The Creative Community, Designing for Life

Vern Swaback has been a hands-on architect and planner and a crusading author. His fourth book, The Creative Community, Designing for Life, was scheduled for world-wide distribution in the fall of 2003 by Images Publishing in Australia. His earlier books are Production Dwellings, An Opportunity for Excellence; Designing the Future; and The Custom Home  Dreams, Desire, Design.

Swaback was born and raised in Chicago where he began his architectural education at the University of Illinois before leaving to apprentice with Frank Lloyd Wright. During his more than 20 years as a member of the Wright organization, he directed two seminars, The Art and Philosophy of Frank Lloyd Wright and Housing and Large Scale Land Use Planning.

He is the founder of Swaback Partners, a 40-person firm now in its 25th year. The firm has received honors and awards in each aspect of its diverse work for everything from community visioning and large scale planning to historic restoration and the design of both residential and non-residential work.

Swaback is a registered architect in 14 states from California to Florida. He has been inducted into the College of Fellows for both the American Institute of Certified Planners and the American Institute of Architects. In addition to his architectural and planning work, he is the Managing Partner of Studio V, an interior design firm that serves both residential and commercial clientele. He is currently a member of Greater Phoenix Leadership and serves on the boards of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Talisien Preservation, Inc., and the Arizona Center for Public Policy.