“Kookaburra sits on the old gum tree
Merry, merry king of the bush is he
Laugh, kookaburra, laugh
What fun your life must be”
- Childrens’ rhyme.

Bill Mitchell left Australia as a very young man. He lived all his adult life in the great cities and universities of the world. His work concerned city design and some have said that he was one of the great urban theorists of our time. But I knew another Bill Mitchell, one with his roots firmly planted in the Victorian bush towns of his childhood. Every year Bill returned to Australia at least once. Typically he then embarked on a drive through several hundred kilometers of bush country that must have mystified many others. He loved it.

When in Boston or New York or Los Angeles he encountered a friend or relative from Australia it was easy to see a small thrill go right through his body. Quickly, the talk would be about the latest Australian novel or film. Then it would turn to Australian politics and the quick wit would set in and the jokes commenced. Soon he would be back again directing one of the Architecture Reviews of his undergraduate days in Melbourne and revelling in its silliness. The laughter was infectious. And then, very quickly, he would be back in the small bush towns of his boyhood. Perhaps he was exploring the gold town mullock heaps and deserted mine shafts with his sister and dog. Perhaps it was his mother’s reaction to finding that the noise coming from under his bed was emanating from tadpoles which were becoming frogs in their glass container. Then as the Australian red flowed, the corrugated iron roofs of Ararat became even hotter in the summertime and the crackelling frosts even heavier. The gravelled roads became dustier and the great eucalypts even more fragrant. Jokes and stories and ideas competed for space as they tumbled out. Usually the jokes won and the laughter dominated all. Then, truly, “Merry, merry king of the bush was he”. And, in his company, even on the busy streets of some great city, just for an hour or so, so were we.
Laugh, kookaburra, laugh.

I will never forget that day 20 years ago when I first met Bill Mitchell, by chance, at a back yard BBQ near Harvard Square. His mentioned his latest book project (The Reconfigured Eye: Visual Truth in the Post-Photographic Era, 1992), and to my amazement, was familiar with my fledgling work on the unbuilt. I am sure that Bill’s message to me was one that he gave to hundreds of others over the years, “carry on, this is important work.” My weekend hobby was transformed by Bill into a serious pursuit.

A few years later, after Bill had become Dean at MIT, he visited my office in Manhattan. In those few hours I saw that beneath Bill’s gentle demeanor, soft voice, and broad smile was a profound impatience with the fundamentally conservative nature of architecture. Bill was on a mission to change the world. He convinced me that I could play a role in this. That day changed my life.

Fifteen years later - just five weeks ago - Bill struggled to come into MIT for the kickoff meeting of a new initiative that he had agreed to be co-director of. At that point, Bill did not need to co-direct anything. It was a totally selfless act of supporting others in a mission that he believed in. Even in a weakened state, Bill was was engaging, enthusiastic, full of ideas, and unconditionally supportive. It was Bill’s way of saying one final time, “carry on, this is important work.”

We will Bill, even if it will never be the same without you.

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Besides being one of the kindest, most humble, most insightful, and most devilishly funny people I've ever known, Bill was probably THE single most productive person I ever met. And that is saying a lot considering the MIT, Harvard - and international - communities we are part of. Once when I was struggling to get a creative project done amidst countless other demands and responsibilities, I asked Bill over lunch how he managed to write so much wonderful stuff, and to constantly generate so many good new ideas. He told me that he always made sure to clear two weeks of all other activities at the beginning of each creative project; in that amount of time he could conceive the core ideas for the work to follow, and then could pursue and develop them amidst the everyday chaos. I never forgot that, and often use this as an example of how to create, and how to live (juggling vision and ideals with practical matters and even politics).....like so many other things that Bill shared with us - often by example, rather than explicitely - and that we will always remember and cherish.

