Kenneth Schwartz

B.Arch., Cornell University, M.Arch., Cornell University

Professor

Kenneth Schwartz has served as Department Chair and Associate Dean. In the office of Schwartz-Kinnard, Architects, he won four national design competitions exploring the constructive force that sensible urbanism can play in rebuilding cities. In 2001 he opened the Charlottesville urban design office of Renaissance Planning Group to focus on community design and the integration of land-use with innovative transportation strategies. He has done a wide variety of planning and design projects for communities throughout the Eastern seaboard. He completed the Master Plan for Crozet, Virginia in Albemarle County in collaboration with Nelson Byrd Woltz, winning one of 15 Charter Awards from the Congress for the New Urbanism. He won a commission for the City of Charlottesville, University of Virginia and Albemarle County in one of concentrated growth areas for the community. Additional work with RPG includes a rural preservation project for a 22-mile portion of State Route 57 in northwestern New Jersey, community design work on a major Long Range Transportation Plan for two counties on the east coast of Florida, a Scenario Planning Commission for Binghamton, New York, and a new Town Center for an abandoned mall site in Largo, Florida. In 2005 he opened a new office called CP+D – Community Planning and Design, with Judith Kinnard, FAIA, and in 2006 he opened the affiliated firm of Community Planning and Design Workshop with Maurice Cox as majority owner (Cox will be on leave of absense starting January, 2008).

Professor Schwartz’s service activities include the National Architectural Accrediting Board (President in 2001-2002), and several national level appointments with the American Institute of Architects, the National Council or Architectural Registration Boards, and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture. He was appointed by the Governor to the Art and Architectural Review Board (1995-1997). In 2004 he was appointed by Governor Warner as one of three architects on the state licensing board for architecture. He served as a Planning Commissioner for the City of Charlottesville and a member of the Board of Architectural Review for five years. He founded the Design Resources Center, a not-for-profit organization serving community concerns and lower income neighborhoods in Charlottesville. He served as “Program Chair” for the 2006 National AIA Convention in Los Angeles. Currently, he is chair of the national Intern Development Program Committee for NCARB and serves as the Southeast Regional Director on the Board of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA).

In the spring of 2003, Professor Schwartz was awarded the Alumni Association Distinguished Professor Award – one of these awards is given each year and it is considered one of the highest university-wide honors bestowed upon faculty.