Baumer Lecture Series, Mack Scogin & Merrill Elam + Knowlton Stories Reception

Mack Scogin and Merrill Elam, the two principals of Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects, have worked together throughout their careers. They have and continue to pursue self-referential architecture distinguished by situational differences. Each of their projects—diverse in type, size, and location—embodies a search for an architecture of expansive specificity. 

The firm, founded in 1984 as Parker and Scogin, later as Scogin Elam and Bray, was formed to take full advantage of the complementary skills and talents of the two principals. Mack Scogin and Merrill Elam have made the commitment to organize the work of the firm to ensure their day-to-day involvement, keeping the work personal and directed, bringing the firm’s collective knowledge and experience to each client. 

Projects by Mack Scogin and Merrill Elam have received design awards including eight National American Institute of Architects Awards of Excellence. Knowlton Hall is among the eight. The work of Mack Scogin and Merrill Elam has been widely published including the 1992 Rizzoli, Scogin Elam and Bray: Critical Architecture / Architectural Criticism, the 1999 University of Michigan publication Mack & Merrill, and the 2005 Princeton Architectural Press Mack Scogin Merrill Elam: Knowlton Hall. Their work has been exhibited at museums and galleries, nationally and internationally, including the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio. 

Both principals have been engaged in architectural education. From 1990 to 1995, Mack Scogin served as Chair of the Department of Architecture at Harvard University Graduate School of Design where he taught as the Kajima Professor in Practice of Architecture until 2023. Merrill Elam lectures broadly and has taught at over twenty schools of architecture. In addition to practice and teaching, mentorship, pro bono work in the arts, and involvement in the AIA, have and continue to flavor their careers. Mack Scogin served as Chair of the AIA Committee on Design from 1985 to 1987. 

Mack Scogin and Merrill Elam were inducted into the American Academy of Arts & Letters in 2024 and 2023 respectively. They received the 2022 Rothschild Award from the Georgia American Institute of Architects, the 2013 Shutze Medal from the Georgia Institute of Technology, the 2012 Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award for Architecture, the 2011 Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize in Architecture, and the 1995 Academy Award in Architecture, both from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a 1996 Chrysler Award for Innovation in Design, the 2006 Boston Society Harleston Parker Medal, and a 2008 Honorary Fellowship in the Royal Institute of British Architects. The firm was among twelve firms selected for the 2016 Venice Biennale, United States Pavilion, to create speculative architectures for “The Architectural Imagination.” 

Current and recent projects include the new United States Courthouse in Des Moines, Iowa for the General Services Administration; Jackson Park in Queens, New York for Tishman Speyer; Lodge and Boathouse at Gathering Place, Tulsa, Oklahoma, for the George Kaiser Family Foundation; and a new museum for the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia (MOCA GA), Atlanta, Georgia.