DEWEY THORBECK RURAL DESIGN: PARTNERING FOR RURAL FUTURES WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27 6PM

DEWEY
THORBECK
RURAL DESIGN: PARTNERING FOR RURAL FUTURES
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27
6PM
CENTRE SPACE
JOHN A. RUSSELL BUILDING
FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE
UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA
Dewey Thorbeck, FAIA, FAAR
University of Minnesota
Adjunct Professor of
Architecture
Director, Center for Rural Design
BIOGRAPHY
After obtaining his Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Minnesota and Masters of Architecture from Yale
University, Thorbeck won a Rome Prize Fellowship to the American Academy in Rome. He is a registered architect
and his award-winning firm, Thorbeck Architects, is involved in both regional and national projects and published
internationally.
An adjunct professor of architecture at the University of Minnesota, he taught architectural design for a number
of years. Recognizing that rural areas in America were undergoing profound demographic, economic, cultural, and
environmental changes, he founded in 1997 the Center for Rural Design and serves as its director. The Center is the
first in the world to bring design as a problem-solving process to rural issues and challenges.
His book Rural Design: A New Design Discipline was published worldwide by Routledge in January 2012. The book
establishes the theoretical base for rural design and the importance of looking at connecting issues to create synergy
and optimal solutions from a global, national, state, regional, and local perspective.
Thorbeck is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, and was
awarded a Buckman Fellowship for Leadership in Philanthropy.
LECTURE
Rural areas worldwide are undergoing profound change, creating challenge and stress for residents and the ecosystems
upon which they depend. It is expected that by 2050 there will be another 2.5 billion people on the planet. North
America will be home to over 400 million people – at least 100 million more than today! Where will these people live?
How will they be housed? Will there be enough food? How can the world’s limited land resources feed the growing
world population and how can rural economies be improved in the process?
The presentation will discuss rural design as an important new design discipline that can assist rural
communities in shaping their futures. Rural design brings design thinking and the problem-solving
process of design to rural issues, recognizing that human, animal, and environmental systems are
inextricably coupled and engaged in continuous cycles of mutual influence and response. Design can
integrate knowledge across disciplines and apply research to the design process – helping to bridge
the gap between science and society.
Cultural Events 2012 - 2013