"She lifts up whole buildings with her little finger." David Carr of The New York Times during an MMPA Conference.
Awarded 2004 Presidential Citation from the American Institute of Architects-Minnesota "for vision and clarity in shaping the public dialogue on architecture."
Camille LeFevre has been writing about architectural design, education and practice for 25 years. She's a former editor of Architecture Minnesota, the author of Charles R. Stinson Architects: Compositions in Nature, and has written for Architectural Record, Architect, Metropolis and Landscape Architecture. She's taught architectural writing at the University of Minnesota. She also writes communications/public relations material for architectural firms.
"Circumstantial Evidence of Balthazar Korab's 'la dolce vita'" Walker Art Center blog, December 2012
"Top Flight: The historic home of the University of Minnesota's aerospace engineering and mechanics program gets a stellar renovation" Architecture Minnesota, July/August 2012, Cover Story
"The View from Crystal Bridges: A dispatch on the recently opened and oft critically dismissed 'Walmart art museum.'" Mnartists.org, May 2012, article To read, visit: mnartists.org
"The Marfa Retreat takes the popular modular weeHouse to the dusty terrain of southwest Texas" Architecture Minnesota, March/April 2012 /uploads/1/2/5/6/12564482/marfaretreat.pdf ----------------------------------------------- Selected articles
2012 Architect of Distinction (Sarah Nettleton) and 2012 Emerging Talent (Bryan Anderson) Midwest Home, April/May 2012, profiles To read, visit Midwest Home
"Marrying Design and Community" Profile of Leslie Ryan, landscape architecture professor NewSchool of Architecture and Design, Summer 2012 To read, visit NSAD
"Return Engagement: The University of Minnesota's Weisman Art Museum, Gehry Partners, and HGA reteam give the museum its long-planned-for and much-anticipated addition" Architecture Minnesota, January/February 2012, Cover story /uploads/1/2/5/6/12564482/weisman02.pdf
"Currents in Minnesota Graphic Design: A report on AIGA's roundtable, 'evolvedesign: The Evolution and Future of Graphic Design in Minnesota,' on the trends shaping local design -- from 'design living' to the longstanding tensions between advertising and design" Mnartists.org, January 2011, article To read, visit: mnartists.org
“The Secretary: Camille LeFevre reflects on the evolving sexual politics and significant historical and cultural moments marked by the Goldstein Museum of Design’s exhibition, ‘How Secretaries Changed the 20th Century Office: Design, Image, and Culture.’ ” Mnartists.org, May 2010 To read, visit: www.mnartists.org
“Delighting with Impeccable Design: 2010 Architect of Distinction, Tom Ellison” Midwest Home, April-May 2010, feature. To read, visit: www.midwesthomemag.com
“Guides to Green: Curious about the increasingly popular certification programs for green homes, the benefits they provide, and which one might be right for your residential project? We’ve got some answers for you.” Architecture Minnesota, May-June 2010, feature. /uploads/1/2/5/6/12564482/guidestogreen.pdf
“Saving the World One Gamer at a Time: Camille LeFevre reports back from a recent conference at the U of MN, the first in a proposed series called ‘Design Intersections.’ The symposium focused on crowdsourcing solutions for some of the world's most pressing problems through online gaming." Mnartists.org, April 2010, feature To read, visit:www.mnartists.org
“Critical Conditions: Architectural criticism is on life support. What, if anything, can be done to revive it?” Architecture Minnesota, March-April 2010, essay. /uploads/1/2/5/6/12564482/conundra_rev.pdf
“High Achiever: Perkins+Will’s bold yet contextual expansion of Edina’s South View Middle School brings cohesion and clarity to a busy community campus.” Architecture Minnesota, March-April 2010, feature.
