Radical Practice The Work of Marlon Blackwell Architects

Part manifesto and part monograph, Radical Practice reflects the ethos and endeavors of Marlon Blackwell, a charismatic architect in the prime of his career, producing extraordinary architecture for everyday places from his studio in the Ozarks of Arkansas.

Celebrating thirty years of practice in 2022, Marlon Blackwell is among the most admired architects in the country. But he isn't known for sky-high towers or houses for the one-percent crowd. Blackwell prioritizes the common good of shared spaces over the private luxuries of domestic design. Be it a pediatric clinic in Arkansas, a school in Texas, a model house in post-Katrina Mississippi, or a public park in Tennessee, his architecture is characterized by bold forms that both echo and elevate the local context—often through an economy of means.

Each of the fourteen buildings profiled in this book is paired with an unvarnished photographic journey through roadside influences and an essay by a leading designer, planner, or artist. These pairings capture the radically conventional principles and practices, the time-honored methods and materials, that Blackwell mines to create works that are far from commonplace.

Peter MacKeith is dean of the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. He was named a Design Intelligence design educator of the year in 2017 and 2019.

Jonathan Boelkins is a teaching assistant professor at the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design at the University of Arkansas. A former studio director of Marlon Blackwell Architects, is principal of his own firm.