Mark O'Bryan

Associate Professor

Mark O’Bryan has both taught and practiced architecture since 1982. The Design Studio was started in 1997 by Mark and his interior designer wife, Mary Lee. Both traveled and lived abroad with a Traveling Fellowship at the American Academy in Rome (1985), as well as with a S.O.M. Foundation Traveling Fellowship (1987). While traveling, they discovered many unique styles of art, architecture and interior design. Bringing their knowledge and experience back to their studio, Mark and Mary Lee work together on projects with an emphasis on sustainability and contextualism. Mark graduated from the College of Architecture at the University of Kentucky in 1982 and received his Masters of Architecture from Cornell University. He has taught at Cornell University, Ohio State University and is presently a tenured professor in the College of Architecture at the University of Kentucky. Mark is a licensed architect and has worked on projects ranging from the religious to the commercial office as well as the residential arena. He provides consulting services for the Urban Design Studio in Louisville, a collaborative venture between the University of Kentucky’s College of Design, the University of Louisville’s School of Urban and Public Affairs and Louisville Metro Planning & Design Services. The Urban Design Studio serves as a classroom, meeting point, resource base and exhibition space for the universities, city and community. His architecture studios have collaborated with the Louisville Free Public Library and the Louisville Olmsted Parks Conservancy. Mark is also a talented painter and photographer. His work has been exhibited at the Architectural League of New York, The Art Institute of Chicago, The A+D Museum in Los Angeles and Tchoban Foundation Museum in Berlin. His academic research focus is pedagogy and digital/analogue representation with several papers presented and published in recent DCA and EAEA conferences.