Kevin Nute
PhD University of Cambridge, 1993
Bachelor of Architecture University of Nottingham, 1985
BA Architecture and Environmental Design University of Nottingham, 1981
Professor Nute is now based at the University of Hawai'i, Manoa, and can be reached at: knute@hawaii.edu
Kevin Nute is a British American architectural theorist, author and educator who teaches and writes about environmental design, history and theory, focusing in particular on time in built space, Western interpretations of Japanese architecture, and interstitial spaces.
Professor Nute has been a Fulbright scholar and research associate at the University of California, Berkeley, a Japanese Ministry of Education Scholar, a Japan Foundation Research Fellow, and a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Research Fellow, all at the University of Tokyo, as well as a visiting teaching fellow at the University of Tasmania, and a visiting research fellow at the University of Queensland, Australia.
Kevin began his career at the University of Nottingham in England, where he won the Shimeld and East Midlands Royal Institute of British Architects President’s design prizes before going on to work in architectural practices in London, Hong Kong and Singapore. He earned his doctorate at the Martin Centre for Architectural and Urban Studies at the University of Cambridge, and prior to joining the University of Oregon in 2000 he was a part-time lecturer at Cambridge and an associate professor of architecture at Muroran Institute of Technology, a national university in Japan.
Recent Books
Frank Lloyd Wright and Japan Revisited: Traditional Japanese Culture as a Means to Modern American Architecture (2025)
Embodied Time: Temporal Cues in Built Spaces (2024)
The Constructed Other: Japanese Architecture in the Western Mind (2021)
This Here Now: Japanese Building and the Architecture of the Individual (2020)
Naturally Animated Architecture: Using the Movements of the Sun, Wind and Rain to Bring Indoor Spaces and Sustainable Practices to Life (2018)
Academic Papers
Kevin Nute (2024). “Time Out: Architecture as a Refuge from the Temporal.” Architecture. 3 (4).
Kevin Nute (2024). “Building Maslow’s Transcendence: The Wabi Tearoom as a Case Study.” International Journal of Architectonic, Spatial, and Environmental Design 18 (2): 124–139.
Kevin Nute (2023). “The Architecture of Expectation.” Architecture. 3 (4): 671-680.
Kevin Nute (2023). “Space and Time.” Architecture. 3 (4): 593–595.
Kevin Nute (2021). “Time in the Traditional Japanese Room.” The International Journal of Spatial, Architectonic and Environmental Design 16 (2): 16–24.
Zhuo Job Chen and Kevin Nute (2021). “Looking Forward to the Future: Visual Prospects and Optimism.” The International Journal of Health, Wellness and Society 12 (1): 1–12.
Kevin Nute (2021). “Beginning at the End: Visualizing User Experiences in the Early Stages of Building Design.” The International Journal of Design Education 16 (1): 55–66.
Kevin Nute and Zhuo Job and Chen (2020). “Wind-Generated Movement as a Potential Means to Psychological Presence in Indoor Work Environments.” The International Journal of Design in Society, 14 (2): 31–38.
Kevin Nute (2020)."Crossing Boundaries: The Transfer of Spatial Ideas Across Culture and Medium in the Work of Two Modern American Architects.” The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Cultural Studies 14 (2): 14–26.
Kevin Nute (2019). “Toward a Test of Cultural Misappropriation.” The International Journal of Critical Cultural Studies 17 (2): 67–82.
Kevin Nute (2019). “Changing Interpretations of Otherness in English-Language Accounts of Japanese Architecture.” The Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering, October 31: 1-15.
Kevin Nute (2019). “Space, Time and Japanese Architecture: The Birth of a New Temporal Tradition.” The International Journal of Architectonic, Spatial, and Environmental Design 13 (3): 51–63.
Kevin Nute (2019). “Buildings as a Means to Intersubjectivity: Case Studies from Traditional Japanese Architecture.” The International Journal of the Constructed Environment 10 (3): 1–9.
Kevin Nute and Zhuo Job and Chen (2018). “Temporal Cues in Built Environments.” The International Journal of the Constructed Environment 9 (1): 1–18.
Invited Articles
Kevin Nute (2025). “Modernity and Tradition: Western Agendas.” Ari Seligman, ed., Handbook of Modern Japanese Architecture. Tokyo: MHM/University of Amsterdam Press.
Kevin Nute (2024). “Spatial Politics.” Tamie Glass and Lindsay Graham, eds., The Importance of Space. London: Taylor and Francis.
Zhuo Job Chen and Kevin Nute (2023). “Architecture, Time, and Well-Being: Toward Transcendence,” Victor Counted et al, eds., Place, Spirituality and Wellbeing: A Global and Multidisciplinary Approach. Berlin: Springer
Kevin Nute (2023). “Deciphering the Imperial.” Kevin Nute, ed., The Frank Lloyd Wright Newsletter 34, no 3. Phoenix, AZ: The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.
Kevin Nute (2020) “Here’s How You Can Bring Nature Indoors When You’re Staying Home.” The PBS NewsHour, May 23, 2020.
Kevin Nute (2017) “How to Stay Calmer, More Alert and Save the Environment: Bring the Weather Indoors.” The Washington Post. August 14, 2017.
Kevin Nute (2017). “Frank Lloyd Wright Credited Japan for His All-American Aesthetic.” Smithsonian.com, June 8, 2017.
Recent Awards
2025 Scholar in Residence, The Fallingwater Institute, Bear Run, Pennsylvania
2023 University of Hawaiʻi Presidential Citation for Meritorious Teaching
2021 IRC Environmental Psychology Conference Best Presentation Award, with Zhuo Job Chen, for the paper "Looking Forward to the Future."
2019 ELit Gold Medal, for the book Naturally Animated Architecture.
2018 Constructed Environment Award for Research Excellence, with Zhuo Job Chen, for the paper "Temporal Cues in Built Environments."
2018 Digital Book World Award, for the book Naturally Animated Architecture.