Radical Practice
Marlon Blackwell
Marlon Blackwell, FAIA, is a practicing architect in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and the E. Fay Jones Distinguished Professor at the University of Arkansas. Blackwell is the recipient of the 2020 AIA Gold Medal, the Institute’s highest honor recognizing those whose work has had an enduring impact on the theory and practice of architecture. Blackwell is a lifetime member of the American Academy of Arts and National Academy of Design Academician, a 2019 Resident Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, and a 2014 United States Artists Ford Fellow. Work produced in the professional office, Marlon Blackwell Architects (MBA), has received recognition with significant publication and more than 160 design awards including the 2016 Cooper Hewitt National Design Award in Architecture. A monograph of Marlon’s early work, “An Architecture of the Ozarks: The Works of Marlon Blackwell”, was published in 2005 and a new monograph titled “Radical Practice”, was published in 2022.
The Berlage Keynotes is an ongoing lecture series featuring internationally prominent architects, designers, and thinkers who are at the forefront of design discourse and innovation. A selection of speakers working from different disciplinary perspectives and in different geographic, cultural, and political contexts present how their work engages with contemporary issues and debates. This fall semester, speakers include Jan de Vylder/AJDVIV, Dan Stubbergaard/Cobe, Fabrizio Ballabio, Angelo Candalepas, Marlon Blackwell, Cecilia Puga, and Carmody Groarke.