 MSU Prof Devoted to Architecture for the Soul
While much of architecture deals with structures that please the eye, Daniel Glenn has devoted himself to designing buildings that also satisfy the soul. Glenn, a practicing architect, as well as professor in the School of Architecture at MSU, is dedicated to the branch of his profession often called social architecture. A Billings native and of Crow tribal heritage, Glenn said he returned to teach at his alma mater after 15 years of working on socially conscious architecture projects around the world convinced him he could do the most good in the Rockies. "I've discovered that if you want to have a significant impact, it is very difficult to do it anyplace other than in your own home," Glenn said. "If you are rooted in a place, you have a right to make it a better place." Glenn has put his philosophy into practice. He is working with CTA Architects in Billings on the internationally recognized design of the Little Big Horn College campus on the Crow Reservation. And it couldn't be much closer to his roots. The project calls for a three-phased expansion of the current school, which is built adjacent to a site that once was the Crow/Cheyenne flour mill operated by Glenn's grandfather. The project provides a wonderful symmetry for an architect who has designed and researched socially relevant architecture around the globe. Glenn began his career in seventh grade at a drawing table in his father's firm, John Glenn Engineers, Architects and Constructors in Billings. His father, who is an enrolled member of the Crow Tribe, as is Glenn's mother, worked on many projects on reservations throughout the West. The elder Glenn was one of the first Native American engineers in Montana, and Glenn followed in his footsteps when he enrolled at Montana State University. Glenn was MSU's Outstanding Native American Scholar when he graduated from MSU in architecture in 1986. He met several influential people at MSU, including his wife, Susan, who also graduated from MSU in 1986 with a degree in business. "I knew early on I didn't want to design someone's gold plated bathroom," Glenn said. "That didn't interest me." What did interest him was designing buildings that would benefit society at large. In Glenn's fifth year of architecture school, he had an internship with a Boston firm that specialized in affordable housing. The work hooked Glenn. His thesis project when he returned to MSU was a ranch cooperative in Nicaragua that utilized traditional construction techniques, such as adobe modified to withstand earthquakes. "Nicaragua in the 1980s felt like I was on the reservation, but the Indians were the ones really in charge," Glenn said. Glenn earned a master's degree in architecture from MIT specializing in Third World housing, one of just three Americans in a class of 60. The Glenns moved to Seattle to found Daniel Glenn Community Design, working on research and design projects throughout the world -- India, Morocco, South and Central America. Later he moved back to Boston so Susan could earn her master's degree in architecture from Harvard. Glenn continued to design affordable housing for people of many cultures including Latinos and African Americans. His design work focused on large-scale projects all over the United States. It includes award-winning projects in Indianapolis and inner city Houston. While he did not work on reservation projects, he found the lessons learned on the reservation helped him. "The work is process-oriented design," Glenn said. "You need to develop a process that includes the community." A few years ago the Glenns jointly decided to return to "have an impact in Montana." Glenn said while his heritage is important to him, he is an architect and professor of many dimensions. "I am not solely a Native American architect. I am an architect who enjoys teaching students about the importance and beauty of the social-political and multicultural aspects of architecture projects," Glenn said. "Every good architect is socially conscious," said Clark Llewellyn, director of the MSU School of Architecture. "However, Daniel is both conscious and vocal about his commitment to this area of design. His experience brings greater breadth to our program and to our students." Social responsibility, Llewellyn points out, cannot wait until after an education is completed. "Social responsibility must be made part of education's very core," Llewellyn said. "Daniel Glenn helps us to fulfill that mission."
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