Botond Bognar

Biography

Born and educated in Budapest, Hungary, Professor Bognar is currently Edgar A. Tafel Endowed Chair in Architecture at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where he has been teaching graduate design, lecture, and seminar courses for 40 years. He received his B.Arch (1968) and M.Arch (1972) degrees at the Budapest University of Technology, and his MA in Architecture and Urban Planning (1981) at the University of California, Los Angeles. As a Japanese Mombusho Scholar, he conducted research at the Tokyo Institute of Technology (1973-1975). As a licensed architect he worked in both Hungary and Japan, where he lived for several years.

Today, Professor Bognar is an internationally renowned scholar of the history and theories of Japanese architecture with a long list of publications: over twenty books and monographs, many book chapters, and innumerable essays and articles in professional journals. He has been a keynote speaker and panelist at numerous major international conferences and has lectured all around the world.

Professor Bognar is recipient of numerous awards and grants, including two Graham Foundation Fellowships; William and Flora Hewlett Fellowship; Social Science Research Council Fellowship; Visiting Endowed Chair at Tokyo University; Japan Foundation Fellowship, Tokyo; and two Excellence in Teaching Awards. In 1986 he was named University Scholar and in 2000 appointed Associate in the Center for Advanced Study at the University of Illinois. In 2005 he received the Cultural Appreciation Prize from the Architectural Institute of Japan (AIJ) and in 2018 he received the Honorary Gold Diploma from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics.