James Williamson

James Williamson is a professor of architecture at the University of Memphis. In addition to to architecture, he writes novels of mystery and suspense set in the contemporary South.

Williamson's latest book is KAHN AT PENN: TRANSFORMATIONAL TEACHER OF ARCHITECTURE (Routledge, 2015). Although Louis I. Kahn is widely known as an architect of powerful buildings, almost nothing has been written about Kahn as an unconventional teacher and philosopher whose influence on his students was far-reaching.Teaching was vitally important for Kahn, and through his Master's Class at the University of Pennsylvania, he exerted a significant effect on the future course of architectural practice and education. The book is a critical, in-depth study of Kahn's philosophy of education and his unique pedagogy.

Williamson's novel, THE RAVINE (Sunstone Press, 2012), is a compelling story inspired by real events, including a racially-motivated murder in a small Mississippi town. THE RAVINE evokes the South during the early years of the Civil Rights movement where a complex mixture of love and hate, ignorance and enlightenment, and guilt and innocence coexist. It promises to keep the reader on edge until its dramatic and unexpected conclusion.

Peggy Burch, Book Editor of the Memphis Commercial Appeal, writes, "Memphis architect and writer James Williamson revisits American history and his own past in his novel 'The Ravine,' set in a small Mississippi town very much like Water Valley, where the author spent summers with his grandparents.

Williamson's first novel, THE ARCHITECT (Cold Tree Press, 2007), was praised by a reviewer as "a thoughtful, moving novel about the realities of building, particularly when style collides with money, politics, and the demands of the less than enlightened... a lively treatise on architecture itself."

A previous book, THE CENTRAL GARDENS HANDBOOK, is a guide to historic preservation for a local historic district, now in its second edition. In addition, Williamson has had a number of articles published in national and international architectural journals, as well as a cover article for "Tennessee Historical Quarterly" magazine.

He has received over 30 architectural design awards at the local, regional, and national levels, and his work has been published internationally. In 2005 he was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects in recognition of his notable contributions in architectural design and education.

Williamson was born in Memphis, and is a graduate of Rhodes College. Following service as a naval officer, he obtained two Master of Architecture degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a student of renowned architect Louis Kahn. He was later an Associate of Robert Venturi. He lives in Memphis with his wife.