Alan Balfour (born 1939 in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

) is the former

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

of the

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

College of Architecture. He has also held research and/or faculty positions at

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...

Architectural Association School of Architecture The Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, commonly referred to as the AA, is the oldest Independent school (United Kingdom), independent school of architecture in the UK and one of the most prestigious and competitive in t ...

, and

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute () (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Van ...

, and was instrumental in establishing the

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

program in architecture at Georgia Tech.

Biography

Balfour received a diploma in

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

from the

Edinburgh College of Art Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) is one of eleven schools in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. Tracing its history back to 1760, it provides higher education in art and design, architecture, histor ...

in 1961, and was a

Fulbright Scholar The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

, where he received a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admini ...

degree in architecture in 1965. In 1974 Balfour became a research associate and lecturer at

, a position he held until 1978, when he became a professor at

. While at Georgia Tech Balfour was instrumental in establishing the

program in architecture in 1980. He left Georgia Tech in 1988 and served as professor and dean of the

School of Architecture This is a list of architecture schools at colleges and universities around the world. An architecture school (also known as a school of architecture or college of architecture), is an institution specializing in architectural education. Africa ...

from 1989–1991, as chairman of the

from 1991–1995, and as professor and dean of the

School of Architecture from 1995–2008, before returning to Georgia Tech. He was Dean of the College of Architecture from 2008 - 2013, and is now a professor.

Political positions

Architectural historian Denis R. McNamara called Balfour's "disdain for Christianity" in his 2012 book ''Solomon's Temple: Myth, Conflict, and Faith,'' "disturbing." Balfour describes the replacement of pagan religions by Christianity as a process that “greatly diminished the richness of earthly, lived experience.”

Select bibliography

*''Solomon's Temple: Myth, Conflict, and Faith'' 2012 * *''Creating a Scottish Parliament'', (with David McCrone) Finley Brown, Edinburgh, 2005. *''Shanghai: World City'', Academy Editions/J. Wiley and Son, New York, 2002 *''New York: World City'', Academy Editions/J. Wiley and Son, New York, 2001 *''Berlin: World City'', Academy Editions London, and Ernst & Sohn, Berlin, 1995. *''Recovering Landscape'' edited with James Corner, Princeton Architectural Press, Princeton, 1999. *Contributions to ''Cities of Artificial Excavation: The Work of Peter Eisenman 1978-1988'', CCA Montreal, Rizzoli International Publications, New York, 1994. *Contributions to ''The Edge of the Millennium Whitney Library of Design'', New York, 1993. *''Berlin: The Politics of Order, 1737- 1989'', Rizzoli, New York, 1990. Winner of the AIA International Book Award, 1991. *Contributions to ''Contemporary Architects'', St. Martins Press, New York, 1984, revised 1987. *''Architectural Education Study'', MIT, Boston, 1981, editor. *''

Rockefeller Center Rockefeller Center is a large complex consisting of 19 commercial buildings covering between 48th Street and 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The 14 original Art Deco buildings, commissioned by the Rockefeller family, span th ...

: Architecture as Theater'', McGraw-Hill, New York, 1978. *''Portsmouth'', Studio Vista, London, 1970. *Contributions to ''Breakthrough to the Hudson'', Ottinger Foundation, New York, 1964.

References

External links

Alan Balfour web siteAdministrator Page at the Georgia Tech College of ArchitectureGeorgia Tech College of Architecture web site
1939 births Living people Georgia Tech faculty Alumni of the Edinburgh College of Art Princeton University School of Architecture alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty Rice School of Architecture faculty {{Scotland-academic-bio-stub