Stardust
Center News
ASU Taps Community-Focused Architect,
Michael Pyatok, to Lead Stardust Center
for Affordable Homes and the Family
TEMPE, Ariz. - Leading
community design and affordable housing
expert Michael Pyatok is joining Arizona
State University as Director of the Stardust
Center for Affordable Homes and the Family,
effective June 1, 2004. Pyatok also will
hold a tenured faculty position in ASU's
College of Architecture and Environmental
Design
Pyatok is a celebrated
architect, known for his intellectual
contributions and practical applications
in the field of affordable housing and
neighborhood development in lower income
communities. Colleagues describe him as
engaged, participatory, entrepreneurial,
and creative.
"Mike Pyatok possesses
incredible dedication, skill and commitment,
making him the best possible person to
lead the Stardust Center," said ASU
President Michael M. Crow. "His engagement
in and leadership of this effort will
quickly position the Stardust Center as
a national model, standing out for its
social embeddedness, transdisciplinary
engagement and focus on well designed
affordable homes as a key component of
family success and neighborhood stability."
Pyatok specializes in
the design of community facilities and
multi-family housing, including low-density
suburban as well as high-density, inner-city,
mixed-use developments.
"I'm honored to
have the opportunity to develop and advance
the Stardust Center for Affordable Homes
and the Family as a national model,"
said Pyatok. "I look forward to tapping
into the vast expertise across all disciplines
at ASU to help advance President Crow's
vision of the university as a force for
innovation, social engagement, and community
embeddedness."
The Stardust Center for
Affordable Homes and the Family is a new
academic research unit within ASU. It's
focus is on establishing the social and
economic foundations for, and studying
the effects of, permanent affordable homes
for working families; studying the impacts
of family services on family and neighborhood
stability and success; and meeting the
technological and architectural challenges
of sustainable homes for working families.
Pyatok has won numerous
design awards, among them several national
housing design competitions, most recently
two by the U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development for Innovative Design
for Home Ownership. He is co-author of
Good Neighbors: The Design of Affordable
Family Housing(1996).
Appointed Loeb Fellow
by Harvard University in 1983, Pyatok
researched real estate development strategies
by non-profit corporations using government
assistance. As a Fulbright Fellow in 1969,
he studied housing and urban design policies
of Finland. Professor Pyatok has 36 years
of teaching experience, and will retain
his tenured professorship at the University
of Washington, where he has been a faculty
member since 1990. He was the Visiting
Buchsbaum Professor of Housing at Harvard
University in 2001.
His professional alliances
include service on the Board of Directors
of the East Bay Chapter of the American
Institute of Architects, where he chaired
its Housing Committee; membership in Architects,
Designers, and Planners for Social Responsibility,
and a member of the National Coalition
for the Homeless and the National Low
Income Housing Coalition. He has been
elected into the College of Fellows of
the AIA in recognition of the quality
of design he has brought to affordable
housing in lower income communities.
Pyatok,
a registered architect and principal of
his own firm, holds a B.Arch. with honors
from Pratt Institute and an M.Arch. with
honors from Harvard University.
Download
the PDF (294k)
|
