alan balfour
alan balfour
photo: Mark McCarty


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Though the city is the ostensible subject of Alan Balfour's writing in recent years, the underlying concern has been a fascination with the imagination of culture. His most recent books are Shanghai in 2002 and New York in 2001, both in the World Cities series published by Wiley/Academy, London. They offer critical histories as well as a rich examination of city character and form as defined by the architecture. The first in the series was Berlin published by Academy Editions in 1995, which documents the transformation of Berlin before and after the collapse of the 'Wall', This and the earlier book Berlin: The Politics of Order: 1737-1989 (Rizzoli 1990), received AIA International Book Awards. Other books include Portsmouth (Studio Vista 1970), Rockefeller Center: Architecture as Theater (McGraw-Hill 1978), with contributions to The Edge of the Millennium (Cooper Hewitt 1993), Cities of Artificial Excavation: The Work of Peter Eisenman (Rizzoli International /CCA 1994) and Recovering Landscape (Princeton Architectural Press 1999).

Awaiting publication is a collection of essays around the subject of the reality and desire and he is working on a critical interpretation of the new Scottish Parliament. In 2002 he spent several months at the American Academy in Rome which has led to a work in progress on religions and order.

Educated at Edinburgh and Princeton and a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects, he has practiced architecture in London and New York, and served on the research staff of MIT, and Arthur D. Little. Presently Balfour is Professor and Dean of the School of Architecture at Rensselaer, a position he came to after serving a chairman of the Architectural Association in London.

Balfour was the year 2000 Topaz Laureate, the highest recognition given in North America to an academic in architecture. This gold medal is presented jointly by the American Institute of Architects and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture.

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