FAT Architect Sam Jacob Opens Lecture Series

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 14, 2009) - The University of Kentucky College of Design welcomes to the Bluegrass architect Sam Jacob, founder of the London-based practice Fashion Architecture Taste (FAT). Jacob will serve as the opening speaker for this year's UK College of Design Lecture Series, and he will join Dean Michael Speaks for an additional program for audiences in the Louisville area. Jacob's lecture at the college, which is free and open to the public, is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 16. The program in Louisville featuring Jacob and Speaks will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 17, at 21c Museum, located at 700 W. Main St., in downtown Louisville.

Born in 1970, Jacob is a founding director of FAT, an architect, a writer and a critic. He most recently directed the Hoogvliet Heerlijkheid project in Holland – a park, cultural center and community facilities - completed in October 2008 and developed in collaboration with WiMBY! (Welcome into My BackYard). The project explores ideas of pop, populism and participation, which form the basis of an architectural approach intended to explore the role of architecture as communicative device, programmatic agglomeration and social condenser. The project was shortlisted for a World Architecture Award.

Jacob has taught and lectured at universities in Europe and the U.S., including his most recent post as the Louis I. Kahn Professor of Architecture at Yale in 2007. Other positions include post-graduate unit master at the University of Westminster, the Architectural Association and University of Greenwich.

The architect is also a frequent contributor to public architectural debate through regular lectures and symposia. He writes Strangeharvest.com, is architecture editor of Contemporary and a columnist for Architects Journal. Additionally, he contributes to magazines and journals including Icon, Art Review, Frieze, Metropolis and Log.

Jacob is currently completing a doctoral degree at the Center for Research Architecture at Goldsmiths College in London.

UK College of Design Lecture Series programs will be presented at 6 p.m. on Wednesdays in 209 Pence Hall, except for the lectures featuring Matthijs Bouw and Jianfei Zhu. Presenters scheduled for the lecture series include:

- Daan Roosegaarde, of Rotterdam's Studio Roosegaarde, Sept. 23;

- Hanif Kara, of London's Adams Kara Taylor, Oct. 7;

- Matthijs Bouw, of Amsterdam's One Architecture and the Sutherland Visiting Professor of Landscape Design, Oct. 12;  

- Amale Andraos and Dan Wood, of New York's Workac, Oct. 14; 

- Kevin Knudson, of Minneapolis' Perkins + Will, Oct. 21;  

- Joe Tanney, of New York's Resolution: 4 Architecture and the John Russell Groves Kentucky Housing Corporation Visiting Professor of Affordable Housing Design, Oct. 28;

- Robert Somol, director of the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Architecture, Nov. 4;

- Monica Ponce de Leon, dean of University of Michigan's Taubman College and founding partner of Boston's office dA, Nov. 11;

- Jianfei Zhu, of the University of Melbourne, Nov. 23.  

For more information on the Sam Jacob events or any of the UK College of Design Lecture Series events, call the UK College of Design at (859) 257-7617 or visit their Web site at www.uky.edu/design.