Stephen Phillips, FAIA, Phd

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BIO:


Stephen Phillips, FAIA, Ph.D. is a British-born American architect, theorist, and educator based in Los Angeles, California. He is principal architect at Stephen Phillips Architects (SPARCHS) and Professor of Architecture at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. 

Born in Oxford, England, Phillips was raised in Loughton, Essex; Berkeley Heights, New Jersey; and Pasadena, California. Phillips received his B.A. from Yale University with Distinction in Architecture and his Master of Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania where he was awarded the Paul Philippe Cret Medal for best thesis. Phillips received his professional training in the offices of Charles Moore (Moore Rubel Yudel), Cathy Simon (Simon Martin-Vegue Winkelstein Moris), and William Turnbull Jr. (William Turnbull and Associates /Turnbull Griffin Haesloop) prior to launching his own architecture firm in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Upon earning his Master’s Degree and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) from Princeton University School of Architecture, Phillips was awarded prestigious residential fellowships from The J. Paul Getty Foundation and the Smithsonian American Art Museum alongside research and publication grants from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts and the Canadian Centre for Architecture. He was awarded an artist-in-residence at the MuseumsQuartier in Vienna.

In 2021, Phillips was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects for his "exceptional work and significant contributions to architecture and society on a national level.” As the Founding Director of the Cal Poly Los Angeles Metropolitan Program in Architecture and Urban Design, Phillips was awarded The Studio Prize from Architect Magazine and The Creative Achievement Award from the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture. A feature article was written about Phillips’s nationally recognized contribution to architecture education in Archinect’s “Dean’s List” in 2020.

Phillips’s firm Stephen Phillips Architects (SPARCHS) has received American Institute of Architecture Honor and Merit Awards for their work and has been published internationally in DOMUS, Der Spiegel, The Architect’s Newspaper, Dezeen, 7x7, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Sunset Magazine, among many other notable newspapers, magazines, and journals.

Phillips has taught as visiting faculty at U.C. Berkeley, UCLA, SCI-Arc, CCA, and the Art Center College of Design. He is the author of the prominently reviewed books L.A. [Ten]: Interviews on Los Angeles Architecture 1970s-1990s from Lars Müller Publishers, 2014; and Elastic Architecture: Frederick Kiesler and Design Research in the First Age of Robotic Culture from MIT Press, 2017.

 

EDUCATION:


Princeton University

Ph.D., School of Architecture, 2008

M.A., School of Architecture, 2003

 

University of Pennsylvania

M.Arch., School of Architecture, 1994

 

Yale University

B.A. with Distinction in Architecture

Magna Cum Laude, 1991

 

University of California, Berkeley

Undergraduate Studies in Architecture, 1985-1987

CAREER:


Stephen Phillips Architects (SPARCHS)

Principal

Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo

June 1999 – Present

 

William Turnbull Associates / Turnbull Griffin Haesloop

Project Architect and Manager, Senior Designer

San Francisco, CA

February 1997 – June 1999

 

Simon Martin-Vegue Winklestein Moris

Designer

San Francisco, CA

July 1994 – February 1997

 

Moore Ruble Yudell

Junior Designer

Santa Monica, CA

Summer 1992; Summer 1990

 

 

TEACHING:


California Polytechnic State University, SLO

Founding Director, Cal Poly Los Angeles Metropolitan Program in

Architecture and Urban Design

Professor, 2015 – Present

 

California Polytechnic State University, SLO

Full Professor, 2016 - Present

Associate Professor, 2010 – 2015

Assistant Professor, 2005 – 2010

 

Art Center College of Design

Visiting Faculty, 2018 – 2022

HTC Environmental Design — Gaming, Media, Entertainment and Product Design

Southern California Institute of Architecture

Visiting Faculty, 2004, 2010-2016

 

University of California, Los Angeles

Visiting Assistant Professor, 2007-2008

 

University of California, Berkeley

Lecturer, 2004

 

California College of the Arts

Lecturer, 2004

 

Princeton University, Dept of Architecture

Assistant in Instruction, 2001-2003

 

University of Pennsylvania, Dept of Architecture

Teaching Assistant, 1992-1993

 

LEAP, Imagination in Learning

Redding School of Synergy School

Architecture Teacher, 1995-2000