Annual Artist's Guild Symposium

For further information regarding the International Symposium on Ancient Design Principles please click the link below.

Symposium 2005 Schedule of Events

Click here for a map to New Harmony, Indiana

The International Symposium is sponsored by the American Planning Association, Efroymson Fund of The Central Indiana Community Foundation, the New Harmony Artists Guild, and The Robert Lee Blaffer Foundation.

Jon Allen, Architect

A practicing architect since 1982, for the past 20 years Jon Allen has been a close collaborator and architectural partner of Keith Critchlow. Their projects together include the Krishnamurti Centre in Hampshire, UK and the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences in South India. Architectural practice has been combined with teaching and research; and their book on hospital design, The Whole Question of Health, was published by The Prince of Wales’s Institute of Architecture in 1995.

Click here to download Jon Allen's Complete Resume.

John David Mooney, Environmental Artist

John David Mooney, artist and founder of the John David Mooney Foundation in Chicago, is known internationally for his large-scale public sculptures that draw their inspiration from the spirit of place. The importance of the site, its past history and the present environment, is acknowledged in works such as his Millennium Sculpture for the island nation of Malta, and the 57,000 sq. foot paving piece he is presently installing at the Miami International Airport. Art and science have also played a significant role in his work; the artist is now designing a sculpture for a new Life Sciences building at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Recently, the Vatican Observatory published a book about a series of environmental sculptures executed by the artist at Castel Gandolfo, Italy that were inspired by astronomical phenomena.

Ben Nicholson, Architect

British born and educated at the Architectural Association, Cooper Union and Cranbrook Academy. Currently teaching architecture at IIT, Chicago, where he has lived for the past 14 years. He was the Bannister Fletcher Visiting Professor at the Bartlett, and has been the Guest Professor at SCI-Arc and the Royal Danish Academy. Design work includes Appliance House (MIT 1990) and Loaf House (1997, CD-Rom from RenaissanceSociety.com). A satire on western culture, The World: Who Wants It?(BDP 2004), was included in draft form at the American Pavilion of the 2002 Venice Biennale.

His current projects include: Horror Vacui: The Desire to Fill Space, a book that muses over the nature of number, geometry and the structure of knowledge (2006); to be followed by a companion volume The Hidden Geometric Pavement in Michelangelo’s Laurentian Library. New studies involve embodied geometry, to engage drawing constructions on the beach, walking labyrinth designs by memory, and using Truchet tiles for both random and
repetative algorithms.

Randy Schmidt, Architect

Randy is the Vice President and a Director of the Center for Environmental Structure, founded by Christopher Alexander in the 1960's. An architect, Randy created the Pattern Language website: www.patternlanguage.com. He was also in charge of the production of Christopher Alexander's 4 volume work: The Nature Of Order; An Essay on the Art of Building and The Nature of the Universe.

Book 1: The Phenomenon of Life
Book 2: The Process of Creating Life
Book 3: A Vision of a Living World
Book 4: The Luminous Ground

Click here to download Randy Schmidt's complete resume.

Paul Murrain, Architect

Paul is an urban design consultant, and (former) Senior Lecturer and Course Chairman at the Joint Center for Urban Design in Oxford, England. From May 2002-2005 he was Senior Design Director at HRH The Prince of Wales' Foundation for the Built Environment where he was responsible for the content, focus and quality of all the Foundation’s consultancy and education work. During his three years at the Foundation he led major urban design projects for a range of clients and project partners including two sustainable urban extensions in Northampton and Telford with English Partnerships. He has just completed an intensive Enquiry by Design exercise exploring the potential of Harlow to absorb a proportion of the London-Stansted-Cambridge growth corridor in the form of a sustainable urban extension of approximately 60.000 people. Paul is retained as urban design consultant and master planner to that project and continues to work with the Princes Foundation.

The Foundation team has recently been commissioned to join the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister’s enabling panel for Design Coding and Paul himself has been asked to join the Advisory Panel for the overall initiative. Prior to that he was asked to advise the office of the ODPM on matters related to New Urbanism and urban design codes and was invited to join the Deputy Prime Minister and his fact finding team in the USA in 2003.

