Harvard Professor Visiting School Of Architecture This Spring

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Harvard professor, architect and urban planner Darell Fields is exposing University of Arkansas architecture students to new perspectives and an ambitious urban planning project this spring. Author of "Architecture in Black," a pioneering treatise on the treatment of race in architectural discourse, Fields is fascinated by the volatile intersection between race and architecture.

"It’s just a strange coupling, and I’m fascinated by that," he said in a recent interview. Fields has explored the black aesthetic and its context within architectural theory in books, articles, and interdisciplinary courses including "Of Monkeys, Men, and Great Edifices," which was jointly offered by Harvard’s Graduate School of Design and Department of Afro-American Studies. He also has traced the themes of race and architectural representation in artwork such as his five-panel "House for Josephine Baker (Parody Series)" currently on display at the Studio Museum in Harlem as part of the exhibition "Harlemworld: Metropolis as Metaphor." The project, which parodies academic attempts to link spatial forms to cultural differences, typifies Fields’ approach to his subject. He unapologetically focuses on pure theory:

"I’m kind of out there," he admits with a grin, though he’s quick to add that he’s no different from other scholars who approach a discipline with a battery of theoretical tools. "I’ve found a black version of the operation," he said.

Fields takes a more pragmatic, straightforward approach in his design work. His Boston firm, Utile Design, established in 2002, focuses on urban planning in the Boston area, and already has won consulting contracts with major clients such as the Massachusetts Port Authority, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. The firm also is participating in the planning occurring in the wake of Boston’s "Big Dig" — the 13-year, $14.6 billion megaproject to replace Boston’s elevated Central Artery highway with an underground expressway.

This spring, under Fields’ guidance, U of A architecture students have an opportunity to engage in the urban design precipitated by the Big Dig project. Specifically, they are focusing on the open space created by the removal of a closed-off ramp from the old highway. The ramp separated three distinct neighborhoods: a financial district, an arts/warehouse district, and Boston’s Chinatown. Fields hopes that the students will generate ideas beyond the park currently planned, perhaps a mixture of green space, housing and retail space. Fields’ firm is currently consulting on the site, but is enmeshed in the political push and pull generated by this type of project; "we have very little time to consider other possibilities," he said. Fields believes that their projects may generate "kernels of other ideas" that could influence developers and city officials to envision other possibilities for the site.

"The students here are very responsive, and that counts for a lot," he said.

"We’re very pleased to have Darell Fields as a visitor at the School; the breadth and tenor of his research expands our theoretical dialogue, and his planning practice has generated a challenging studio project for our students," said School of Architecture Dean Jeff Shannon.

Tim de Noble, a UA Associate Professor of Architecture and former classmate of Fields, describes him as "the single most naturally gifted designer I've ever known. He can sit down and draw a beautiful and believable section of a building in ink on Mylar in about twenty minutes."

Originally from Dallas, Texas, Fields received his BS in architecture from the University of Texas at Arlington. He earned his Master’s and Ph.D in architecture from Harvard University and has taught at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design since 1994. Fields has won awards in numerous national and international design competitions and has initiated and participated in projects in Dallas, New York, Boston, and Tokyo. He is founding editor of "Appendx:Culture/Theory/Praxis" an interdisciplinary journal that explores links between culture and architecture.