Philip Plowright

Plowright is a Professor of Architecture (Design, Theory and History). As a theorist, his research centers around cognitive processes in design methodology and cognitive semantics with particular interest in defining foundational knowledge for use in pedagogical environments.

Plowright’s writing and design work has been published in various locations and formats, ranging from academic proceedings and journals to popular architectural magazines. His most recent book is Making Architecture Through Being Human: A Handbook of Design Ideas (2020) published by Routledge in 2020 and addresses the fundamental conceptual concepts which are at the core of human understanding and construction of built environments. His previous book, Revealing Architectural Design: Methods, Frameworks & Tools (2014), addressed design methodology from a cognitive point of view and was published by Routledge in 2014. Between the two were chapters on theoretical issues of wilderness and sustainable development in Architecture and Sustainability: Critical Perspectives (ACCO, Belgium, 2015) and Sustainability and the City: Urban Poetics and Politics (Lexington Books, 2017). His design work has appeared in Boundaries: International Architectural Magazine (Italy), Architecture and Construction (Iran), Archnet-IJAR (USA), Bauwelt (Germany), Arkinka, and Revista de Arquitectura, Diseno y Construccion (Spain).  

Plowright holds an undergraduate degree in studio art and art history from the University of Guelph, Canada (BA); a professional architecture degree from the University of British Columbia, Canada (MArch), and a doctorate in cognitive linguistics from the Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Spain (PhD).  He is a registered architect in Michigan, USA and Editor-in-Chief of ENQ: The ARCC Journal of Architectural Research.