Radical Practice : The Work of Marlon Blackwell Architects

Part manifesto and part monograph, Radical Practice reflects the ethos and endeavors of Marlon Blackwell, a charismatic architect in the prime of his career, producing extraordinary architecture for everyday places from his studio in the Ozarks of Arkansas. Celebrating thirty years of practice in 2022, Marlon Blackwell is among the most admired architects in the country. But he isn't known for sky-high towers or houses for the one-percent crowd. Blackwell prioritizes the common good of shared spaces over the private luxuries of domestic design. Be it a pediatric clinic in Arkansas, a school in Texas, a model house in post-Katrina Mississippi, or a public park in Tennessee, his architecture is characterized by bold forms that both echo and elevate the local context-often through an economy of means. Each of the fourteen buildings profiled in this book is paired with an unvarnished photographic journey through roadside influences and an essay by a leading designer, planner, or artist. These pairings capture the radically conventional principles and practices, the time-honored methods and materials, that Blackwell mines to create works that are far from commonplace.

Radical Practice celebrates the extraordinary, award-winning designs of Marlon Blackwell Architects, an Arkansas-based firm with a focus on public and civic projects that are located outside of the established centers of architectural culture.

The distinct and original work of Marlon Blackwell Architects has produced iconic and award-winning designs across building types, scales, and budgets. Located in Arkansas, the firm merges the universal language of architecture and the particulars of place, a process that has resulted in a distinguished body of work, from schools to parks and beyond.

Celebrating thirty years of practice by the 2020 AIA Gold Medal-winning architect Marlon Blackwell, this survey of more than a dozen buildings pairs detailed drawings and the vivid photographs of renowned photographer Timothy Hursley with essays by leading designers, planners, and artists. Contributors include Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, architects of the Obama Presidential Center; Maurice Cox, Chicago''s city planning director; Pritzker Prize-winning architect Thom Mayne, James Corner, landscape architect of the High Line, and environmental artist Mary Miss among many others—all of whom attest to Blackwell''s reputation as a leading voice of his generation.