Brent Porter

Distinguished Teacher 2005–06

Brent Porter, CCE, is an associate professor in Pratt’s School of Architecture and principal of the firm Brent M. Porter, Architect and Associates in New York City His practice focuses on the renovation and restoration of townhouses and brownstones, as well as design and construction of a wide range of housing and commercial facilities. Professor Porter has pioneered the research and application of energy-conscious design in the United States and abroad. He has been a part of interdisciplinary “design build” teams, and has worked as an educator and architect for on-site projects in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, India, Denmark, Japan, and Peru.

Known for his solar energy work, Porter headed one of four design groups in the Summer Energy-Conscious Design Institute at Harvard University’s School of Architecture in 1983. His team also received one of the first national solar access research grants from the American Institute of Architects and the U.S Dept. of Energy. With the late William H. White, a well known author and urban planner, Porter’s design research studio won the first victory for “sun rights” in New York City.

Celebrating his thirty-fourth year at Pratt, Professor Porter is now concentrating on non-Western architecture and urban design research and writing a book on his findings from fifteen-years of research on energy-conscious design in Inca architecture at Machu Picchu. Under his guidance, simulations of sunlight and environmental conditions have been conducted at Pratt and on site in the Urabama River Valley in Peru. To honor Professor Porter’s work in “daylighting” and energy conservation, Pratt has named the Christina Lighting Lab for his late daughter.

Brent Porter received a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, and a Master of Science in Architecture at Pennsylvania State University.