Blackwell Elected to American Academy of Arts & Sciences
“Marlon Blackwell, a U of A Distinguished Professor and Fayetteville-based architect, has been elected as a member to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences — joining a list that includes such luminaries as Alexander Hamilton, Duke Ellington, Eudora Welty and Albert Einstein.”
“Marlon’s election to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences signifies the highest accomplishments in American culture,” said Peter MacKeith, dean of the Fay Jones School. “In this, he joins Arkansans Bill and Hillary Clinton, as well as his U of A faculty colleague Peter Ungar. But moreover, he joins the most significant figures in American architecture, visual arts and the sciences. Marlon’s greatest accomplishment, however, is the grace, dignity and humility with which he has achieved so much — and his recognition of all those with whom he has worked and whom he has supported. The school is proud and grateful to our friend.”
Past elected members with Arkansas ties include Hillary Rodham Clinton and Bill Clinton for their work with the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation; alumna C.D. Wright, a writer and educator; alumnus Morris Sheppard Arnold, former U.S. circuit judge for the Eighth Circuit; and Vernon Eulion Jordan, a lawyer and social and political action organization executive.
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Thaden School Bike Barn Wins 2023 AIA National Education Facility Design Award
“The program, while simple, is well executed and paired perfectly with the architecture. It's a node for the community, which is invited to take advantage of the network of bike trails.” - Jury comment
This building, guided by a master plan shaped in 2016, reinforces the school’s overarching mission and pedagogy that encourages the diverse student body to remain deeply connected to the larger community. The Bike Barn stands as a modern interpretation of a classic Ozark gambrel barn adapted to support a contemporary academic and athletic program.
The building sits on a berm along the campus’ eastern edge adjacent to the school’s soccer field, cyclocross course, and pump track and connects the school to a greater trail network that extends throughout the northwest region of the state. By adopting the barn form, the team ensured the project accommodates a wide range of sports, including volleyball, basketball, and cycling. It also provides the school with bike storage and additional support facilities.
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Marlon Blackwell Architects named one of AN Interior’s
Top 50 Architects and Designers of 2022
“These outfits demonstrate a commitment to both craft and materials, and their efforts result in spaces that combine richness with comfort.”
“AN Interior’s Top 50 recognizes the best North American architecture and design companies working in interiors today. Each year, AN’s editors assemble a lineup that attempts balance—from smaller, emerging practices to larger, established firms; from design centers in New York and Los Angeles to cities across the continent; from high-end projects to budget-conscious commissions."
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Top 50 Architects and Designers of 2022
Marlon Blackwell to be inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters
“The American Academy of Arts and Letters was founded in 1898 as an honor society of the country’s leading architects, artists, composers, and writers.”
Marlon has been inaugurated into the Academy, which is limited to 300 artists who are elected for life by sitting members. Marlon will join current and honorary members of the Academy such as Martin Scorsese, Meryl Streep, Philip Glass, Bob Dylan, and Yo-Yo Ma. In the words of the Academy, “The honor of election is considered the highest form of recognition of artistic merit in the United States.” Marlon is truly humbled by the incredible legacy of architects, musicians, writers and artists that he is able to join. We extend our congratulations to all other newly elected members, among them architects Meejin Yoon, Walter Hood, James Corner, Kathryn Gustafson, and Nader Tehrani
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Marlon Blackwell honored with the 2020 American Institute of Architects Gold Medal
“The Gold Medal is the highest annual honor, recognizing individuals whose work has had a lasting influence on the theory and practice of architecture.”
We are excited to announce that Marlon Blackwell has been awarded the AIA Gold Medal, one of architecture’s highest honors, which recognizes individuals whose work has had lasting influence on the theory and practice of architecture.
In the words of Canadian architect Brian Mackay Lyons, "Marlon is an architect whose personal character matches the exceptional quality of his work." Fundamental to this work is a spirit of optimism and a belief in architecture's ability to elevate our condition and our expectations. The work, like its author, is an intense mixture of the situational and the universal and demonstrates a deep dedication to craft.
His distinguished body of work has a global reach, but is rooted in the Arkansas Ozarks, demonstrating his belief that architecture can happen anywhere, for anyone, at any budget. Marlon encourages us as a community, to extend his profound optimism and expand the power and potential of architecture.
This award places Marlon in a lineage of the most distinguished architects of the past century including Thom Mayne, Le Corbusier, Tadao Ando, Frank Lloyd Wright, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Alvar Aalto and Arkansas' E. Fay Jones, who received the award in 1990.
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AN Interior names Marlon Blackwell Architects one of top 50 Interior Design firms for 2020.
“While the future of design is anything but certain, especially in 2020, these firms offer hope that the environments in which people play, work and learn can continue to become more beautiful and humane.”
“AN Interior gathered the architects and designers from across the United States who are creating the most exciting interiors today.”
