Personal Views: Persönliche Ansichten

Mikesch W. Muecke is Associate Professor of Architecture in the College of Design at Iowa State University. He holds degrees from the University of Florida (B. Design 1989, M. Arch 1991) and Princeton University (Ph.D. 1999). Born in Germany to a journalist and a home-maker he has worked as a newspaper photographer, carpenter, and shade- tree mechanic (mostly on Citroëns and Renaults) in Europe. In 1979 he left Germany for a year to travel and work as a painter in Alberta, Canada, pick flowers and apples in an orchard in Watsonville, California, and renovate low-income apartments on the southside of Chicago. In 1980 he returned to Germany to fulfill his civil service duty to the German government by working as a maintenance man in an orphanage. During this time he lived in a commune with nine other idealists, then moved into a retired circus trailer for another two years with his then partner (now wife), the musicologist, organist, and music professor Miriam Zach. Currently he complements his academic pursuits by creating accessible designs for the elderly with Miriam-and her affiliation as Assistant Professor at the University of Florida-through their design-build company misumiwaDesign.