Faculty Member, Architecture
Visiting Assiciate Professor, Coordinator M Arch I Program
College of Architecture, Art and Planning
About
James Williamson received his Master of Architecture at Cranbrook Academy of Art (under Daniel Libeskind) and studied the history and theory of architecture at the Architectural Association. As an undergraduate, he studied architecture, art and English literature at Texas Tech University. Williamson has won numerous design and teaching awards and honors, including a First Place Award in the Shinkenchiku Competition for Japan Architect (juried by Tadao Ando), an ACSA design award, two Graham Foundation grants, the 2006 Martin Dominguez Distinguished Teaching Award from The College of Architecture, Art and Planning, Cornell University, and a Special Commendation for Teaching Excellence from the Escuela de Arquitectura, Universidad de Puerto Rico.
Williamson has taught design and theory at numerous prestigious schools of architecture, including Cornell University’s College of Architecture, Art and Planning (Visiting Associate Professor from 2001 to present), Harvard University, where he was an Assistant Professor from 1991 to 1998, The Rhode Island School of Design, Rice University, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, Columbia University, the University of Texas at Austin, and Georgia Institute of Technology, where he was an assistant professor from 1985 to 1991. At Cornell, Williamson has served in various leadership capacities, including several years as Coordinator of the Master of Architecture - I Program. While at Cornell, Williamson has been developing a series of foreign study programs in Latin America and Mumbai, India, focusing on the convergence of architecture, landscape and urban design.
Williamson’s written work has been published in numerous professional journals including: Architectural Design: Games of Architecture, Japan Architect, Daedelus, Architecture & Urbanism, Kongsan (Space), Art Papers and the Journal of Architectural Education. He is at work on three books on architecture: SAVED!: Architecture and Religion: the Continuity of the Religious Imagination in Modern and Contemporary Architecture with Renata Hejduk (Routledge Press; Publication: Summer 2010), The Architecture of Disbelief with Mark Morris (College of Architecture, Art and Planning Press, Cornell University; Publication: Spring 2010), and The Suicide Masques: Essays on the Work of John Hejduk. A recent essay, ‘Acropolis, Now!’ was included in the recently published book, Surrealism and Architecture.
Williamson’s architectural and other conceptual work has been exhibited in a number of institutions throughout the United States and the Caribbean. He worked with John Hejduk on the construction of ‘The House of The Suicide and The House of The Mother of the Suicide’ in Atlanta, Georgia and again in Prague, and participated as invited associate curator in the ‘Sanctuaries’ exhibit on John Hejduk’s last works at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Williamson is presently consultant to the John Hejduk Estate on the reconstruction of the ‘Suicide’ projects at the Czech Architecture Foundation in Prague.
Williamson is presently establishing a small inter-disciplinary practice - jpwmson: architecture + allied arts.
Contact Information
Department of Architecture
143 E Sibley Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY
14850
USA
617 669-3066