Tod Machover

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I had the pleasure of working with Bill Mitchell on one of my first projects as a entrepreneur at Untravel Media. We developed a multimedia walking tour of the Stata Center in 2007 featuring many of his insights and passions about the building. The tour can be downloaded for free from here:

http://store.untravelmedia.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2

What I recall most was his willingness to do many takes, even into hour 3 of our tour/interview. He seemed to really value the need to say it right, to tell a story in the proper way. And what impressed me most was in the midst of a discussion of the buildings abstract forms and fanciful humor he got a call from a grad student working on a rendering and he was able to give minute instructions in how to use the software to get the desired effect. Amazing and amazingly generous.

Michael.

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I look back over almost 20 years of interactions with Bill and am overflowing with warmth. Sometimes the subject of our meetings involved marvelous, playful challenges. Other times, we had to deal with the most odious and idiotic sorts of academic headaches imaginable. But regardless of whether the problems we tackled were enjoyable or annoying, I don't think I ever had an encounter with Bill that wasn't filled with smiles and laughs.

Thinking about him, it's impossible not to hear that marvelously lilting Aussie accent give way to a devilish chuckle; or see the bright twinkle in his eyes. Bill had such a unique way of being both subtle and powerful, affable and tenacious, profound and humble all at the same time.

When I left MIT, I gave up the Dreyfoos Chair. Of all people, Bill took over that splendid endowed perch. That blew my mind. It was sort of like playing a gorgeous Steinway for a few mediocre minutes, then watching Artur Rubinstein sit down at the same piano and pick up where you left off.

Technically, in the MIT org chart, Bill was my boss's boss. He was a colleague and one of my most trusted mentors. But more than anything, he was a friend I could always talk to. What a gift.

Mike Hawley

Bill was my teacher, mentor and friend.

I first met Bill when he accepted to be a keynote speaker at “The Architect’s Computer” conference that I organised in Singapore in 1985. I had found him from a library search (no Google in those days) that turned up only one book: Computer Aided Architectural Design (1977), the only major publication on design and computation at the time. Over drinks one evening at the Mandarin Hotel, I told Bill that NUS (National University of Singapore) wanted me to undertake a PhD but, like all architecture graduates then (trained for practice rather than academia), I had the faintest idea how to go about it. Even at that initial meeting, Bill was gracious to take me on as his PhD candidate despite my ignorance. He was at UCLA at that time.

In 1986, I set out to LA with my wife and our two young boys. Bill had a number of interesting things going at UCLA that benefited me immediately: shape grammars and parametric variations in particular. Bill always have a pool of talented graduate students that I also benefited from. He loved teaching and research, and treated us as collaborators. That inspired all of us.

In 1987, Bill left UCLA for Harvard, and arranged for me to transfer together with him as his first PhD candidate at Harvard. It was such a privilege for me to first tap on his cumulative wisdom at UCLA, and then to follow him to pioneer a computer-aided design program at Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD). Computers were alien at the GSD then! We unpacked the first shipment of Apple Macs in a storeroom at the GSD which was my makeshift workplace.

Bill always had time for me and the other students that he supervised. On several occasion he would come to see me straight from Logan airport with new ideas for my work that he had figured out on the flight. It was the freshness, clarity and simplicity of his ideas that always impressed me. He was also able to write and draw it all out, often in single sittings on a blank sheet of paper. His book, Logic of Architecture: design, computation and cognition (1990) was our benchmark in writing. Bill freely gave us his drafts for reference. Only after I graduated and interacted more generally with Bill, that I find him enormously multi-disciplinary and visionary — aspects that I did not fully appreciated when I was cocooned in my specific PhD thesis. The amazing thing about Bill is that he always carried with him a witty and persuasive “big picture” of the future; it was always so refreshing and exciting to talk to him about “the next big thing” not of isolated innovations, but revolutionary changes such as pervasive democratisation from digital imaging. His book, The Reconfigured Eye: visual truth in the post-photographic era (1992), was thought provoking. Bill even had a regular column in the RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) Journal, which culminated in his book, Placing Words: Symbols, Space and the City (2005). I managed to get Bill to be on the international advisory panel for the development of OneNorth — the 200Ha R&D district, formerly known as Science Park, in Singapore (master planned by Zaha Hadid). My copy of his book, e-topia (1999), still have the numerous bookmarks that relate his articulation of “the networked-mediated metropolis of the digital electronic era” to OneNorth.

