris Dam, Wheeler Dam and Kentucky Dam—and is famous for imbuing these public works with a decidedly Modernist character.