Exhibitor at the 2018 Venice Architectural Biennale
Architecture as a scientific endeavor that is matured in the human spirit.
Mark Harris, Architect - Principal in Charge
Team Leader/Founder
Mark Harris, Architect - Founder and Principal in Charge:
3-minute Bio: Mark Harris is the founding principal of markharris Architects, PC., an architectural practice founded in 1991 and located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA. Before forming his private practice Mr. Harris apprenticed under internationally-renowned architect Antoine Predock, FAIA, serving as project designer for several of the firms more noted early projects while also managing Mr. Predock’s Arizona office.
Mr. Harris’ work has received numerous design awards from some of the world’s largest and most prestigious international awards platforms, including multiple AIA Design Awards, Re-thinking the Future International Design Awards, AP International Design Awards, APR International Design Awards, as well as the prestigious American Architecture Award. Utilizing a uniquely personalize creative process of emersion and detailed analysis, his work has been noted by award juries as ‘visionary, bold, and evocative”, creating a “cohesive and probing architecture that is both powerful and highly symbolic”. Considered an “emerging voice in architecture”, he has been a visiting lecturer, conference speaker, and studio critic at major national and international universities and conferences.
Mr. Harris' current work is becoming known for its interest in advanced urbanism theories, landscape art, cultural narrative within the built form, advanced sustainability approaches, and advanced construction technologies. His current projects focus on “merging the technosphere of our creation with the biosphere of our inheritance” (Harris). An important critique of his exhibit at the 2018 Venice Architectural Biennale summarizes both his approach to architecture as well as the critical nature of its impact:
“Most architectural exhibits today are like most architecture today - they invariably talk about sea-changes, embedding a new consciousness of social content, and radical departures from the past - but in the end the work itself is basically the same old thing dressed up in a new lexicon. This work from markharris ARCHITECTS, however, actually delivers on these promises. This is new work, substantially different than what we normally see today, executed with a new set of attitudes and approaches, and running from a new set of operative subroutines. This work is truly unique, and it questions everything, from the role of the architect and architecture in the 21st century, to the relationship between architecture and all other allied design disciplines, to our relationship with the natural environment, and, most importantly, with our relationship to each other. This actually represents a new set of social compacts, so for my money, it’s one of the few exhibits out there that represents the ‘real thing’ - something that actually has the courage to tackle important issues, and that provokes the meaningful dialogue we so desperately need today.”
-Rene Rietmeyer, CEO of GlobalArtAffair and the European Cultural Center
Mr. Harris' forthcoming book, "Memories of the Ruined Landscape-Hybrid Architectures of the 21st Century", which deals with current issues of architecture within the constructed environment, will be published in late 2023.
Mr. Harris is a frequent keynote speaker, guest critic, and guest lecturer at some of the world’s most prestigious national and international conferences and universities, including US Green Build, Harvard University, Newcastle University, SCI-Arc, The Colorado College, and Pratt Institute.