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Marlon Blackwell receives the 2016 Cooper Hewitt National Design Award for Architecture Design
“This national recognition from Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum for Marlon Blackwell and his practice acknowledges what the Fay Jones School has benefited from for more than two decades.”
-Peter MacKeith
Marlon Blackwell Architects in Fayetteville has received a 2016 National Design Award from Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. The design firm was recognized “for exceptional and exemplary work in” Architecture Design for its body of work.
The selection criteria for all of the awards are excellence, innovation, and enhancement of the quality of life. Individual candidates must be citizens or long-term residents of the United States and have been practicing design for at least 7 years.
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Marlon Blackwell receives the Arkansas AIA E. Fay Jones Gold Medal in 2017
"Coming to work everyday and watching other people bring their children to [Montessori Primary] was magical. People just reacted to the building even if they didn't know why they were reacting to the building."
-Victoria Butler
This award recognizes an individual architect who has demonstrated touchstones of excellence through artistic vision and design, leadership and service to the State of Arkansas and the AIA Arkansas Chapter. Excellence is measured not only by the mark of architectural and individual achievement, but through the esteem and regard held for the architect by professional practitioners and the community as a whole. This is the highest award AIA Arkansas can bestow on one of its members and goes to an architect who not only builds buildings, but builds the communities surrounding them.
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Marygrove Early Education Center Wins 2023 AIA National Award
A beacon of education and a vibrant reminder of the ongoing efforts to revitalize Detroit, the Marygrove Early Education Center is a state-of-the-art facility serving children up to age 5 from surrounding neighborhoods. The center sits on Marygrove College’s campus in the city’s Livernois-McNichols District, the first new building on campus in decades. With its low-slung form and colorful exterior, it reflects the area’s newfound optimism and a pervasive spirit of new life and recovery.
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Thaden School Reels Building named for AIA National Education Facility Design Award – Merit Award
“Recognized projects represent state-of-the-art learning environments, including early childhood, K-12, alternative, community and technical colleges, schools of higher education, corporate or other specialized training centers and non-traditional learning environments such as community centers, museums, libraries, nature centers, and interpretive centers.”
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Architects Newspaper Best of Practice Award – Winner, Architect (Small Firm) – Southwest
AN recognizes North American firms excelling at multiple levels of the AEC industry, from architecture and engineering to landscape and lighting. Honoring firms of all sizes and regions, the awards will offer a snapshot of what practice looks like today.
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Architects Newspaper Interiors Top 50 Architects and Designers
"…recognizes the best North American architecture and design companies working in interiors today. Each year, AN's editors assemble a lineup that attempts balance—from smaller, emerging practices to larger, established firms; from design centers in New York and Los Angeles to cities across the continent; from high-end projects to budget-conscious commissions."
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Marygrove Early Education Center named for Dedalo Minosse International Prize – Regione del Veneto Special Prize
"Clients are protagonists: a unique prize. The Prize would boost the quality of architecture looking at final result, analyzing and focusing on project and constructive plan process and giving a special attention to people who determine the success of the work: the architect and the client, supported by the project executors (the building firms) and the public administrations."
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AIA Detriot – Honor Award: Marygrove Early Education Center
"…celebrates the best contemporary architecture regardless of budget, size, style, or type. These stunning projects show the world the range of outstanding work architects create and highlight the many ways buildings and spaces can improve our lives."
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AIA Arkansas – Honor Award: CO-OP Ramen
"…celebrates the best contemporary architecture regardless of budget, size, style, or type. These stunning projects show the world the range of outstanding work architects create and highlight the many ways buildings and spaces can improve our lives."
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Marygrove Early Education Center named in The Plan Awards – Finalist
THE PLAN Award is an annual international prize that recognizes excellence in architecture, interior design, and urban planning. With twenty different categories and over a thousand submissions every year, THE PLAN Award is an important opportunity for architects, designers, urban planners, and planners to participate in an international community and contribute to the discussion of the key issues affecting the industry today.
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Thaden School awarded James D. MacConnell Award
This award is the most prestigious of all the Association's Awards and is bestowed upon a project that truly engages the stakeholders in all phases of the project while enhancing understanding of the interconnections of environment, learning, and teaching.
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The Thaden Bike Barn receives the Architect's Newspaper Best of Design Award in the Institutional K-12 category
"The eighth annual Architect's Newspaper Best of Design Awards is a unique project-based awards program that showcases projects in 50 different categories which echo the magazine's editorial coverage and reader interest."
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The Lamplighter School receives the 2020 AIA CAE Award of Excellence
The American Institute of Architecture Committee on Architecture for Education Award of Excellence is given to projects that enhance the client's educational program, integrate functional needs and aesthetic while respecting the surrounding context, excel in the planning and design process, show an understanding of the connection between the built and the natural environment and demonstrate an integrated and holistic approach to sustainability.
“This project brings the quest for innovative problem solving to children’s intelligence with an architecture that appeals to the mind, body, and full use of the senses.” - Jury comment
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Shelby Farms Park receives AIA'S 2019 Regional & Urban Design Award
The 2019 Regional & Urban Design program recognizes the best in urban design, regional and city planning, and community development. The best planning accounts for the entire built environment, local culture, and available resources—modeling architecture’s promise and true value to communities.
“Shelby Farms Park is the linchpin for the greening of Memphis”
Laura Adams, former Executive Director of Shelby Farms Park Conservancy
Master Planning and Landscape Architecture: James Corner Field Operations
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Steven L. Anderson Design Center & Vol Walker Hall wins the 2018 National AIA Honor Award for Architecture
The 2018 AIA Architecture Award celebrates the best contemporary architecture regardless of budget, size, style, or type. These stunning projects show the world the range of outstanding work architects create and highlight the many ways buildings and spaces can improve our lives.
"Consistent orchestration of natural light and a sparse but powerful use of red to make landmark moments in the building is invigorating. "
-Jury comment
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Graphic House wins 2017 National AIA Housing Award
The Housing Awards emphasize good housing as a necessity of life, a sanctuary for the human spirit, and a valuable national resource. Recipients show the world how beauty, safety, sustainability, and comfort can come together.
"Realistic house that advances the suburban house type"
-Jury comment
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Harvey Clinic wins the 2017 AIA/AAH Healthcare Design Award
The AIA/AAH Healthcare Design Awards showcase the best of healthcare building design, healthcare planning and healthcare design-oriented research. The awards highlight the trends of healthcare facilities and the future direction of these facilities. Projects should exhibit conceptual strength that solve aesthetic, civic, urban, and social concerns as well as the requisite functional and sustainability concerns of a hospital.
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Graphic House wins 2017 Arkansas State AIA Honor Award
The Graphic House is a single-family home for a middle income family of four that occupies a corner lot within a typical suburban neighborhood. The “L” configuration keeps the house’s program on a single level, providing an accessible home for the family and simplifying the building’s organization.
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Harvey Clinic wins 2017 American Architecture Award
The American Architecture Awards give an important overview of the current aesthetic direction of today’s built environment to the press and general public. The program is one of the Museum’s most important public education outreach initiatives produced throughout the year―to both the Museum’s U.S. and international audience. The American Architecture Awards are dedicated to the recognition of excellence in architecture and urbanism in the United States.
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Marlon Blackwell Architects ranked the top design firm by Architect Magazine for 2016
“Of all submissions, this collection of work conveys the most succinct, clear, and rigorous design ethos, This is design with conviction.”
The Architect 50 is a nationwide ranking of architecture firms published by Architect magazine. Architect magazine is the official publication of the American Institute of Architects. This is the eighth year the magazine has published the survey of top firms, with an overall ranking and additional rankings in the categories of design, business and sustainability.
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Steven L. Anderson Design Center wins 2016 AIA/CAE Educational Facility Design Award of Excellence
Recognized projects represent state-of-the-art learning environments, including early childhood, K-12, alternative, community and technical colleges, schools of higher education, corporate or other specialized training centers and non-traditional learning environments such as community centers, museums, libraries, nature centers, and interpretive centers.
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Fayetteville High School wins 2016 AIA/CAE Educational Facility Design Award of Excellence in K-12
Recognized projects represent state-of-the-art learning environments, including early childhood, K-12, alternative, community and technical colleges, schools of higher education, corporate or other specialized training centers and non-traditional learning environments such as community centers, museums, libraries, nature centers, and interpretive centers.
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Marlon Blackwell named as the 2014 USA Ford Fellow for Architecture and Design
“He brings a strong design orientation and always provides good criticism; it is evident that he is truly interested in advancing design through both teaching and practice.”
Each year, United States Artists (USA) awards fellowships to the country’s most accomplished and innovative artists working in the fields of Architecture & Design, Crafts, Dance, Literature, Media, Music, Theater & Performance, Traditional Arts and Visual Arts. Fellows are selected through a rigorous, highly competitive process involving hundreds of experts, scholars, administrators and artists. USA Fellows spotlight the importance of originality across every creative discipline, celebrating the broad diversity of American artistic practices from coast to coast, cultivating a creative ecology that is diverse. The support that USA Fellows receive each year clears the way for unburdened artistic innovation and unleashes creative expression.
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Marlon Blackwell receives the 2012 Arts and Letters Award in Architecture
“He enters the national discourse from a position that is rooted in the vernacular of his region. Working outside of the mainstream, Blackwell has developed a voice that is uniquely his own.”
-Billie Tsien
The American Academy of Arts and Letters is an honor society of the country’s 250 leading architects, artists, composers, and writers. Each year it elects new members as vacancies occur, administers over 70 awards and prizes, exhibits art and manuscripts, funds performances of new works of musical theater, and purchases artwork for donation to museums across the United States. The American Academy of Arts and Letters goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art.
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