William J. Mitchell

Architect

  • Born: December 15, 1944
  • Birthplace: Australia
  • Died: June 11, 2010

Biography

William J. Mitchell, best known for his publications on technology and architecture, was born in Australia in 1944. He received his bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Melbourne, Australia, and then worked at Yuncken- Freeman, an architecture firm in Melbourne, for a short period. Mitchell later moved to the United States, where he earned his M.E.D. at Yale University in 1969 and his M.A. from that university in 1977. During the years between these degrees, he was an assistant professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

In the early 1980’s, he was a professor of architecture and urban design at UCLA, where he also headed the architecture and urban design program at various times during his tenure there. In 1985, he became a visiting professor at Harvard University and later was promoted to a full professorship. In 1989, he became the G. Ware and Edythe M. Travelstead Professor of Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he later was a professor of media arts and sciences and dean of the School of Architecture.

In addition to teaching, Mitchell occasionally worked as an architect, serving as president of the Urban Innovations Group in Los Angeles and as a founding partner of the Computer-Aided Design Group in that city. He also was a lecturer at Cambridge University. He received the D.H.L. Award from the New Jersey Institute of Technology in 1992 and the Appreciation Prize of the Architectural Institute of Japan in 1997.

Mitchell wrote or contributed to several books on the subject of using computer-aided design for creating and utilizing spaces for living, working, and community. He also has written about architecture, technology, and urban life. His books include Me++: The Cyborg Self and the Networked City (2003), E- Topia: “Urban Life, Jim, but Not as We Know It” (1999), and City of Bits: Space, Place, and the Infobahn (1995).

Mitchell is chair of the editorial board of the MIT Press and a member of the company’s management board. He also is a regular jury member for the Chrysler Awards for Innovation in Design and the ComputerWorld Smithsonian Awards.