Paul returned to England at the beginning of 2001 after four years in the United States. He took the position of Director of Urban Design for Urban Initiatives with offices in London and Dublin.

He began his urban design practice experience in 1977 as a founder member of the Urban Design Unit in the new city of Milton Keynes, UK. He played a key role in a major critique of the city's structure and form with proposals to fundamentally restructure the layout of the city.

Paul became a member of staff at the Joint Center for Urban Design in 1980 and shortly after was appointed Graduate Course Tutor. At this time he was also a partner in an urban design consultancy (BHMS) that was responsible for several inner city projects of a residential and mixed use nature; most notably an award-winning residential development in the center of the city of Reading, England.

Paul is joint author of a book entitled "Responsive Environments: A Manual For Designers." which sets out the design qualities necessary to produce a physical environment that is choice laden, interactive and essentially democratic for everyday users of the public realm of our towns and cities.

From 1989 to 1992, he was Director of Urban Design for David Lock Associates where he was in charge of a range of urban design schemes in the UK varying from sites of 10 acres to proposals for new settlements for populations in excess of 30,000 people. At this time he was also involved in research for the UK Governments Dept of Environment into the form, characteristics and implications of private sector new settlement proposals.

In 1993 Paul taught at HRH Prince of Wales Summer School in Oxford.

In 1995 he jointly led a piece of research for the Quality in Town and Country Initiative for the Department of the Environment in the UK.

His projects prior to leaving the UK have been the initial stages of transforming a major retail mall into a traditional town center and an urban regeneration design and strategy for a low-income residential neighborhood of 10,000 people in the City of Cheltenham.
Paul has carried out many consultancy commissions in Australia, including leading major urban design charrettes for complex inner city sites in Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne; the latter two involving the design of mixed use town around both existing and proposed light and heavy rail commuting lines and stations. He has also undertaken visiting lectureships at the Universities of Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.

In 1996 he participated in a major design for New Lynn, Auckland, New Zealand, again redesigning town structure, form and land use to both revitalize the existing suburban center and the adjacent heavy rail commuting station and bus interchange.

Paul's first visit to the USA was in 1985. He gave a lecture tour and worked with Projects for Public Spaces in New York. Since 1993, he has collaborated with leading New Urbanist practitioners Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk (DPZ) on several occasions both in the USA, Europe and Malaysia. He has also taught on their postgraduate course in Suburban and Town Design at the University of Miami.

Between 1994-6 he carried out urban design work for one if the USA's flagship New Urbanism projects, Mashpee Commons, Cape Cod, a project incrementally changing an out of town strip shopping mall into a mixed use town center, working with DPZ.

In September 1997 Paul returned to Australia for a major design charrette focusing on transit supportive neighborhood revitalization, as part of fundamental changes to the regional structure of the Perth metropolitan area.

Over the last 18 months Paul has made several visits to Johannesburg collaborating with on a major mixed-use project to consolidate and urbanise a low-density suburban area. The original plan was that of a highly defended stand alone office park; a prerequisite for institutional funding in South Africa. Now, the plan has a series of interconnected streets, residential and office over retail, cinemas and two public squares. The first phase received funding from the Gold Mines Pension Fund in September 1997. Later phases and design codes are being undertaken at present.

In 1997-9 Paul was a member of the team commissioned to produce a comprehensive plan for the Island of Nantucket, MA; a plan to redirect and control growth into much more sustainable, interactive settlements than the current zoning regime.

In 1998 he was invited to join a team from leading US New Urbanists Duany and Plater-Zyberk once more, to produce a master plan for the Diplomatic quarter of Putrajaya, the new capital city for Malaysia..

In the USA, Paul completed traffic calming studies for two inner city neighborhoods, following from his knowledge and experience of traffic calming in Europe. The first project was completed and built in November 2000. He was also invited to Harvard and Yale for studio teaching and reviews.

