28 Facts About Arthur Dyson

Arthur Dyson was born in Inglewood, California, on February 24,1940, the son of Harry and Thyra Dyson.

On June 21,1958, the Los Angeles Herald Examiner published a photograph of Dyson reporting his acceptance as an apprentice of Frank Lloyd Wright in the Taliesin Fellowship.

From 1959 to 1961, Arthur Dyson lived and worked at the Goff office in the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Price Tower in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.

Opening an independent practice first in Los Gatos, California and then for a time in Monterey, California, Arthur Dyson moved eventually to Fresno, California in 1969.

In 1971, Arthur Dyson developed two schemes for a publicly subsidized children's center constructed in Orange Cove, California that combined both a Head Start and day care operation.

Arthur Dyson began to lecture at colleges, universities, and museums as outreach for progressive design principles.

Two unbuilt house designs by Arthur Dyson used similar oval pod forms.

Arthur Dyson further developed a curvilinear form for the Glynns Restaurant in Fresno, California, that incorporated round light tower elements which would evolve and feature significantly in later projects.

Arthur Dyson was again featured in a subsequent installation at the RIBA called 10 California Architects, at which time the RIBA acquired for their permanent collection a Arthur Dyson rendering of the Vuelos de Cobre residence then under construction in San Diego County, California.

Arthur Dyson recognized the need for a collaborative office structure to support the production of drawings, approvals process, and construction administration for more complex projects like churches, schools, libraries, and similar community shared facilities.

Under the arrangement, Arthur Dyson maintained a steady output of design from his personal practice, as well.

Toward the end of the 1990s, Arthur Dyson produced the first in a series of school designs that would develop as a major activity of the DSJ Architects partnership.

Arthur Dyson continued his public service activities and outreach efforts to educate both professionals and the general public about the important humanistic values of organic design.

The most spatially expressive and largest house yet completed by Arthur Dyson was the Hilton residence in Paradise by the Sea, Florida.

Arthur Dyson furthered his public service activity with a project designed to assist economically disadvantaged people.

Arthur Dyson proposed a grouping small, inexpensive personal habitation pods set within a safe, secure, and self-sustaining living environment.

In 2012, Arthur Dyson undertook an unusual project for his office in the restoration of the Randall Fawcett House designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1955 and built in Los Banos, California.

Arthur Dyson is a lifelong proponent of what has been termed organic architecture.

Arthur Dyson participates in a separate architectural practice, established in 1991 and now referred to as DSJ Architects, to partner with other architects for collaboration on the production and administrative aspects of larger institutional and commercial commissions, as well custom residential, affordable multi-family housing, governmental, military, medical, retail, financial institutions, and offices.

The firm presently consists of three principals: Arthur Dyson, who serves as sole designing architect; Robert Seigrist, who oversees contracts, day-to-day operations, and quality control; and Douglas Janzen, AIA, who has special expertise in educational facilities.

Arthur Dyson has contributed to architectural literature in several ways, often to bring awareness to the work of the architects with whom he apprenticed.

Arthur Dyson wrote a foreword for a book on Bruce Goff created by Goff friend and colleague architect Phil Welch titled Goff on Goff: Conversations and Lectures, and in 1998 presented an introduction to Drawings for an Alternative Architecture: the Folios of John Henry Wythe, an organic architect who had worked in the Goff office.

In 2001, Arthur Dyson presented a direct statement of his design values and principles that was published in a book on organic architects, alongside illustrations of the Jaksha, Lencioni, Barrett-Tuxford, and Hilton houses.

The work of Arthur Dyson has been exhibited at more than 60 venues, including museums, universities, colleges, academies and schools of architecture, professional associations, national conventions, galleries, and arts centers since the early 1980s.

Between 1989 and 2014, Arthur Dyson received professional recognition for his architectural designs from more than 23 awarding institutes, councils, competitions, civic programs, and publications.

In 1993, Arthur Dyson was awarded the Gold Medal of the Society of American Registered Architects, a national American architectural organization that has various regional chapters.

Arthur Dyson's work had previously been recognized with the Presidential Award, Architectural Firm of the Millennium, and Presidential Citation for Lifetime Contribution to the Profession.

In 2003, Arthur Dyson was presented with an International Honorary Diploma as Professor of Architecture at the International Academy of Architecture, Sofia, Bulgaria.