University of Calgary

Dale Morley Taylor

  • Professor Emeritus

Personal Statement

 

My name is Dale and I am an architect.


I was once also a teacher, but not any more.


I was once young and foolish, but now I am just foolish


(an often underrated quality, by the way).



 

While I was a teacher, I helped my friends make a school.

It was of its time and it was a good one.

I still watch carefully as schools describe who they are

and what they want to be.

From their work I am asked to make judgments

as to how well they have succeeded.

I have learned what makes some schools better than others.

 

Now, I just practice my profession.



My profession is the thoughtful making of spaces.

As a maker, I dream of the world as it should be,


but I am prepared to act now, with the tools that I have,

in the world as it is.


This requires me to accept that my work may often be less than my dreams.

 



I appreciate seemingly simple solutions to complex problems 


and know how hard it is to make them look easy.


I also know the important difference between complex and complicated.


I have learned that good design needs a team,

and that a team is not a committee.

 



                                          * * * *


I still wonder at the beauty of nature.


I love seeing the world again for the first time

through the eyes of my grand daughter.


I consider humanity basically good, and value wisdom over knowledge.

I enjoy the company of friends, and study the automobile as a cultural artifact.



 

Someday I hope to build a harpsichord.

 

 

Selected Work

Selected Work

Professional Qualifications

Registereed Architect - Alberta

Retired Architect - British Columbia

College of Fellows - RAIC

Photograph of Dale Morley Taylor

Degrees

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