Michael Graves was the most important architect, educator, and theorist of architecture in the second half of the twentieth century not to be awarded the Pritzker Prize. In order to recognize his achievements and to inspire a new generation of architects with Graves' values of democratic humanism, we demand that the Pritzker Archirecture Prize Committee posthumously recognize Michael Graves with the 2017 Pritzker Prize. As a member of the New York Five, Graves would redefine our sense of modernism in the 1970s. With a series of country houses that recalled the ambition and legacy of Le Corbusier, Graves' early work was already suggestive of a new authorial style. Distinct from the stark white cubism of his contemporaries, Graves' bright colors and playful forms were evocative of his distinct sketches and paintings and harbingers of his future signature style. In practice for over 50 years, Graves would design a series of significant public works that had a transformative effect on the communities in which they were built. The Portland Building of 1982 ushered in a new era of communicative architecture and demonstrated anew that buildings could be active participants in an open, democratic society. His towers in Lousiville and Atlanta, hotels in Orlando, the Denver Public Library, or the many other small, but significant offices, libraries, nurseries, and schools that dot the landscape of the American heartland all speak to the dignity and grace of Graves' aspirational architecture. His buildings, unlike any other, serve as symbols of unity and community. As a product designer, Graves made design accessible to all and sought to improve the lives of everyone who used a tea kettle or pepper mill, a mop or ironing board. Graves believed that all, regardless of income, deserved well-designed objects that made life better. Beyond architecture, he was a fierce and early advocate for accessible design. Graves was appointed to the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board by President Barack Obama in 2013 and helped to promote a democratic spirit of equality in access, regardless of ability, location, or income. Michael Graves promoted a new humanism, in league with a distant past and filled with the optimism of a shared, progressive future. It is these values worth revisiting now. The Pritzker Prize is a catalyst for change and awarding Michael Graves the 2017 Pritzker Prize is a powerful step in correcting the course of architecture towards a new, brighter future.