The Dallas Architecture Forum is pleased to continue its 20th Anniversary 2016-2017 Lecture Season with outstanding architect Marlon Blackwell, FAIA, Founder of Marlon Blackwell Architects, Fayetteville.
Marlon Blackwell is one of the nation’s most respected regional modernist architects. His practice takes place primarily in Arkansas and combines vernacular traditions with rigorous formalism. Throughout his body of work, nature has been a persistent inspiration, and he strives to create spaces that respond to the physical and cultural eccentricities of a place. Working in the second poorest state in the country, Blackwell’s architecture uses an economy of means for a maximum of meaning, and he makes spectacular buildings with very small budgets. Blackwell’s work is highly honored on a national and international level. Recent honors include the Smithsonian’s Cooper Hewitt National Design Award and being named Best Architectural Design firm in the United States by the American Institute of Architects.
Blackwell’s projects have ranged from a Honey House to the University of Arkansas School of Architecture to a spare orthodox church. He was the architect for the Ruth Lilly Visitors Pavilion at the Indianapolis Museum of Art and the Crystal Bridges Museum Store at the Crystal Bridges Museum of Art in Bentonville, Arkansas. He is the Principal at Marlon Blackwell Architects and Distinguished Professor and Department Head of the Fay Jones School of Architecture at the University of Arkansas. As mentioned above in the summary paragraph, Blackwell is the recipient of the 2016 Cooper Hewitt National Design Award, the American Academy of Arts and Letters Architecture Prize, and his firm was named 2016 Best Architectural Design Firm in the U.S. by Architect Magazine. Other honors, among many, include the Best Civic and Community Building Award from the World Architecture Festival in Barcelona, Spain.
See Additional Media Coverage: Architect Magazine and Residential Architect:
Blackwell will speak on Wednesday, April 19 at 7:00 p.m., with check-in and reception at 6:15 p.m., in the Horchow Auditorium at the Dallas Museum of Art.
“Marlon Blackwell has a kind of ‘universal’ philosophy of architecture which says it can ‘happen anywhere, at any scale, at any budget, for anyone,’ yet every project is ‘unique and situational’. This approach drives projects that offer the most cost-effective, yet elegant solutions for his clients and garner recognition from his peers with prestigious design awards from the American Institute of Architects, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the USA Artists Fellows, among others. We believe he will give a program of great interest and are delighted to present Mr. Blackwell to the Dallas community,” stated Nate Eudaly, Executive Director of The Dallas Architecture Forum.
The lecture will occur at 7:00p.m. on April 19, with a complimentary reception beginning at 6:15 pm. Tickets are $20 per lecture for general admission and $5 for students (with ID). Tickets can be purchased at the door before the lecture. No reservations are needed to attend Forum lectures. Dallas Architecture Forum members receive free admission to all regular Forum lectures as a benefit of membership, and AIA members can earn one hour of CE credit for each lecture. For more information on The Dallas Architecture Forum, visit www.dallasarchitectureforum.org or call 214-764-2406.
Season Benefactors for the Dallas Architecture Forum’s 2016-2017 Season are Briggs-Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty and Maharger Development | Reggie Graham. Spring Series Benefactors are Bodron+Fruit; HKS, Inc.; Jackson Walker LLP; Janet and Terry Kafka; Scott+Cooner; and Smink, Inc. Lecture Benefactors are Scott + Reid, Talley Associates, and Workplace Solutions. Reception underwriters are HDR and Richard Drummond Davis.
MARLON BLACKWELL
FOUNDER, MARLON BLACKWELL ARCHITECTS, FAYETTEVILLE
19 April 2017
Wednesday, 7:00 pm
Reception and check-in from 6:15 – 6:55 pm
Horchow Auditorium, Dallas Museum of Art
Marlon Blackwell, FAIA, is a practicing architect in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and serves as Distinguished Professor and Department Head in the Fay Jones School of Architecture at the University of Arkansas. His architecture is based in design strategies that draw upon vernaculars and the particular elements of place. His design work has received recognition with numerous national and international design awards and significant publication in books, architectural journals and magazines.
The office of Marlon Blackwell Architects has been recognized as the Firm of the Year by Residential Architect magazine. Recent honors include the St. Nicholas Eastern Orthodox Church (Springdale, Arkansas) winning an AIA National Honor Award and the Civic and Community Building category at the World Architecture Festival in Barcelona, Spain. The IMA Ruth Lilly Visitors Pavilion (Indianapolis, Indiana) also received an AIA National Honor Award. Most recently, Marlon Blackwell Architects received the 2016 Cooper Hewitt National Design Award in Architecture and was named Best Architectural Design Firm in the U.S. by Architect Magazine.
The significance of Blackwell’s contributions to design is evidenced by the Architecture Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the publication of a monograph of his work entitled “An Architecture of the Ozarks: The Works of Marlon Blackwell” published by Princeton Architectural Press. Blackwell was selected by The International Design Magazine as one of the ID Forty: Undersung Heroes and as an “Emerging Voice” by the Architectural League of New York. Marlon Blackwell co-founded the University of Arkansas Mexico Summer Urban Studio, and has coordinated and taught in the program at the Casa Luis Barragan in Mexico City. He received his undergraduate degree from Auburn University and a M. Arch II degree from Syracuse University in Florence, Italy.
