William Massie

Architect-in-Residence, Cranbrook Academy of Art

Monday, April 16, 2007
5:30 P.M. - Lawrence J. Plym Auditorium
Temple Hoyne Buell Hall

PSA Dewberry Lecture

William E. Massie received a Bachelor of Fine Art in Architectural Studies from Parsons School of Design, New York, NY. He subsequently received a Master of Architecture from Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture. Upon graduation he worked for Robertson + McAnulty Architects and James Stewart Polshek and Partners. In 1993 he started his own company while simultaneously accepting a teaching position in the Graduate School of Architecture at Columbia University where he was appointed as the Coordinator for Building Technologies Research.

Massie has recently accepted a position as Associate Professor of Architecture at Rensselear Polytechnic Institute and has taught at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana and Parsons School of Design in New York City.

William Massie's work utilizes computer applications and digital information as a way of redefining "formal architectural construct" - a synthesis of ideas linked to construction in conjunction with the development of a theoretical position, all in support of an attempt to redefine architectural practice and making.

His research in computer applications in architectural construction has been recognized by Architecture Magazine in back-to-back Research Awards - "Augmented Reality in Architectural Construction" in association with Tony Webster, Steve Feiner and Ted Kreuger in 1997 and "Virtual Model to Actual Construct" in 1998. Massie has also received Progressive Architecture awards from Architecture Magazine for the design of the "Big Belt House" located in the foothills of the Big Belt Mountains in Montana (2000) and for the design of the "House for a Photographer" (2002). He has also been awarded First Place in the Montana Contractors Association's Concrete Excellence Awards (2000) and an New York Chapter AIA Interior Architecture Award (1994). He has been an invited lecturer and critic at many institutions of architecture throughout the country.

Massie was selected as the winner of the Museum of Modern Art's Young Architects Program Competition for an installation in the courtyard of the P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center located in Long Island City, New York. The installation, "Playa Urbana / Urban Beach" opened on June 30th (2002) and will be exhibited through September. His work, "Debriefings: Buildings in the Landscape", has been exhibited at Parsons School of Design (March 2002) and the Young Architects Program competition entry has been on display at MoMA/QNS (2002). His work is being included in the Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai, China. In addition, his studio is currently working on several new building projects.