Stone Poems		Introduction		Gallery		Afterword		Bio

About James P. Warfield

James Warfield is an architect, educator and professor emeritus
at the University of Illinois. Throughout his career,
in professional practice, teaching and research,
he has explored fundamental principles of design theory
and celebrated their expressive and creative application in built form.
Through original field research in worldwide vernacular architecture,
he has documented living environments of indigenous peoples
from the Aymara villages of the Bolivian altiplano
to the Iban longhouses of Borneo;
from the Matmatan troglodyte compounds of Tunisia
to the white hill towns of the Greek islands;
from the native Himba villages of Namibia
to the monastic temples of Tibet;
from the Dogon cliff houses of Mali
to the farmsteads of the Illinois prairie.
In the academic setting, he has woven
this first hand research and building experience
into the discussion of design theory in a graduate seminar
Form Determinants in Vernacular Architecture,
and he has conducted travel/study programs including students
of architecture, landscape architecture, planning and anthropology
in China, Turkey, Mexico and Greece.
In his architectural design studio, he has developed programs which
focus upon the design of projects of international scope,
programs in foreign context, and projects addressing sensitive sites
of cultural, historic or natural significance.
As an architect, he experiments in his own built work
with concepts stressing fundamentals of design
as exhibited in successful vernacular architecture.
In three recent traveling international exhibitions
based upon his own critical photographic visuals,
Inalterable Dreams:
People and Architecture of China’s Traditional Environments,
Architecture of Occasion: Time + Place
and Stone Poems: Architecture and the Land,
he celebrates three aspects of architecture: cultural responsiveness,
the concept of “place,” and relationship to the land.
In honor of his lifetime contributions to architectural education, he was named
“2002 ACSA Distinguished Professor in Architecture”
by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture.