Newsletter of the College of Architecture at Texas A&M University
Malcolm Quantrill, distinguished professor emeritus at Texas A&M’s College of Architecture, was remembered for his love of family, architecture and creativity at a funeral Mass Sept. 29 at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in College Station.
“The heat and sound of this creative and complex human being have passed from us: we are blessed that the light remains,” said David Woodcock, professor of architecture and a longtime colleague and friend of Quantrill.
“Malcolm was an architect’s architect and his delight was the uncovering and exploration of the structure and order behind the form,” he said.
Quantrill joined the architecture faculty at Texas A&M in 1984 and was promoted to the rank of distinguished professor in 1986, becoming the only member of the college faculty to be so honored. He retired from the faculty in August 2007 and was subsequently awarded the title of distinguished professor emeritus.
Throughout his career, Quantrill, authored, co-authored, translated and edited numerous books examining architectural research, practices, traditions and teaching. His scholarly interests focused on architectural history and theory, architectural and urban design, and design diagnostics.
“The last lecture has been given,“ said Woodcock, “the last book has been written, and there will be no more beautifully written letters in envelopes with a hand-drawn five-fingered hand, always with a ring on the third finger, in the top right corner, and the inscription ‘By Hand. MQ.’ The memories, the legacy of scholarship, former students, and a wonderful family are here.”
Another of Quantrill’s longtime colleagues, Bruce Webb, a lecturer at the University of Houston’s Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, worked with Quantrill at the Center for the Advancement of Studies in Architecture CASA, a joint venture between Texas A&M and the University of Houston.
“His great contribution,” said Webb, “was to tease an idea with another idea. He would work familiar ground, and from that ground, he could make entirely new things grow. He displaced ordinary explanations with challenging new ones.”
Their work in CASA resulted in six books published by the Texas A&M Press, with one project, an edited volume focusing on Chilean modern architecture, scheduled for printing in spring 2010.
“This was a great life, a life of love for his family, a life I can’t imagine could be better,” said Webb. “Like his many friends, his colleagues and collaborators around the world, people he would call, or email from his command post wherever he was, I cherish his memory, his stimulation, his friendship, his wit, and I will miss him greatly.”
Also see Malcolm Quantrill’s obituary
http://archone.tamu.edu/college/news
- Posted: Sept. 30, 2009 -
