Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use

The copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials. Reproduction or digitization of materials for personal or research use can be requested using our reproduction/digitization form: http://bit.ly/scuareproduction . Reproduction or digitization of materials for publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition form: http://bit.ly/scuapublication . Please contact Special Collections and University Archives (specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with forms or to submit a completed form.

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Preferred Citation

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], Diane Elliot Gayer Architectural Papers, Ms2002-045, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.

Source of Acquisition

Some materials were donated to Special Collections and University Archives by Diane Elliott Gayer in November 2002. The bulk of materials in this collection were donated in June 2019. A small addition was made in January 2024 by Diane Gayer.

Processing Information

The majority of the processing, arrangement, and description of the Diane Elliott Gayer Architectural Papers was completed between August and November of 2021. The four folders in the original collection were processed in 2002.

An addition from early 2024 was processed and integrated by Jade Snelling in April 2025.

Biographical Note

Born November 27, 1952, in Geneva, Switzerland, Diane Elliott Gayer is an architect, environmentally conscious designer, teacher, artist, and writer who has mostly practiced in the United States. From 1976 to 1979 Gayer attended a Masters in Architecture Program at the University of Colorado, Denver. There, she completed a thesis project proposing a mixed-use hospital expansion for the National Jewish Hospital-University of Colorado Medical Center complex. After graduating, she took a job at Marvin E. Knedler & Associates, and her work there led to other opportunities at the firms Duff, Reck, and Lehman Architects, and later at Michael Gaviglio & Associates. In 1983, she and her husband/business partner Geoff Kampe established their own practice, Artemis Designs, Inc., where they worked as a team to design the Left Bank Townhouses in Lakewood, Colorado, an infill project on reclaimed land. While still living in Colorado, she developed and taught teacher training programs in environmental education and served as architect in residence for the Colorado Arts Council and environmental design consultant for the Gifted and Talented Program of the Jefferson County School District. In 1988, Gayer relocated to Vermont to work as an associate architect at the University of Vermont.

Over the years, she has taught at Norwich University, the University of Vermont (UVM), and at the Yestermorrow Design/Build School in Waitsfield, Vermont. She also worked as architect, planner, and environmental designer at Diane Elliott Gayer Associates in Hinesburg, Vermont. From 1991-1997, Gayer served on the advisory board of the Vermont Design Institute (VDI), a non-profit design and community development collaborative based in Burlington, Vermont, that had grown out of an outreach effort of the Vermont Council on the Arts. From 1995 to 2016, she served as its director. As a teacher, she regularly pulled design problems and case studies from her work as a planner, and, conversely, would use student input and solutions to inform her approach to design. Many student projects and course materials make mention of VDI projects, like the Historic Main Street Study of St. Johnsbury or the Old Main building renovations at the UVM campus.

She's devoted her career to examining what architecture can do and to building a more sustainable future through community empowerment. She has worked as a teacher, organizer, volunteer, and advocate for sustainability and environmental awareness in design. Professionally, she has been active in many organizations, including Women in Design of the Built Environment (WIND), of which she was a founding member, the Colorado chapter of Women in Architecture, l'Union International des Femmes Architects (UIFA), and the American Institute of Architects (AIA), among others. She was selected as a consultant volunteer for Citizens Democracy Corps and spent a year in Yekaterinburg, Russia, working on curriculum development with and for the Urals Architecture Institute. Additionally, she's participated in, consulted on, and led many design charrettes and workshops.

She served as editor of and frequent contributor to the Vermont Design Quarterly, the quarterly publication of the Vermont Design Institute, from 1998-2001. She's written that she feels that the quarterly represents her "work and vision as an architect and planner." Along with Jane Petrillo, she co-authored a monograph, also associated with VDI, called Groundswell , a 24 page large-format graphic publication focused on community planning and design.

Sources (other than the collection itself)

Gayer, Diane E. "Reflections: Creating an Architectural Practice." In The Routledge Companion to Women in Architecture , edited by Anna Sokolina, 370-381. New York, NY: Routledge, 2021.

Scope and Contents

The Diane Elliott Gayer Architectural Papers span from roughly 1974 to 2016, and contain teaching materials, students' work, writings, correspondence, project documentation in the form of files, photographs, and rolled drawings, conference programs and other ephemera related to Gayer's professional engagement, charrette materials and reports, portfolios, and some office records.

Arrangement

The Diane Elliott Gayer architectural papers are arranged into five series, four of which are divided further into subseries. Within series and subseries files are arranged chronologically with some minor exceptions, where grouping together of files related to a particular project was prioritized. The series arrangement is as follows:

Related Material

An oral history interview conducted by Jade Snelling with Gayer was made in 2021. Please contact the archives for access to the audio file and transcripts.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Architects and community
• Artemis Designs, Inc
• Gayer, Diane Elliott
• International Archive of Women in Architecture (IAWA)
• Vermont Design Institute
• Women -- History

Rights Statement for Archival Description

The guide to the Diane Elliot Gayer Architectural Papers by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 ( https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/ ).