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Marshall Ford

Position Lecturer
Phone  
Email mford@calpoly.edu
Office  

Areas of Expertise

Architectural Design 
Architectural Practice & Technology
Architectural Storytelling

Profile

Marshall Ford is an architectural designer, writer, and educator based in Los Osos, California. He is a graduate of Cal Poly Pomona and Harvard’s Graduate School of Design where he received his M.Arch II with distinction and completed his thesis on ego in architecture culminating in the publication of “A Fragile Architecture.” He is co-founder and principal of Small Office, with Mircea Eni, an architectural design studio based in Tokyo and San Luis Obispo, CA, with thoughtfully designed architecture projects at a variety of scales and typologies.

Experience

Educational Experience:

Master of Architecture II,  with distinction, Harvard Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, MA
Bachelor of Architecture, California Polytechnic State University, Pomona, CA
Teaching Experience:
Lecturer, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, CA
Architecture Instructor, Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo
 

Teaching Experience:

Lecturer, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, CA
Architecture Instructor, Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA
Career Discovery Instructor, Harvard University Graduate School of Design
 

Professional Experience:

Co-founder & Principal, Small Office, San Luis Obispo, CA & Tokyo, Japan
Senior Designer, Ten Over Studio, San Luis Obispo, NY
Associate, Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, New York, NY
Intern Architect, Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill, Chicago, IL- Designer, 5+ Design, Los Angeles, CA
Intern Architect, KMD Architects, Santa Monica, CA

Scholarship

Selected Publications: 

  • “Architecture for the Housing Gap.” Cascade Business News, Winter 2024 
  • “Blue Foam.” Log, #50: Model Behavior, Fall 2020 
  • “CLOG x Cannabis: The Future of Head Shops in the US.” archdaily, May 2nd, 2020 
  • “Can America’s colorful head shops survive the corporatization of cannabis?” The Architect’s Newspaper, April 27th, 2020 
  • “Shredding Stereotypes.” CLOG, Fall 2019 Edition, 2019 
  • “Old and new architecture can coexist. San Luis Obispo should try it.” The Tribune, June 8th, 2018 
  •  architectural Architecture, self-published book for Architecture + Design Museum (LA), 2017 
  • “Ego: The Architecture of Freedom.” Platform 8, Actar and Harvard Graduate School of Design, 2015 
  • A Fragile Architecture, self-published book, 2015 
  • “Fossilized Supra-capitalism.” Archinect.com & Bustler.com, 2012 
  • Human Topographies, self-published book, 2011
 

Selected Activities, Installations, and Exhibitions: 

  • Wet Electric: Wet Electricity Vol 1, video installation, Brooklyn, NY, 2018
  • architecture, architectural & Architecture, A+D Museum, Los Angeles, CA, 2017
  • One Night Stand LA, Los Angeles, CA, 2017
  • Platform 8 Exhibition, Harvard Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, MA, 2015
  • re:publica 15, Berlin, Germany, 2015
  • Grounded Visionaries, Harvard Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, MA, 2014
  • openLAB, Harvard Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, MA, 2014
  • Relier, Los Angeles, CA, 2013
  • IIDA Student Exhibition, Los Angeles CA, 2011
  • BESS Symposium, Los Angeles, CA, 2011
  • Haiti Rebuilding Conference Showcase, Port au Prince, Haiti, 2011
  • NTUT International Wall Competition Exhibition, Taipei, Taiwan, 2010
  • Metropolitan Water District Spring Green Expo, Los Angeles, CA, 2010
  • BESS Symposium, Los Angeles, CA, 2010

Selected Awards:

  • Young Architects Competitions - Lamborghini Road Monument, Finalist, 2016
  • archasm Paris Peace Pavilion, top 50 Selection, 2016
  • RLI Future Project Award, with 5+ Design, 2013
  • Dean’s Outstanding Student, Cal Poly Pomona, 2013
  • Certificate of Concours d’Elegance, Cal Poly Pomona, 2013
  • Post+Capitalist City #2 Work, 2nd Prize, 2012
  • SocioDesignFoundation Vignette Competition Honorable Mention, 2010
  • NTUT International Wall Competition, Gold Prize, 2010
  • LG Beyond Design Competition, Top 10 Entrant, 2009
  • LA USGBC Natural Talent Competition Honorable Mention, 2008

 

Updated 10.21.2024


 

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