The younger Lyndon’s education at Princeton University from 1953 to 1959 was crucial to finding his own signature. Drawn to the teaching of Jean Labatut, Lyndon was set to take his architecture and planning courses, but in 1957 the French-born professor was on sabbatical. This initially disappointing absence proved to be a far more fortunate twist of fate as Louis Kahn, then in transition between Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania, was Labatut’s substitute. Charles Moore, then junior faculty assistant pursuing his Ph.D., proposed Kahn, who accepted on one condition: the students had to come to his office in Philadelphia. Lyndon was one of them in a small group, together with William Turnbull and George Hartman, founder of Hartman-Cox Architects, among others. Spending two to three hours at a time for months with that master cemented the Moore, Lyndon, and Turnbull alliance and solidified their thinking. They visited Kahn’s newly completed Trenton Bath House and devoted countless hours discussing what was learned in being exposed to his ideas. Richard Whitaker, the “W” of MLTW, was an instructor at the University of California, Berkeley and joined the practice under Moore’s invitation.

In 1959, Lyndon received a one-year Fulbright scholarship to study in India and, during a trip to Japan with his younger brother, Maynard, wrote to establish contacts with UC Berkeley to teach there. Lyndon started his academic career in 1960 at his chosen university under dean William Wurster. Two years later, Wurster put him in charge of finding a notable personality for an endowment the Italian industrialist and patron Adriano Olivetti had given to the university. After much debate, Ernesto Nathan Rogers, founder of BBPR, was invited to teach. Lyndon played host, showing him Bay Area architecture. At the end of his stay, Rogers asked him if he could write an article for Casabella Continuità, the magazine where he was then editor in chief. Lyndon accepted but needed an assistant to collect all the visual material. Alice Wingwall applied and was hired. She would become Lyndon’s wife for 62 years, preceding him in death on February 13, 2026. Months later, his book-long essay was sent to Milan and ultimately became almost the entire issue number 281, titled “Architettura USA,” a historical issue under Rogers’ leadership.

Condominium One pictured in 2010. The building was listed to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. Photo by Sanfranman59, Wikimedia Commons

In 1964, his academic career took him to the University of Oregon, and in 1967 to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he taught until 1978. It was there that he met the Italian architect and visiting professor Giancarlo De Carlo, one of the original members of Team X. The two of them would strike a lifelong friendship, leading to Donlyn’s participation in De Carlo’s founded International Laboratory of Architecture and Urban Design (ILAUD). In the many symposia held throughout Europe and the United States, he taught seminars from 1978–96 and stayed on as a board member until 2014. It was also through De Carlo that Lyndon met Alison and Peter Smithson, with whom he became close. Back at UC Berkeley, in 1978 he became full professor and later chaired the Department of Architecture from 1996 to 1999, retiring in 2004.

Photo courtesy Maynard Hale Lyndon

During his time at MLTW, among other projects, Lyndon was a codesigner of the Fremont Professional Center in Monterey, California, and the Ohlson Recreation Center at Sea Ranch. He later designed about a dozen houses at Sea Ranch following the dissolution of the group. Practicing as Lyndon Associates, and later Lyndon/Buchanan, he designed several other buildings, most notably, the New Pembroke Dormitories at Brown University. Together with his professional practice and academic posts, Lyndon authored several books and dozens of articles, many of them written while editor of PLACES.

Lyndon’s deep humanism imbued his engagement with architecture. He welcomed and entertained students and guests with a warm smile, delving quickly into first principles of architecture interspersed with light comments and gaiety. He exhibited genuine desire to learn and understand the foundational ingredients of place-making and what architectural setting could give the most durable dignity to the human condition. Sea Ranch Condominium reminds us now and for the future that he found those answers.