Jack DeBartolo 3 FAIA received his initial training in architecture at the University of Arizona (1992), followed by graduate school at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1994). After two years working with Will Bruder, DeBartolo joined his father to form the studio of debartolo architects in 1996. Licensed in 1999, DeBartolo was awarded the AIA AZ Architects Medal in 2013 and received his Fellowship in 2016.
Featured in Architecture Magazine, nearly twenty years ago, as one of seven young architects to watch and Dwell Magazine after completion of the Mariposa Residence, DeBartolo's work continues to be recognized in the national and international critical press. Recently featured in Phaidon's Architectural Atlas, the work of the studio reveals a passion in architecture that stems from a deeply rooted desire to bring significance and order into the daily human experience, through innovation in materials, creative shaping of space and powerful use of light. Starting with his Master's Thesis in 1994 addressing the critical nature of ‘sacredness’ in architecture - fundamentally orchestrated by material and light, the work has continued to build upon these principles throughout his career – honed to shape some of the most awarded architecture in the region.
DeBartolo is also passionate about the intersection between humanitarian architecture and education, as a Faculty Associate in the architecture program at The Design School, at ASU where he was heavily involved from 2006 through 2013. In both 2010 and 2011 DeBartolo led two groups of graduate students to Ethiopia to design a new orphanage and school for two of the poorest communities in Africa. Today DeBartolo teaches a professional practice course to graduate students in Architecture at the ASU Design School.
For over twenty-five years the studio has consistently served a diverse range of clients, earning numerous AIA design awards and selected as the 2012 AIA AZ Firm of the Year. The portfolio of work is a diverse collection that encompasses a range of scales from residential projects, coffee and bicycle shops, to higher education, major church campuses and solar shade pavilions. Today, DeBartolo continues to lead his studio of designers and architects - serving clients with energy and experience. The collaborative team is focused on building well tuned, highly crafted architecture that is specific to place, responsive to function and sensitive to culture.
