Lectures | Student Scholarships & Thesis Awards | The Wolfe Project | The Endowment Funds

Professor Myer R. ("Mike") Wolfe was a Professor of Urban Design at the University of Washington from 1949 to 1989, and Dean of the College of Architecture and Urban Planning from 1979 to 1982. He believed first and foremost in thinking about and creating good environments, and was one of the founders of urban design, an interdisciplinary field that includes urban planning, architectural and landscape design considerations. Professor Wolfe saw urban design as humanistic and working toward the good of our built environment. He felt the alliance of the design and planning professions was essential for the betterment of our environment and so, too, was constant questioning and even shattering of established beliefs about them. Professor Wolfe sought to expose planning and design to the social sciences, which to him were a necessary addition (though not a replacement) to concerns for the physical dimension of the environment. His personal interests were in urban form, the town as artifact, the urban design process, and comparative urbanism.

Lectures

The most recent 2006 Wolfe lecture was held Wednedsay October 18th, 2007, when François Claessens & Susanne Komossa of the Delft University of Technology presented "Transformations of the Dutch urban block—urban form studies in the Netherlands," coordinating with the Dutch City Block Exhibit on display in Gould Hall Court. See a PDF flyer for this event. Planning is uhderway for another Wolfe lecture in Autumn 2008.

Previous lectures include:

• Brian Sullivan, Mithun Architects and Planners: "Hong Kong, the City and its New Towns"
• Professor Roger Trancik, Cornell University: "Z-Files: 3-D Technology in the Urban Design of Rome"
• Professor Tridib Banerjee, University of Southern California: "Learning from Los Angeles: Dream or Nightmare?"
• Professor Richard L. Morrill, University of Washington: "Cities, Plans and Markets: The Future Evolution of the City"
• Professor Norman J. Johnston, University of Washington: "The Perils of Peripatetic Planning and Its Protagonists"
• Professor Jeremy W.R. Whitehand, University of Birmingham, England: "A Morphologist View of the Twentieth-Century City"
• Dean and Professor Lee Copeland, University of Pennsylvania: "Urban Design"
• Professor John Reps, Cornell University: "Mormon Town Planning"

Student Scholarships & Thesis Awards

• academic excellence
• developing design abilities
• commitment to/experience in urban design
• potential future effectiveness in the field of urban design
• interest in specific urban design issues

• 2007—Ian C. Macek (MUP exp. 2008)
• 2006—Katherine Idziorek (MArch & MUP exp. 2007)
• 2006—Lee Roberts (MArch & MUP exp. 2007)
• 2005—Aaron Asis (MUP exp. 2006)
• 2005—William McGurk (MUP exp. 2008)
• 2004—Paul Chasan (MUP & MLA 2007)
• 2003—Lora Lillard (MUP 2004)
• 2002—Nicholas Pergakes (MUP 2002)
• 2001—Michael S. McCarty (MUP 2003)
• 2000—Sadaf Quddusi (MArch 2000)
• 1999—Thanasorn Kamolratanayothin (MArch 1999)
• 1998—Kent Greene (MUP 1998)
• 1997—Charles Wenzlau (MArch 1997)
• 1996—Christopher E. Craig (MUP 1996)
• 1995—Douglas Devlin (MUP 1995)
• 1994—Jiang Liang (MUP 1993)
• 1993—Michael Cannon (MUP 1993)

• 1995—Margaret Mentor (MArch 1994) for "Hybrid houses: historic precedents and infill strategies for low-density neighborhoods."
• 2001—Benvenuto Bortolazzo (MArch 2000) for "An urban design framework for the University Gardens, Seattle: an opportunity to bring together urban design and architecture in the University District."
• 2002—Michael Schuler (MUP 2001) for "The new urbanism and critical regionalism: a grounded theory analysis of regionalist design."
• 2003—Jennifer Hefferan (MLA 2002) for "Implementation of a pedestrian safety crosswalk program in Seattle."
• 2004—Howard H. Wu (MUP 2003) for "Urban design strategies for lower downtown, Seattle: an analysis for the pedestrian environment."
• 2004—Jeanine Cavalli (MUP 2003) for "Urban plazas and waiting for the bus: case studies in downtown Seattle."

The Wolfe Project

The Endowment Fund

We welcome donations

If you would like to contribute to this fund, please make checks out to the University of Washington, clearly marked "Myer R. Wolfe Endowment Fund" and send to Myer R. Wolfe Endowment Fund, Urban Design Program, University of Washington, Box 355740, Seattle, WA 98195. If you already donate to the University of Washington through another method, please earmark funds to the Myer R. Wolfe Endowment Fund. Thank you for making these lectures and awards possible and for helping Mike's legacy to grow.

For further information, write:

Urban Design Program
University of Washington
Box 355740
Seattle, WA 98195-5740

phone: 206-543-5996

e-mail: neile@u.washington.edu