“Feeling Minnesota: ‘Speaking of Place.’ Camille LeFevre addresses the ‘critical regionalism’ in Minnesota architecture—building design marked less by a common style than by its ‘material, formal restraint, attention to craftsmanship and horizontality’ in honor of our prairie landscapes.” Mnartists.org, February 2010, feature To read, visit: www.mnartists.org
“The Green House--Not Quite Mainstream (Yet): Camille LeFevre reflects on the reputedly ’mainstream’ trends toward eco-architecture and sustainable design--both issues at the center of a traveling exhibit at the U of M's Rapson Hall, ‘The Green House.’” Mnartists.org, February 2009, review To read, visit: www.mnartists.org
“Bridge collapse reveals urban-design ills. Disasters such as the bridge collapse in Minneapolis instantly reveal urban-design ills that otherwise might take years to see, says William Morrish, urban-design expert.” Star Tribune, September 21, 2007, feature To read, visit: startribune.com/10204/story/1436473.html
“Michael Graves’ brave new world. The architect who designed the Minneapolis Institute of Arts’ recent addition, not to mention a Target toilet brush, returns to town as an honored guest of Courage Center.” Star Tribune, September 10, 2007, feature To read, visit: startribune.com/217/story/1408858.html
“Critiquing Consumerism. Everyday objects remade to reflect on the political, religious and environmental conditions of our 21st century world make up ‘Products of Our Time,’ an exhibition at the Goldstein Museum.” Minnesota Magazine, July-August 2007, article. To read, visit: alumni.umn.edu/Arts_Events_Critiquing_Consumerism.html
“Design and Its Publics: Neither High, Nor Wide, Nor Deep. Camille LeFevre attended the conference ‘Design and Its Publics’ hosted by the Design Institute at the University of Minnesota. Given the event’s star power, she was underwhelmed.” Mnartists.org, May 2007, article.To read, visit: mnartists.org/article.do?rid=146000
“Design in Demand: The Burgeoning Design Economy.” Architecture Minnesota, January-February 2007, feature.
“Staged for the River. Poised to become one of the most celebrated theaters in the world, the Guthrie puts on the production of a lifetime—a dramatic new home on the Mississippi River.” Architecture Minnesota, July-August 2006, cover story.
“A Leap Forward. The long-awaited Minnesota Shubert Performing Arts and Education Center is now on track to become the region’s leading dance venue.” Architecture Minnesota, July-August 2006, feature.
“The Shubert’s Next Stage. Dark and shuttered since it was moved from Block E in 1999, the Shubert Theater on Hennepin Avenue—a burlesque house and movie theater in its past lives—now many have enough funding for conversion into a performance space and arts teaching center. It might even help drive downtown development.” Twin Cities Business, July 2006, feature.To read, visit: tcbmag.com/industriestrends/features/77711p1.aspx
“Florence Knoll Bassett: the first recipient of a Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the new College of Design.” Emerging, Fall 2006, cover story.
“High Modern Meditation. Julie Snow is working on a surprising and innovative addition/transformation of the Soap Factory’s venerable and mossy environs. Here’s Camille LeFevre’s review of the book recently published by Princeton Architectural Press on Snow’s work.” Mnartists.org, November 2005, article.To read, visit: mnartists.org/article.do?rid=84381
“Grinding Fine. Minneapolis’s Mill Quarter rises from the ruins of spring wheat and hydropower.” Preservation, May-June 2004, feature.
“Ruin Renaissance. The Mill City Museum, on the banks of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, rises from the ruin of the Washburn A Mill.” Architectural Record, February 2004, building-types study.
“Setting the Stage. French architect Jean Nouvel’s new Guthrie Theater promises global attention for the Twin Cities.” World Traveler, February 2003, cover story.
“ADC Consolidation. The global telecommunications giant ADC consolidated its sites in a new transparent building just as the market collapsed, so how adaptable is the new corporate campus to reuse?” Architectural Record, June 2003, building-types study.
“Lake Effect. For this cabin renovation in Minnesota, a homeowner’s deep commitment to understanding materials—their provenance and manufacture—makes all the difference.” Natural Home, July-August 2003, feature.
“The Design Paradox: Seeing the Beast Among Us. Object fixation (via the democratization of design) is blinding us to the unnamed, uncommodified, unheralded design all around us.” Mpls.St. Paul, October 2003, essay.
“Offices of RSP Architects. Derelict for decades, the historic 19th-century Grain Belt Brew House is meticulously transformed into spacious 21st-century offices.”
