Mack Scogin Merrill Elam
Encyclopedia
Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects is an American architecture firm based at Atlanta, Georgia. The two principal architects are husband and wife Mack Scogin and Merrill Elam. The firm was first founded in 1984 as Parker and Scogin, and later, from 1984 to 2000, as Scogin Elam and Bray, and from 2000 as Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects. The architects are well known for their modernist buildings, often playing on polemical themes. The architects have received numerous architectural prizes and awards for their works.
Mack Scogin studied architecture at Georgia Institute of Technology
, completing a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1966. He has been Adjunct Professor of Architecture at Harvard University
Graduate School of Design since 1990. He also taught at the Austin E. Knowlton School of Architecture, The Ohio State University
in 2003–2004.
Merrill Elam first studied architecture at Georgia Institute of Technology, completing a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1971, before completing a masters degree in business administration at Georgia State University
in 1982. She has also studied briefly at Harvard Graduate School of Design. She has held several positions in schools of architecture in the USA and Canada, including the Harry S. Shure Visiting Professorship at the University of Virginia in 2010, Visiting Chair in Architectural Design at the University of Toronto
in 2005, Visiting Professor at Austin E. Knowlton School of Architecture, The Ohio State University, 2003–2004, Visiting Professor of Architectural Design at The University of Texas at Austin
in 2003, Visiting Professor of Architectural Design at Yale University
in 1996, and Research Professor of Architecture at University of Illinois at Chicago
in 1994.
Mack Scogin studied architecture at Georgia Institute of Technology
Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States...
, completing a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1966. He has been Adjunct Professor of Architecture at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
Graduate School of Design since 1990. He also taught at the Austin E. Knowlton School of Architecture, The Ohio State University
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
in 2003–2004.
Merrill Elam first studied architecture at Georgia Institute of Technology, completing a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1971, before completing a masters degree in business administration at Georgia State University
Georgia State University
Georgia State University is a research university in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Founded in 1913, it serves about 30,000 students and is one of the University System of Georgia's four research universities...
in 1982. She has also studied briefly at Harvard Graduate School of Design. She has held several positions in schools of architecture in the USA and Canada, including the Harry S. Shure Visiting Professorship at the University of Virginia in 2010, Visiting Chair in Architectural Design at the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
in 2005, Visiting Professor at Austin E. Knowlton School of Architecture, The Ohio State University, 2003–2004, Visiting Professor of Architectural Design at The University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
in 2003, Visiting Professor of Architectural Design at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
in 1996, and Research Professor of Architecture at University of Illinois at Chicago
University of Illinois at Chicago
The University of Illinois at Chicago, or UIC, is a state-funded public research university located in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, near the Chicago Loop...
in 1994.
Critical response
The buildings of Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects have received much critical interpretation in architectural journals. But they have also attracted clients with avant-gardist aspirations. "Unusually extroverted" was what magistrates asked Mack Scogin Merrill Elam to deliver for the design of a $63 million federal courthouse in Austin, Texas. On its completion New York Times architecture critic] Nicolai Ouroussoff wrote that the building exhibited a tension "between the desire to uphold core democratic values and a growing sense of instability". The building is conceived as an eight-story cube, its interlocking forms resting on a concrete base. Deep recesses set into the building create a play of light and shadow. The visual game continues inside, where the walls and walkways enclosing a lobby atrium dissolve into a cubist composition of intersecting planes. The lightness of the forms recalls the theoretical structures of Frederick Kiesler, the utopian who imagined weightless buildings suspended in air. But if you circle around to the back of the model, the upper floors begin to shift, setting the entire structure off balance.Selected works
- Yale University Health Services Center, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut (2006)
- Lulu Chow Wang Campus Center and Davis Garage, Wellesley College (2006)
- New Student Housing Project — Syracuse UniversitySyracuse UniversitySyracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...
, Syracuse, New York (2005) - Harvard University Allston Campus and First Science Buildings — Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts (2005)
- Gates Center for Computer Science — Carnegie Mellon UniversityCarnegie Mellon UniversityCarnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....
, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (2005) - Carroll A. Campbell Jr. Graduate Engineering Center — Clemson UniversityClemson UniversityClemson University is an American public, coeducational, land-grant, sea-grant, research university located in Clemson, South Carolina, United States....
, Greenville, South Carolina (2004) - Zhongkai Sheshan Villas, ShanghaiShanghaiShanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
, China (2004) - Jean Grae Hargrove Music Library, University of California, BerkeleyUniversity of California, BerkeleyThe University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
(2004) - Bailey HouseStudio (2003)
- Mountain Tree House (2003)
- Willow Street Residence Hall, Tulane UniversityTulane UniversityTulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States...
(2003) - Lee B. Philmon Branch Library (2003)
- Nomentana Residence (1999)
- Clark Atlanta University Art Galleries (1996)
- Don and Sylvia Shaw Salon and Spa (1996)
- John J. Ross – William C. Blakley Law Library, Arizona State UniversityArizona State UniversityArizona State University is a public research university located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area of the State of Arizona...
(1994) - Buckhead Branch Library (1993)
- Turner Village at the Candler School of Theology, Emory UniversityEmory UniversityEmory University is a private research university in metropolitan Atlanta, located in the Druid Hills section of unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The university was founded as Emory College in 1836 in Oxford, Georgia by a small group of Methodists and was named in honor of...
(1992) - House Chmar (1992)
- Carol Cobb Turner Branch Library (1992)
- Clayton County Headquarters Library (1989)
- High Museum at Georgia-Pacific Center (1988)
Publications
- Mark Linder, Scogin Elam & Bray. Rizzoli, New York, 1992.
- Jason Smart (ed.), Mack & Merrill: The Work of Scogin Elam and Bray Architects, Michigan Architecture Papers, no.7, University of Michigan College of Architecture + Urban Planning, 1999.
- Todd Gannon, Teresa Ball (eds), Mack Scogin/Merrill Elam: Knowlton Hall, Chronicle Books, 2005.