When I was Head of Architecture at NUS, I sought advice from Bill on setting a mission statement. He shared that his implicit mission was “to change the world”, no less! I asked him how he went about this. His reply: “hire the best people you can find, and then leave them to work”.

I had the privilege of commissioning Bill as one of nine Design2050 Studio Masters to present aspects of life in 2050 at the ICSID World Design Congress in Singapore in November 2009. Bill could not come to Singapore as he was undergoing medical treatment, but he gallantly went out of his way to make his presentation, Reinventing the Automobile 2050, with a video recording. As usual, he was totally committed to make a good presentation, complete with simulations and working demonstrations.

I will miss Bill, but his prolific writings and memories of all the good times that I had with him will live on. Thanks, Bill.

I was a collaborator during the initial development of the CityCar and was introduced to the concept of a charrette, "Bill Mitchell-style". Free spinning, highly intellectual discussion and brainstorming - like the flywheel energy of a grade-school playground merry go round. The more energy put in, the more energy and fun that would be realized. The consequences of a Bill Mitchell charrette would be a desire to reflect and reframe - there was always some new perspective gained by the collective experience. Bill had a great way of quickly processing, consolidating ideas/concepts but; most of all, he was a terrific storyteller.

I am forever grateful for the times that I was in Bill's presence during the development of the CityCar project.

Bill and his writings are a Beacon to our collective future - should we be courageous enough to create the future - in his honor.

Godspeed, Bill Mitchell - You have left the earth a much better place.

Roy Mathieu - General Motors

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I have known Bill Mitchell for 30 years since he was Chair of Architecture at UCLA and my thesis advisor. It was a very exciting time where manyof the ideas later developed were sprouting.

Bill was the most inspiring, fun, smart person I know and in architecture no less.
He will always remain for me a model of a teacher, a renaissance person and a human being.

He helped and inspired many across the world.

The world of ideas is in deep mourning.

I hope he has arrrived to wherever it is extraordinary people go.

Alicia Rosenthal

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To me, Bill Mitchell was an incredible pioneer, a revolutionary thinker, and a warm-hearted role model. His accomplishments and the ways in which he touched my life - both through his work and as an individual - are countless.

To say that Bill was a multidisciplinary scholar is perhaps cliche, but deserves mention nonetheless. As a student studying engineering and urban design, I found it difficult - even at a place like MIT - to find faculty members who understood the overlaps and the intricacies of both fields. Bill embodied the fusion of technology and design, and was genuinely enthusiastic about sharing his passion for this fusion, both in his writings and through his words. Before we ever met, his books struck a special chord with me. After reading some his of his recent works, I knew that I had finally found a true scholar who understood the world in a way that was not constrained by the rigidity of academic disciplines or traditional boundaries.

Bill's urban vision for the MIT campus of the 21st century transformed my daily life as an MIT undergraduate over the past four years and his "Imagining MIT" not only changed the way I perceived the environment around me, but also blossomed an interest in campus design and planning.

On a personal level, I will never forget Bill's warm smile and his characteristic laugh. Bill had the unique ability to provide constant support, encouragement, and inspiration to his students and colleagues while demanding the same excellence and passion that he gave to his own work. Though my close interaction with him was limited to the final year of his life, I am still amazed by his perceptiveness and knack for adding relevant critique to topics and issues from a plethora of disciplines.

Even during his final weeks with us, Bill mustered up the strength to communicate with his students and provide the thoughtful insight and guidance that we will so sorely miss.

Bill: your legacy, your passion, and your vision will forever live on at the Media Lab, at MIT, and throughout the world. We will work tirelessly until your dreams are realized because the world truly needs your brilliance and innovative thought.

Praveen Subramani

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Visionary and dynamic. You will be missed by all of us that you have inspired.

