EUGENE, Ore. -- (May 7, 2009) - Housing designer and national advocate for affordable housing, Michael Pyatok, will speak in Portland and Eugene about "The U.S. Housing Crisis: The Role of Design." Michael Pyatok is the second Pietro Belluschi Distinguished Visiting Professor in Architecture Design at the UO and is teaching in Portland during spring term.

Pyatok's lecture will be at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 13, at UO in Portland's White Stag Block event room, 70 N.W. Couch St. He will also speak at 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 14, in Lillis Hall, Room 182, 955 E. 13th Ave. in Eugene.

Pyatok is a graduate of Harvard University's Graduate School of Design and Pratt Institute's School of Architecture. He has been an architect and professor of architectural design for 42 years. His practice serves non-profit organizations, private developers, government agencies and universities in building market-rate and affordable housing, mixed-use developments and community facilities. Since opening his office in 1984, he has designed over 35,000 units of affordable housing for lower-income households in the United States, 5,000 in the Philippines and 1,500 in Malaysia.

The Pietro Belluschi Distinguished Visiting Professorship in Architectural Design was created at the UO School of Architecture and Allied Arts in 1993 as a perpetually endowed fund to foster and promote education in architectural design. Pietro Belluschi (1899-1994), was renowned for establishing a Northwest regional style. The endowment supports a short-term appointment for a prominent architect to teach and lecture.

About the University of Oregon
The University of Oregon is a world-class teaching and research institution and Oregon's flagship public university. The UO is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), an organization made up of the 62 leading public and private research institutions in the United States and Canada. The University of Oregon is one of only two AAU members in the Pacific Northwest.

Contact: Karen Johnson, A&AA communications, karenjj@uoregon.edu, 541-346-3603

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