President's Lecture Series
Architect to speak on how building design can enhance life

Wolfgang F.E. Preiser

Physical surroundings can have an impact on the way people feel, and the buildings in which we work, live and study can contribute to our being happy and productive or glum and apathetic.

In his April 21 President’s Lecture Series talk, architect Dr. Wolfgang F.E. Preiser will speak on the power of architecture to lift the human spirit when buildings are designed to meet the needs of those who use them. “Universal Design: The Paradigm of the 21st Century” will begin at 6 p.m. in 206 Bowen-Thompson Student Union.

Preiser, a professor of architecture at the University of Cincinnati, has for the past 30 years been involved in teaching, research and consulting, with a special emphasis on evaluation and programming of environments, public housing and design for special populations.

A two-time Fulbright Fellow, he is the co-founder of Architectural Research Consultants Inc., an international building consulting firm in Albuquerque, N.M. He is associate editor of the Journal of Environment and Behavior, and has served on national committees such as the National Institute for Disability and Rehabilitation Research. He is widely published and was editor in chief of the Universal Design Handbook, perhaps the most comprehensive resource on universal and inclusive design to date.

Preiser holds a Ph.D. in man-environment relations from Pennsylvania State University.

His talk is the final event in the 2005 lecture series, whose theme is “Advocates for Change in the 21st Century: Issues of Body, Mind and Spirit.”