Marlon Blackwell Architects Named Top Firm Nationally in Design
The interior of Fayetteville High School, a 356,000-square-foot expansion project by Marlon Blackwell Architects, done in collaboration with Hight Jackson Associates in Rogers and DLR Group, based in Overland Park, Kansas.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Architect magazine has named Marlon Blackwell Architects the Top Firm in Design in the 2016 Architect 50. This No. 1 ranking is based on the Fayetteville-based firm’s success during 2015. Last year, the firm was listed seventh in the design category.
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.
Blackwell is the E. Fay Jones Chair in Architecture and a Distinguished Professor in the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design at the University of Arkansas. His firm’s design work has received both national and international attention. The firm was also the recipient of the 2016 National Design Award in Architecture from Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.
“I’m really honored by this latest recognition of our work. And we feel strongest about the fact that it underscores the quality of good design happening in the Midwest and South,” Blackwell said.
“At this point, I think our work cuts across a wide range of types and scales and price points, and shows a consistent level of high design no matter what kind of project,” he said. “This again demonstrates that architecture can happen anywhere, at any scale, at any budget and for anyone.”
Some of the firm’s most significant works can be seen in the Northwest Arkansas area.
Two recent small projects include a practice facility for a golf club in Johnson and a Montessori primary school in Fayetteville, both of which display what Architect called a “rigorous and sometimes daring vernacular Modernism, fashioned on very lean budgets.”
Another notable project in the region is the 356,000-square-foot expansion of Fayetteville High School, a project done in collaboration with Hight Jackson Associates in Rogers and DLR Group, based in Overland Park, Kansas. This expansion helped link already existing campus structures from different eras into a singular identity. The generous outdoor spaces and innovative, fresh classrooms accompany a new competitive gymnasium and state-of-the-art performing arts center.
Another project, The Harvey Clinic, a 15,000-sqare-foot building in Rogers, is a stark abstract figure in the suburban landscape just west of Interstate 49.
Beyond Northwest Arkansas, another project is Shelby Farms Park in Memphis, Tennessee. This collaboration with James Corner Field Operations is one of the largest urban parks in the country and the first of its kind in Shelby County. The sprawling 4,500-acre park has seven new structures, including a visitor center and events facility.
This has already been a remarkable year for Blackwell’s firm, between this recent recognition by Architect magazine and the National Design Award earlier this year. In previous years, the firm has won four consecutive national AIA Honor Awards, among other honors.
Blackwell has been a practicing architect for about 30 years, but founded Marlon Blackwell Architects in 2000. The firm has come a long way since its humble beginnings, now employing 10 designers, four of whom are Fay Jones School alumni.
Details of the methodology used for generating the Architect 50 rankings, along with some data submitted by firms, are available on the Architect website. The winners were chosen through a complex scoring system, with the firms first rated in three separate categories – business, sustainability and design. The scores for each firm in those individual categories were added together and used to generate the overall score.
The scores of firms in the design category were heavily influenced by the design portfolio (72 percent), with other factors including an evaluation of licensure and mentoring, pro bono work, design awards and research.
Judges for the design category were Eric Höweler, AIA, co-founder of Höweler+Yoon Architecture and assistant professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design; Sarah Dunn, co-founder of the Chicago-based firm UrbanLab and associate professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago; and Joshua Aidlin, a founding partner of Aidlin Darling Design.
About the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design: The Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design at the University of Arkansas houses professional design programs of architecture, landscape architecture and interior design together with liberal studies programs. All of these programs combine studio design education with innovative teaching in history, theory, technology and urban design. A broad range of course offerings equips graduates with the knowledge and critical agility required to meet the challenges of designing for a changing world. Their training prepares students with critical frameworks for design thinking that also equip them to assume leadership roles in the profession and in their communities. The school’s architecture program was ranked 26th in the nation, and the 12th best program among public, land-grant universities, in the 16th Annual Survey of America’s Best Architecture and Design Schools, a study conducted in 2015 by the Design Futures Council and published in DesignIntelligence. For more information visit fayjones.uark.edu.
About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs.
Contacts
Marlon Blackwell, E. Fay Jones Chair in Architecture
Department of Architecture
479-575-5019,
mblackwe@uark.edu
McKenna Rhadigan, communications intern
Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design
479-575-4704,
mkrhadig@uark.edu
Michelle Parks, director of communications
Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design
479-575-4704,
mparks17@uark.edu
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