Philip Bess, Professor in the School of Architecture here at the University of Notre Dame, presents on his research project, "Classical Humanist Urbanism Meets The Hyper-Modern City: The Notre Dame Plan of Chicago 2109," to an interdisciplinary group of scholars, artists, and scientists comprised of fellows, guest faculty and students. Professor Bess teaches graduate urban design and theory, with a particular interest in Catholic and classical humanist intellectual and artistic traditions in the context of modern American life and the contemporary culture of architecture and urban design. He holds an undergraduate degree in philosophy, a graduate degree in church history from Harvard, and a graduate degree in architecture from the University of Virginia.

Bess is the author of numerous articles and three books: City Baseball Magic: Plain Talk and Uncommon Sense About Cities and Baseball Parks (1991); Inland Architecture: Subterranean Essays on Moral Order and Formal Order in Chicago (2000); and Till We Have Built Jerusalem: Architecture, Urbanism, and the Sacred (2006). He directed the Notre Dame graduate architecture program from 2004-2014, and since 2012 has directed the ongoing project After Burnham: The Notre Dame Plan of Chicago 2109. He offers design consultations as the office of Thursday Associates.