Connection
Community identity in the “middle of everywhere” 2021 AIA National Young Architect Spotlight of Nebraskan, Mark Bacon Mark Bacon, AIA Mark’s ability to see potential excellence in projects and people makes him a successful leader in the studio and the architecture community. As design principal, Mark works closely with the design teams and clients to explore ideas that pursue clarity in resolution, often infused by the specificity of place, human engagement, and performance-driven solutions. The resultant of his process is pragmatic optimism which elevates the every day to amplify the ordinary.
Katie Kangas: When did you first decide to become an architect? Mark Bacon: At a really young age. I was in the third grade. I drew lots of custom home plans and gave them to my classmates. In the evenings I drew with my dad. He’s not an architect, but he taught me the fundamentals of drawing, which helped my ability to visualize space and objects. KK: Where do you draw inspiration from? MB: I do a lot of reading. Access to different thoughts and perceptions of architecture by the phenomenologists like Peter Zumthore, Juhani Pallasmaa, and Steven Holl. Then I begin translating that to the place I live. There is a profound pragmatism and honesty in Nebraska and the Great Plains region where I grew up. That has been important to me. I was traveling yesterday to a community of 5,000 where we are thinking of doing a multi-use facility (library, daycare, community college education). There was a grain elevator with an interesting pattern of materiality so I pulled the car over to take pictures. I take inspiration from that honesty around us. The regional traditions of craft and fabrication that are in that honest design influence the way I think. Then I begin translating that into my clients’ ethos and purpose.
MB: I have a deep affinity for K-State since it is my home state. I appreciate the pedagogical departure where they seek to marry the theory of design with the pragmatics of execution. The way I’ve let that influence me and continue thinking about beyond my formal education is that sensorial satisfaction and that materiality. I’m also informed by how that provides us a perceptual and integrated understanding of the world around us. One example is a brick module. It is a material but there is a lot of embedded intelligence that tells you how it wants to be constructed. It fits the hand and is thus relative to the body. It has a texture with a part to the whole relationship. That relationship was taught and we had to think through it in design. That process translates to projects and clients and becomes specific to the place and circumstance we are working in. It’s less about the style we are bringing to their place.Every building is nuanced to the client I’m working with, and it doesn’t just look the same. KK: What do you think is key to successful community engagement?
There’s accidental beauty in the world around us. On another drive, I passed by this corn crib that has been twisted by the wind.
MB: It’s really important because a lot of the work we do is not with a singular client but with a committee. When trying to build a project that meets a committee’s goals, we create a process that builds consensus. We are not going to be able to build a unanimous decision. But if we build consensus that we are solving the problem, then we can be ecstatic about the results.
KK. How did the hands-on program at K-State inform and strengthen your professional practice?
In order to build consensus, you need the clients, the users, and constituents of the town. They all need to speak into it and have
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