Kent Duffy to give last Hyde Lecture of the season

SRG Partnership Principal Emeritus Kent Duffy, a visionary known for his pioneering approaches in infusing human-centric elements into design, will be giving the next Hyde Lecture entitled “Design Transmits Values,” at 4 p.m., April 8, Richards Hall, room 15.

For the last 28 years, Duffy has been with SRG Partnership where he served as a design principal working to give creative expression to the built environment. In both the physical and historical sense, SRG strives to honor architecture as a craft that represents human endeavors and how people choose to live. Having collaborated with College of Architecture Dean Kevin Van Den Wymelenberg and G.Z. (Charlie) Brown with the Energy Studies in Buildings Laboratory at the University of Oregon, he credits that partnership with significantly influencing his approach to design.

For this lecture, Duffy will delve into the profound interplay between design education, practice and the core values that shape both the process and the resulting architectural creations, exploring their enduring impact on those who inhabit these spaces. Design education and practice are formative experiences. One aspect of those experiences is that they confront designers and planners with choices about what humans hold dear and value. Those values are present in every dimension of the design process, and they are present in the resulting buildings that designers make. They can also be perceived by the people who occupy the buildings, and they can have a lasting impact. 

This presentation is part of the College of Architecture’s 2023-2024 Hyde Lecture Series featuring speakers from across disciplines that are united under the common theme of “Advancing Health: Planning and Designing for Healthful Places,” a thought-provoking series that highlights the important connection between the built environment and human health. Join the lecture series and explore avenues strategizing and creating healthful places that foster a brighter, more equitable future.

The college’s Hyde Lecture Series is a long-standing, endowed, public program. Each year the college hosts compelling speakers in the fields of architecture, interior design, landscape architecture and planning that enrich the ongoing dialog around agendas which are paramount to the design disciplines.