Margarette Leite
Assistant Professor
Master of Architecture, University of Pennsylvania, 1990
Bachelor of Science, College of William & Mary, 1985
Contact: mleite@pdx.edu
Current Classes
Arch 361 Building Tectonics 2
Research
Margarette Leite is a licensed architect with teaching experience in graduate and undergraduate architectural design. Her architecture practice (www.pl-dp.com) focuses on the design of sustainable buildings and communities domestically and internationally. She takes from her practical experience in architecture, as well as her years as a metal artisan, a hands-on approach to teaching students about the tectonic properties of materials, construction detailing and building assembly. Her scholarly work includes research on the work of modern Portuguese architects and their interventions in historic urban environments, the basis of her Fulbright research and a study abroad program. She sees adaptive reuse of the existing built environment as the most critical avenue for a responsible sustainability.
Her current agenda includes work with the Portland Public School District to help envision a more sustainable future for Portland schools in the areas of building improvements, design of educational spaces and opportunities for outdoor educational environments. Her students have begun working with Sunnyside Environmental School in the design of an outdoor classroom as part of this initiative. She is also working with other PSU faculty and students as well as Portland AIA to sponsor a symposium focusing on activism in architecture with a local focus on education that will be offered in April of 2010.
