Michael McClure

Michael A. McClure's teaching is grounded in the integration of design, research, and professional practice, emphasizing architecture as both a cultural and environmental act. His pedagogy centers on research through design, encouraging students to use the studio as a laboratory for testing ideas related to resilience, material systems, and spatial experience. He challenges students to engage complex, real-world conditions particularly those shaped by climate, landscape, and cultural context while developing rigorous and speculative design responses. A consistent focus of his teaching is the relationship between local conditions and global perspectives. Drawing on comparative contexts such as the Gulf South and Southern Europe, including long-standing study abroad programs, he fosters an understanding of how place, culture, and environment inform design thinking. His studios often emphasize hybrid approaches that integrate architecture with landscape, urbanism, and infrastructure. McClure is also committed to preparing students for contemporary practice by aligning academic experiences with emerging technologies and professional realities. He advocates for interdisciplinary collaboration, critical thinking, and adaptability, ensuring that students are equipped to navigate and shape an evolving design profession. His teaching reflects a belief in design education as both a creative and ethical endeavor, with the capacity to address pressing societal and environmental challenges.