Marlon Blackwell honored by National Academy of Design

Fayetteville architect Marlon Blackwell has been elected to the National Academy of Design, and he has been selected as a Resident Fellow by the American Academy in Rome for spring 2019.

Blackwell was recognized with the honors Nov. 9 at a ceremony in New York. He is a distinguished professor and holds the E. Fay Jones Chair in Architecture in the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design at the University of Arkansas.

“These accomplishments for Marlon Blackwell and for his practice represent an apogee for his work in the public domain — well beyond Fayetteville and Arkansas,” Fay Jones School Dean Peter MacKeith said in a statement. “At the same time, these honors are a reflection of his long and equally distinguished work as an educator in architecture and design in the Fay Jones School.”

Blackwell joins 15 others at the American Academy in Rome focused on history, art, photography, archaeology and other areas, who are spending various residencies this fall, spring and into next summer.

Two late Fayetteville architects and faculty were previously selected as fellows — James Lambeth in 1979 and Fay Jones in 1981.

In addition, Architect magazine has listed his Fayetteville-based design firm, Marlon Blackwell Architects, among the top 50 all-around design practices in the nation for 2018 in its annual survey.

A project designed by Marlon Blackwell Architects has also been chosen for final consideration in the 2018 World Architecture Festival Awards, the world’s largest architecture design awards program. It’s held Wednesday through Friday (Nov. 28-30) in Amsterdam.

The Blackwell project, The Buildings in the Heart of the Park at Shelby Farms Park in Memphis, Tenn., is one of 16 short-listed projects in the Completed Buildings–Civic and Community category. It is the only U.S. project among the finalists in the category. More than 530 projects from 57 countries were short-listed in 35 award categories for the festival.