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Bill's departure will be dearly missed, a man with a great concern for the environment and sustainable development among others things, his legacy for a better world lives on. May he rest in eternal peace

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Bill was an instrumental force for my time here at the Lab. His humility, creativity, and deep analysis from a variety of backgrounds were present in every interaction. The world has lost a great thinker and doer of our time, and will be largely missed. I will forever cherish the time that I did have with him, and thank him for that gift.

R.I.P. Bill. You will live on in the hearts and minds of us all.

Aaron Zinman

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His intellect and passion stood out even here at MIT. His eloquence in advocating for the best in our campus architecture inspired me and anyone else who heard it deeply. Bill Mitchell embodied the greatest ideals of the Institute as much as anyone ever could.

My Jesus Mercy. Nam Mo Bon Su Thich Ca Mau Ni Phat.

The deep pain that is felt at the death of every friendly soul arises from the feeling that there is in every individual something which is inexpressible, peculiar to him alone, and is, therefore, absolutely and irretrievably lost. ~Arthur Schopenhauer

My thoughts and prayers are with Bill's family. The contributions that he had made to the world will never be forgotten.

Best,
Rachael Alford
Acting Associate Director
Center for Urban Redevelopment Excellence at Penn

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It was a pleasure working with Bill. He will be greatly missed.

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Bill always seemed short of time. To stay in tune and aware of the issues of the days and nourish his own professional life but, more importantly perhaps, that of his students and colleagues was not an easy challenge. He mastered it, evidently at a cost. His transition out of life was smooth and quiet- only weeks ago he sent congratulations for our newborn son in his usual style. Easygoing, yet committed.

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As a member of the MIT community, I have always appreciated the presence of people like Bill Mitchell around me. I never knew Bill personally, but I have felt his positive energy when ever I read his writings or heard him speak over the last several years.

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Along with his quick mind, we remember Bill for his quick wit. Once he told of doing a live interview from Australia with a US television station. "There I was," he said, "in shirt and tie and pajama bottoms."

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bill was such a vital part of MIT for so long that it's hard to imagine the institute without him. he transformed the campus. the number of books he produced is remarkable, all the more so because bill was not afraid of trying something new even if he was not (yet) the recognized 'authority' on the given subject. he was a welcoming presence who was always accessible for faculty; will miss those lunches and conversation with bill at legal sea foods.

To me Bill was a totally unique human being - he had the mind of a world class academic, the heart of an intrepid entrepreneur and the soothing voice of a network news anchor. I will never forget when he was describing to me the thought process behind the City Car not long ago. His voice still resonates in my head. He said " One of the things you've got to do is ask the big stupid questions that would probably get you fired if you were working for an automaker". This was typical of Bill. He was chuckling in that distinctive way, putting the emphasis on "stupid" - but of course we both knew that the questions he was asking were far from stupid. But he was a humble man as well, and that is what makes him stand alone among the great people I have had the honor of knowing.

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Bill is a role model for us all. His passing is very sad. His legacy is very thought provoking. His presentations and writings have helped advance the digital innovations at two universities I have been involved with.

His humanity and civility is well know by his students. I only wish i had more time with Bill.

Madis Pihlak
Penn State

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I was deeply saddened to hear about Bill's departure. I know how difficult this must be for everybody on this planet who was so inspired by Bill. "wjm" will live forever in everybody's mind and keep inspiring us. Hiroshi ISHII in Tokyo

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Bill was a great teacher, thinker and a giant figure in his field. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to listen to Bill's talks for a couple of times on MIT campus. Bill's talks were always inspirational without lacking of the details.

I remember I attended a discussion session between a visiting group headed by a vice education minister from China and some folks from the MIT Media Lab. The vice education minister from China presented a gift to then-Media-Lab director Walter Bender, which is one of Bill's books translated into Chinese. The vice education minister did the translation of Bill's book when she was the president of a renowned university in China, in particular in the field of architecture. From this story, we can see how big Bill's impact is in the field.

Bill is dearly missed and his legacy as a great teacher, thinker and practitioner will live on forever.