N. Scott Smith
Traveling, and living in great cities shaped Nelson Scott Smith’s beliefs about architecture and urban design. As a Rotch Traveling Scholar, he focused on climate, culture, and context as they influence architecture and public spaces. Cities and dwellings of northern Africa and Mediterranean Europe gave him insights into building and urban form shaped by regional forces and resources. These studies and interests, to be rendered with clarity, function, and environmental stewardship, have remained the foundation of his practice, and they inform his definition of beauty. In 2009, after 25 years as a principal with Sasaki Associates, he founded Artichoke Design Company as a platform to advance an expanded worldview of architecture, planning, and global warming and to promote new models for climate action, resiliency, and environmental and social justice. Smith initiated the Blue Poche Project as a companion to his design practice: artworks and commentary conceived to provoke awareness and curiosity and to further study of global warming and its effects. Smith practices in San Francisco and at the Sea Ranch.