The College of Architecture and Planning is pleased to announce that Marc Swackhamer will be joining the College of Architecture and Planning as Professor and Chair of the Architecture Department on August 1, 2019. Professor Swackhamer is currently Professor and Head of the School of Architecture at the University of Minnesota. He received his Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Cincinnati and his Master of Architecture from Rice University.

Marc Swackhamer’s research practice, HouMinn, is a partnership with Professor Blair Satterfield from the University of British Columbia. Together, they challenge broadly accepted approaches to design agency through interdisciplinary partnerships, unconventional making, and material misuse. HouMinn exhibits work extensively around the country and has won multiple Architect Magazine R+D Awards, an ID Magazine National Design Award, and a Core77 National Design Award. Professor Swackhamer recently won the Minneapolis “Creative City Challenge” with Orbacles, a project with the interdisciplinary design collaborative MinnLab that examines the impact of climate change on bird populations in Minnesota.
 
In addition to core design studios, Professor Swackhamer teaches at the intersection of biology and architecture. His students’ work has won an AIA COTE (Committee on the Environment) national education award, was presented at the New York MOMA for the Bio Design Challenge, and most recently won a 2019 ASLA (American Society of Landscape Architects) Minnesota student design award.
 
With Professor Blaine Brownell, Swackhamer co-authored the book Hypernatural: Architecture’s New Relationship with Nature. The two also co-curated and co-hosted the symposium Biologically Motivated at the University of Minnesota, that resulted in a parallel publication. 

Many thanks to the search committee for its excellent work: Austin Troy (Chair), Taisto Makela, Julee Herdt, Amir Alrubaiy, Rachel Brown, Bob Flanagan, Matt Gines, Kevin Hirth, Chris Koziol, Becky Stone, Annicia Streete, David Tryba, and Brenda J Allen.