Ray Huff to head Clemson Architecture Center in Charleston

Published: October 4, 2011

CLEMSON — Ray Huff has been named director of the Clemson Architecture Center in Charleston (CAC.C). Huff was the founding director of the Charleston program when it was initiated in 1987 and has been an instructor there for much of the time since.

Huff was interim director last year.

A practicing architect and member of the American Institute of Architects, Huff is a partner in Huff + Gooden Architects, which has offices in Charleston and New York, and he also is licensed to practice in Mississippi, Michigan and Kentucky.

Three times a winner of a prestigious National Council of Architectural Registration Boards prize, Huff’s teaching explores solutions to design challenges in and around Charleston. His public engagement led to a city of Charleston declaration naming July 15, 2008, as Ray Huff Day.

“Ray Huff is an experienced and inspirational architectural practitioner and educator and absolutely the right person to lead Clemson’s Architecture Center in Charleston into its next chapter of even more engaged and innovative education,” said Kate Schwennsen, chairwoman of the School of Architecture.

“The search for the next permanent director of the CAC.C attracted a world-class pool of candidates — attracted to the position based on the impressive performance of the CAC.C in its relatively short history," she said. "Ray Huff has been and will now continue to be a major contributor to this reputation and this unique asset of Clemson’s School of Architecture.”

Huff earned his bachelor’s degree in architecture at Clemson in 1971. Along with teaching at Clemson, Huff has taught at Yale University, serving in the Bishop Chair in Yale’s Graduate School of Architecture. He has lectured extensively nationally and internationally at other universities, as well as American Institute of Architects conventions and chapter meetings.

Huff and partner Mario Gooden were recognized as “Emerging Voices” by the Architectural League of New York in 2001, and the firm was recognized by Architectural Record Magazine as one of six leading firms practicing exceptional architecture outside the "centers of fashion."

The Clemson Architecture Center-Charleston, along with centers in Genoa, Italy, and Barcelona, Spain, is central to the “fluid campus” concept, which encourages design students to study in cities known for great architecture, landscapes and art to gain a greater understanding of those elements in other cultures.

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