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On Life and Meaning


May 2, 2019

Ken Lambla is founding dean of the College of Arts + Architecture at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where he has served on the faculty since 1983. The College of Arts + Architecture is comprised of academic units in Architecture, Art, Art History, Dance, Music and Theater. Ken’s teaching has focused on architectural design, design process, and social history. He has worked as an architect and urban designer in Belfast, Chicago, San Francisco and throughout North Carolina. Ken received a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Design from the University of Kansas, and a Master of Architecture degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

This episode is perfect for anyone interested in arts and architecture, interdisciplinary design, community development, stewardship, and how arts inform a life.

IN THIS EPISODE

  • Ken reflects on a 3-month camping trip to Patagonia and what the trip was about.
  • He considers who he found himself becoming in Patagonia and what he is bringing back from his trip.
  • He describes the academic units of the College of Arts + Architecture and how the idea for the College began to form.
  • He states the case he made to his colleagues to form a new college at UNC Charlotte.
  • Ken addresses whether the goals of the College of Arts + Architecture were met during his tenure as dean, what he thinks he and College got right and what he and the College could have done better.
  • He answers whether the College of Arts + Architecture is today what he hoped it would be and why the College of Arts + Architecture is important.
  • He talks about growing up in New Jersey and what was important to his family.
  • He discusses the high school teacher who inspired him, descriptive geometry, being attracted to the abstraction of architecture, and the concept of struggle.
  • Ken shares what drew him to Environmental Design at the University of Kansas and how an interdisciplinary approach to learning became a seed for the UNC Charlotte College of Arts + Architecture.
  • He notes how living and working in Belfast, Chicago and San Francisco intensified the role of arts in his life.
  • He shares the core of what he values that he wants his students to learn.
  • He talks about what social values should guide what we build and where he goes where is most happy.
  • Ken notes what’s on his mind as he passes the baton of leadership to a new dean, whether he has led the life he has wanted to live and what’s next for him.

plus Mark’s Personal Word Essay: A Life Revealed in One Scene

To learn more, visit On Life and Meaning