He also collaborated with Projects for Public Spaces [PPS] ,New York, on a variety of urban projects associated with light rail transit stations in New Jersey as well as a project for the removal of an elevated highway in Fort Worth, Texas. He retains a close association with PPS

In July of 1999, Paul carried out two urban design projects in England, for the DETR, EP and The Prince of Wales Foundation for the Built Environment, as one of the core team asked to undertake the pioneering Sustainable Urban Extensions programme.

During his period as Urban Design Director at Urban Initiatives in London, he was in charge of projects ranging from the northern expansion of the City of Dublin, to a major piece of research and advice for the Greater London Authority, on the nature and provision of mixed -use in large residential developments.

In November 2001 Paul was also asked to devise, direct and lead the Prince's Foundation's first residential short course entitled "Skills for the New Urban Agenda"

As a result of recent work in South Africa, Paul was asked to return in May 2002, to give a keynote address on the Urban Agenda to the annual convention of the extremely influential South African Property Owners Association.

Paul is a member of the US Congress for New Urbanism and a strong advocate of the qualities and benefits of traditional town form and structure. He is a signatory of its pioneering Charter for New Urbanism. His main practice and research interest is the definition and attainment of good mixed-use town for contemporary urban consolidation, revitalization and expansion.

Click here for Paul Murrain's complete resume.

Jeffrey L. Soule, FAICP

Policy Director, American Planning Association

Jeff Soule has held a number of planning and policy positions in government and the non-profit sector:

Senior Planner for the Tug Hill Commission in Watertown, New York providing technical assistance to 39 towns and 14 villages in a rural four-county region, Policy Coordinator for the US Department of Agriculture, in Washington, DC, where he directed a three-year small town revitalization program in cooperation with the National Main Street Center of the National Trust for Historic Preservation; Program Administrator/Director, National Endowment for the Arts Design Program, developing and implementing initiatives including the Mayor’s Institute on City Design and "Your Town: Designing its Future", Director of the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, developing research and demonstration projects, providing technical assistance, and advising state and federal officials on policy matters. He pioneered series of community vision workshops, which led to a broad acceptance of locally based approach to planning highlighted by citizen involvement and manageable implementation strategies. He helped guide APA’s policy on sustainable development and was advisor to the President’s Council on Environmental Quality for their American Heritage Rivers program. The Center for Rural Pennsylvania provided grants for applied research and other projects through the Pennsylvania State University and State System of Higher Education. He established a series of training programs that created local teams to implement community visions and then targeted state and federal assistance to supporting the community plan. Mr. Soule participated and hosted several professional exchanges including the Countryside Exchange, a program of the Glynwood Center in New York.

Mr. Soule became Policy Director of the American Planning Association in 1996 where he manages Government Affairs, Public Information and Policy for the Associations’ 33,000 members. There he has expanded partnerships with other organizations and improved legislative services to APA’s chapters. In 1997 he launched an initiative with the Chinese government to provide long-term technical assistance through exchanges and special projects. He produced an innovative urban design approach and plan for a large site in Shanghai’s Pudong New Area. As special advisor to the Mayor of Nanjing he developed a strategy for preserving and revitalizing the city’s historic neighborhoods. Mr. Soule is APA’s representative to the Government of China and is serving as advisor to Jiangsu Party Secretary Li Yuan Ciao. He has also lead efforts to conserve natural resources while providing economic opportunities for rural areas. He co-developed a comprehensive training course for China under the auspices of the World Bank.

He has written and lectured extensively on urban design, rural development, historic preservation, environmental conservation and heritage area planning. Mr. Soule recently completed two-year service as the Donlan Fellow at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science at Syracuse. He has also taught graduate courses in planning at the University of Maryland. Mr. Soule has initiated relationships with a variety of university-based centers for design and community planning assistance, including Florida Atlantic University, Tulane, and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He also supervises a fellowship program that recruits promising Masters candidates for a three month fellowship in Washington DC.

Mr. Soule is a Fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners, FAICP. He served as President of the Baltimore Chapter of the International Land Economics Society, Lambda Alpha and is a member of the Cosmos Club in Washington DC. Jeff received a BA degree, with honors, from Colgate University in Natural Science, and Masters Degrees from Harvard University's Graduate School of Design and Kennedy School of Government.