Bill Miller

Utah architect with roots at UO honored with state’s highest award

William Miller, FAIA, received the 2008 AIA Utah Bronze Medal, the highest award for architects in the state of Utah.

Like many California high school students interested in architecture in the early 1960s, William Miller enrolled in the University of Oregon’s undergraduate program. The Sacramento native estimates that almost half of his class was from California. “To me, it was a fortunate choice,” he said. “It was an incredible period of change, and Oregon was an open place that embraced those changes.”

Professor Miller, dean of the University of Utah College of Architecture & Planning from 1992 to 2002, said he encourages his students to experiment in studio, based on what he learned in Oregon’s ungraded, pass/fail classes. “You don’t learn by getting an A, but by taking risks and failing. I haven’t seen that at other places.”

Miller fondly recalls an intense week of meetings and lectures with visiting professionals, such as Michael Graves, who were invited by then department head Don Lyndon. “It adjusted my view about architecture and added a richer intellectual content.”

A series of faculty lecture series every Friday, ten in one semester, introduced Miller to renowned Finnish modernist Alvar Aalto and other Scandinavian designers. During that time, Aalto was working on the library at Mt. Angel, Oregon, and Miller had the chance to meet him after a lecture. Much of his academic research has focused on Aalto, including the definitive bibliography of Aalto scholarship.

Q&A with William Miller

Q:  Did you participate in student activities or clubs?
A:  Architecture students in the mid-1960s participate in clubs — really now!  But the anti-war protests, support for Gene McCarthy, Bobby Kennedy, etc., and other forms of demonstrations, well, of  course!

Q:  What were the issues on campus at the  time?
A:  See the answer to the question  above — it was about the social and cultural changes going on at the  time.