Until his death on November 23 at the age of 81, Robert Gutman, Hon. AIA, did more than any other individual to build a discourse between the disciplines of architecture and sociology, particularly with regard to housing, architectural education, and architectural practice. He avoided advocating the direct application of social fact to architectural form; rather, he initiated a conversation about the occupants of buildings and the forms, policies, plans, and theories that architects might shape. For the architects who met him, Gutman’s erudition was balanced by a contagious curiosity, which went a long way to assuage the pointed criticism he could deliver—generally with an impish smile and a wealth of data to back him up.

Robert Gutman