Douglas Darden papers and drawings, 1979-1996

Douglas Darden was born in 1951 in Denver, Colorado. He studied ballet, and graduated with a Bachelors of English and Psychology from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1974. His background in literature and dance are evident in his use of narrative and in the expressiveness of his works.

Darden went on to study Industrial Design at Parsons School of Design, before receiving a Masters of Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1983. While at Harvard under the tutelage of Stanley Tigerman, Darden began work on "A Saloon for Jesse James," which was the first in a series of projects he would later publish in his book Condemned Building. Darden began teaching at Harvard, serving as a studio professor. He would continue his teaching career throughout the 1980s starting at the Catholic University of America, then Columbia University, and later at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. During his time in New Jersey, Darden explored his industrial surroundings, which became the subjects of many of his artworks and influenced his architectural projects. He served as a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome from 1988-9, and his time spent in the city influenced works like "Temple Forgetful" and "Confessional."

In 1990 he began teaching at the University of Colorado at Denver; it was at this time he was also diagnosed with leukemia. Darden continued to work through his illness, teaching and designing. He collaborated with Robert Miller as the subject of his documentary "Douglas Darden: Looking After the Underbelly" (released 1992), and was named one of the top 50 contemporary architects by Japan's Institute of Architecture in 1993. Also in 1993, Darden released his most well-known work, Condemned Building, a collection of ten of his allegorical architectural projects.

Darden met Allison Jo Rosen, a former professional ballet dancer, in ballet class in 1993 and the two were married in 1995. Darden went into remission in June 1994, but his leukemia returned in September of 1995, and he passed away in April 1996, at the age of 44.

Darden exhibited his works and lectured internationally, across the U.S., Rome, Japan, Austria, and Taiwan. He was a prolific writer, and published many articles on architectural theory in a myriad of publications. He utilized narrative not only in his written work, but also in his architectural projects. Influenced by the likes of Duchamp, Lequeu, and Piranesi, his works were bursting with allegory and allusion, and his meta-fictions revealed his mischievous sense of humor. While Darden often focused on human themes and emotions, human figures were noticeably absent from his drawings. His second book, Laughing Girls, departed from this characteristic, and also took on a more lighthearted tone. The project was to have been a graphic architectural novel, combining Darden's interests in narrative and architecture, and was left unfinished at his death.