Michael Pyatok
Michael Pyatok has been an architect and professor of architectural design for over 45 years. Since opening in 1984, his office has designed over 35,000 units of affordable housing for lower income households in the US and abroad, and developed participatory design methods to facilitate community involvement throughout the design process.
He has helped many communities plan and develop new housing, neighborhood plans and community facilities.In 1995, he was elected to the AIA College of Fellows in recognition of his contribution to the design of affordable housing. In 2001, Harvard appointed him its Buchsbaum visiting professor of Affordable Housing and Residential Architect featured him on its cover as the “Architect-of-the-Year” in recognition of the quality he has brought to affordable housing. In 2002, he was featured in Professional Builder Magazine as one of twelve “Thought Leaders” of the development industry, and in 2007 he was named by Builder Magazine and the NAHB as one of the 50 most influential people in the US housing industry.
In 2011 he was inducted into the Marvin Design Hall of Fame and in 2013, the AIA awarded him its Thomas Jefferson Award for Public Architecture in recognition of the design quality he has brought to affordable housing. He has taught housing design as a visiting professor at MIT, Harvard, UC Berkeley, Washington University and Penn State, and after teaching 22 years at the University of Washington he is now professor emeritus there, but continues to teach as a visiting professor at the University of Oregon.