Maurice K. Smith
Maurice Keith Smith (September 1926, Hamilton, New Zealand - December 2020, Harvard, Massachusetts) was a New Zealand-born architect and architectural educator. Smith's work and teaching builds upon the idea of creating "habitable three-dimensional fields" as a working method for his projects. Smith was Emeritus Professor of Architecture at MIT.
Also recorded as Maurice Smith · Maurice Keith Smith
Maurice K. Smith
- Born
- Maurice K. Smith was born on 1 September 1926. · Hamilton.
- Died
- Maurice K. Smith died on 16 December 2020.
- Nationality
- New Zealand
- Occupation
- architect
- Education
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Honours
- Fulbright Scholarship
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Maurice Keith Smith (September 1926, Hamilton, New Zealand - December 2020, Harvard, Massachusetts) was a New Zealand-born architect and architectural educator. Smith's work and teaching builds upon the idea of creating "habitable three-dimensional fields" as a working method for his projects. Smith was Emeritus Professor of Architecture at MIT.
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wikidata · Q6793248 · wikipedia · Maurice K. Smith
In this article
Early life
Early life
Smith left New Zealand to study at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States on a Fulbright Scholarship in 1952. During this time Smith studied under, and worked for, various MIT faculty and visiting faculty, including Carl Koch, Serge Chermayeff, Richard Buckminster Fuller, and György Kepes.
Career
Career
Back in New Zealand in the mid-1950s, Smith designed a number of buildings, including individual houses in Auckland and the Firth Offices in Hastings, before returning to the US in 1958. There he taught from 1958 to 1996 at the School of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He returned to New Zealand to teach at the Auckland University School of Architecture for one term in 1968. Smith's notable buildings include: • the offices of Firth Concrete, Hastings, New Zealand, 1958 (demolished), • Indian Hill House (Blackman House I) in Groton, Massachusetts (1962–63) • Blackman House II in Manchester, Massachusetts (1992–93).
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1926
Maurice K. Smith was born on 1 September 1926.
2020
Maurice K. Smith died on 16 December 2020.
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Maurice K. Smith was born at Hamilton.
Birthplace
Hamilton.
Birth place
Primary material
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reference work
- “Maurice K. Smith”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q6793248: Maurice K. Smith
General reference · Wikidata
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The identifiers under which Maurice K. Smith may be traced in institutional catalogues. Smith is connected to 1 other published record in the VALÉORINE Encyclopedia.
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Design
11,558 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
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