Philip Bess

Professor Philip Bess teaches graduate urban design and theory, with a particular interest in Catholic and classical humanist intellectual and artistic traditions in the context of modern American life and the contemporary culture of architecture and urban design. His areas of expertise include Sports Stadium and Urban Design.

From 1987-88 he was the director and principal designer of the NEA-and-Graham-Foundation-funded Urban Baseball Park Design Project of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR); and in Boston in August 2000 he directed and coordinated the ultimately successful “Save Fenway Park!” design charrette, from which came contemporary Fenway’s famous “Monster Seats” and other prominent renovations.

Professor Bess lectures widely, and is the author of numerous articles and three books, including “City Baseball Magic: Plain Talk and Uncommon Sense About Cities and Baseball Parks” (Knothole, 1991).

“[City Baseball Magic is] the definitive text on how traditional baseball parks work inside and out, providing intimate experience of the game for spectators while working intricately with the neighborhoods around them. Bess’ central insight is simply this: On every sort of practical and psychological level, a good ballpark is inseparable from its place in a city. The two make each other.”

 Patrick Pinnell, FAIA

Learn more about Bess’s projects and research:

• Interview with Philip Bess of Notre Dame School of Architecture from the CNU 19 Daily Show
• The White Sox ballpark in Chicago that never was and could have changed history by Dayn Perry of CBSsports
• Interview on the Aaron Renn Podcast about what Chicago could look like in 100 years.
• After Burnham: The Notre Dame Plan of Chicago 2109

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