Education: A.B., Brown University; B.F.A., Columbia University; M.Arch., Columbia University

Background: Craig Barton is an Associate Professor of architecture and urban design and the Director of the Urban Studies Program at the University of Virginia. Prior to this appointment, Mr. Barton was a member of the faculty at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, where he directed the New York/Paris Program. He has also taught at the School of Architecture and Environmental Studies at The City College of New York. During the 1994-95 academic year, Mr. Barton was Loeb Fellow at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design.
Through his practice, research, and teaching Mr. Barton investigates issues of cultural and historical preservation and their interpretation through architectural and urban design. Much of his practice focuses on assisting African-American communities to preserve and interpret their significant cultural resources and to utilize them to stimulate community development.
In 1997 he was awarded grants from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts and the George Gund Foundation to develop the "Sites of Memory" project: a symposium and publication exploring aspects of identity and spatial representation in African-American culture. The symposium was held in March of 1999. Mr. Barton has edited an anthology of essays developed from the symposium entitled, Sites of Memory: Perspectives on Architecture and Race, published by Princeton Architectural Press in March of 2001.
Mr. Barton is founding principal in the architectural firm RBGC Associates located in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1995, the firm has pursued interests in urbanism, affordable housing, community preservation and private residential and commercial projects. Some of the firm's recent projects include: a master plan for the town of Bayview, an historic African-American community on Virginia's Eastern shore; the design and preservation of 19th century railway sheds in Charleston, SC to accommodate exhibition and administrative space for the Philip Simmons Foundation, an organization which supports and promotes the work of African-American craftsmen like Mr. Simmons, a noted Charleston blacksmith; and the design of a museum and visitors' center in Selma, AL for the National Voting Rights Museum, part of the National Park Service's National Voting Historic Trail.
Prior to joining RBGC, Mr. Barton was a founding partner of the firm Rowen Barton Associates in New York. In collaboration with Martha Rowen he has completed numerous private commissions and competitions, including the firm's exhibited submission to the 1994 New York City African Burial Ground Competition.