Korydon Smith, EdD

Applying dual training in architecture and higher education leadership, he works across disciplines - from planning to anthropology - to build design solutions for those who have been traditionally marginalized or excluded from decisions about the design of their built environment.

Smith’s educational philosophy is highly collaborative, advising thesis projects on the design of refugee settlements and housing for homeless populations, and working intensively with students through exploratory learning and team-based problem-solving. He finds that the most exciting moments are with first year undergraduates, when “struggles transform into breakthroughs, successes, and confidence.”

He joined UB's architecture faculty in 2012 from the University of Arkansas, where he served 11 years as professor in its Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design. He has taught a wide range of undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral courses in architectural design, theory, and research methods, as well as study abroad in four countries. He is frequently consulted by architecture firms, municipalities, universities, and non-government organizations on the design of buildings, processes, and policies related to design for people with disabilities and other populations.

While Smith's research has taken him to locations around the globe, he draws upon his roots in rural and impoverished Chautauqua County in Western New York. Reflecting on his experience working on farms, in car repair shops and on demolition and road construction projects, Smith says: "Rural life builds an array of skills useful in architectural design – tenacity, resource-constrained innovation, technical know-how, and attunement to the sensory environment.”

An acclaimed scholar and respected academic leader, Smith was appointed chair of the department in 2018. He served as the school’s associate dean for academic affairs from 2014 to 2018. In his spare time, Smith plays guitar in a band with his wife, whose vocals, in his opinion, “far exceed” his guitar picking.

Smith pursues innovative solutions in planning and design in support of diversity and social justice – seeking to improve the health, happiness, and wellbeing of marginalized, underrepresented, and vulnerable populations. At the University of Arkansas he carried out applied research in public policy and design with a focus on housing, including both domestic work and scholarship abroad. His current work focuses on refugee housing and settlement planning. Smith's research has taken him across the rural South (U.S.) and around the globe, including Rwanda, Uganda, India, and Costa Rica. 

Smith says the historic pattern in the design and planning of buildings, towns and cities has been by and for those with economic or political power (or both). This includes how decisions are made about the location of schools, roads, parks, and housing, as well as the design – materials, spaces, amenities, etc. – of these places. Says Smith, "Seldom have we asked: How do we design a bus system from the perspective of single mothers? How do we design markets from the standpoint of children? How do we design housing from the standpoint of refugees, older adults, or people with disabilities?" 

He is the author/editor of seven books, including three with Routledge: Inclusive Design: Implementation and  Evaluation (2018), Diversity and Design: Understanding Hidden Consequences (2015), and Introducing Architectural Theory: Debating a Discipline (2012). His most recent work is Interpreting Kigali, Rwanda: Architectural Inquiries and Prospects for a Developing African City (2018). He has earned seven awards for outstanding teaching and research, and the work of his students has received international recognition, such as an Association for Collegiate Schools of Architecture Collaborative Practice Award.