Brian MacKay-Lyons: The Latest Architecture and News

Design:ED Podcast is an inside look into the field of architecture told from the perspective of individuals that are leading the industry. This motivational series grants unique insight into the making of a successful design career, from humble beginnings to worldwide recognition. Every week, featured guests share their personal highs and lows on their journey to success, that is sure to inspire audiences at all levels of the industry. Listening to their stories will provide a rare blueprint for anyone seeking to advance their career, and elevate their work to the next level.

In this episode, Brian MacKay-Lyons discusses the importance of maintaining your integrity as a designer, the lessons he learned from working closely with Charles Moore, and how he began his own firm MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple in Nova Scotia.

Nova Scotia architect Brian MacKay-Lyons, FRAIC, founding partner of MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects, has been selected to receive the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada’s 2015 Gold Medal. The RAIC’s highest honor, the Gold Medal is awarded annually to architects who have had a “significant and lasting contribution to Canadian architecture.”

“His work is universally recognized as pure, dignified, poetic and beautiful,” said the jury. “His work comes from an intimate connection with his communities.”

Brian MacKay-Lyons is the founding partner of MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects, a professor at Dalhousie University and the founder of Ghost Lab - the now legendary 2-week summer design/build program that took place on his family farm in Nova Scotia from 1994 to 2011. While relentlessly local, Brian's work has been recognized internationally with more than 100 awards, 300 publications and 100 exhibitions. In 2012, the American Institute of Architects recognized the collective work and influence of Ghost with an Institute Honor Award for Architecture.

On August 22nd, 2014 Brian hopped off his tractor and wiped the diesel fuel off his hands to discuss architectural education with Keith and Marie Zawistowski, co-founders of the design/buildLAB at Virginia Tech and partners of OnSite Architecture. Here is an excerpt from their conversation, which was originally published on Inform:

Keith Zawistowski: Your contributions to the discipline of architecture have been both in practice and in education. In 1994, you founded Ghost, an international laboratory that influenced all generations of architects with its simplicity and this affirmation of timeless architectural values of place and craft. It was a pretty bold move and it seems for us like it was a direct reaction to your discontentment with academia and the way architects were being educated. Do you still feel that strongly about the state of architecture education and the profession?