Brian MacKay-Lyons to Present 'Place, Craft, and Community' Lecture on Oct. 28

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The Two Hulls House, located in a glaciated, coastal landscape, with a cool maritime climate, resembles two ship's hulls on cradles for the winter. (Image courtesy MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects Limited)

Brian MacKay-Lyons will present a lecture titled "Place, Craft, and Community" at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 28, in Ken and Linda Sue Shollmier Hall, Room 250 of Vol Walker Hall, on the University of Arkansas campus, as part of this year's Fay Jones School of Architecture lecture series.

MacKay-Lyons was born and raised in the village of Arcadia in southwestern Nova Scotia. He received his Bachelor of Architecture from the Technical University of Nova Scotia in 1978, where he was awarded the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Medal. He received his Master of Architecture and Urban Design at the University of California, Los Angeles, and was awarded the Dean's Award for Design.

After studying in China, Japan, California and Italy, MacKay-Lyons returned to Nova Scotia in 1983 to challenge the historic maritime "brain drain" trend, and to make a cultural contribution to Nova Scotia, where his Acadian ancestors have lived for nearly 400 years. In 1985, he founded the firm Brian MacKay-Lyons Architecture Urban Design in Halifax. In 2005, he partnered with Talbot Sweetapple to form MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects Limited.

The firm has built an international reputation for design excellence confirmed by more than 100 awards, including six Governor General Medals, two American Institute of Architects Honor Awards, 11 Lieutenant Governor's Medals of Excellence, seven Canadian Architect Awards, three Record Houses Awards, and six North American Wood Design Awards. A fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (FRAIC), and the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA), MacKay-Lyons was named Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (Hon FAIA) in 2001.

The work of the firm has been recognized in 330 publications and 100 exhibitions internationally. As a full professor of Architecture at Dalhousie University, MacKay-Lyons has contributed to architectural education in the region for more than 30 years. He has held 16 endowed academic chairs and visiting professorships at leading universities and given 175 lectures internationally.

Houses designed in Atlantic Canada have made his firm a leading proponent of regionalist architecture worldwide. This recognition has led to a transition in the practice toward increased public and international commissions.

This is the William F. Pendergrass Memorial Lecture, sponsored by Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates.

The public is invited to attend. Admission is free, with limited seating.

For more information, contact 479-575-4704 or architecture.uark.edu.