DAMIAN FARRELL, FAIA

1961-2023

Damian Farrell was born on February 14, 1961, in Kwa-Zulu, Natal, South Africa. The son of citrus/avocado/sugarcane farmers Brian and Margaret Farrell, Damian’s interest in architecture began as a young child, seeing drawings of a neighbor and family friend – a sugarcane farmer and architect. The seed was planted, and he determined early in life that architecture would be his career of choice. 

Damian attended the University of Natal, Durban, where he was distinguished in 1984 as the winner of the Des Baker Award for Architecture, a competition open to all South African architecture students in their third year.

In 1985, shortly before earning his Bachelor of Architecture degree, Damian won a design competition for the headquarters of Africa Enterprise, an international missionary organization. As the winning designer, Damian had the opportunity to issue an international RFQ for a landscape/planning partner. He ultimately chose Carl Johnson of JJR in Ann Arbor, Michigan, thus embarking upon a life path that would eventually lead him to settle permanently in the United States.

Following their collaboration in South Africa, Carl invited Damian to visit the States. During this visit Damian met and impressed Richard Black of Hobbs+Black Architects. Damian would return to South Africa to intern for two years at Stauch Vorster and Partners in Pietermaritzburg, Natal, but in 1987 Richard offered Damian a position at H+B, as a Lead Designer and Director of Marketing. Damian embraced this career opportunity and emigrated to Ann Arbor.

During his time at H+B, Damian honed his ability to build quick rapport with clients. He also completed supplemental coursework to satisfy requirements for licensure candidates with foreign degrees. Damian’s personal stories of this time revealed a young man in his late 20’s, adapting to imperial units and a new culture. He purchased a fixer-upper in Ann Arbor’s Old West Side where he lived and slowly renovated on weekends, and began to put roots down in his new community, forging friendships that would last the rest of his life.

In 1992, at the age of 31, Damian left H+B to launch his own practice: Damian Farrell Design Group. Much of DFDG’s early work was residential, in the vein of Charles Voysey and Robert A.M. Stern. Though Damian was well-versed in traditional architectural styles, he also had a bit of a modernist streak within, which he got to showcase in some later work.

Damian always believed that good design is simply good design, regardless of style. Part of good design was being in-tune with the site, and the other part was listening carefully to clients to really understand their hopes, wants, dreams, and desires. Damian’s ultimate goal was to create spaces and places of delight that his clients would love, that illuminated their personalities and preferences more than his own.

Damian’s Sun Valley, Idaho barn home projects are a good example of this. One of these was featured in the July 2003 issue of Architectural Digest. Damian crafted a magnificent rambling house in a rustic style that is perfectly scaled and suited the locale. The clients were so thrilled with their home that they became life-long friends and champions of Damian’s work.

From 2011-2015, Damian hosted a weekly radio show called ‘Damian on Design’ with local radio personality Lucy Ann Lance of 1290 AM WLBY. Damian lined up a variety of guests for lively discussion on a broad range of design-related topics: from Michigan’s rich art and design history, to current advances in sustainable design, to Damian’s annual review of the Detroit Auto Show.

In 2015 Damian was admitted to the American Institute of Architects as a Fellow, granted in recognition of outstanding contributions to the profession through design excellence, architectural education, and advancement of the profession.

Over the years, Damian was active within the art and design communities. He served as the Vice Chair (1992-1994) and then as Chair (1995-1996) of the Ann Arbor Art Center. He was President (2004) and Vice President (2014) of the AIA-Huron Valley chapter. Damian served on the ArtTrain USA Executive Board from 2003-2023, and on the Executive Board of Michigan Architectural Foundation from 2009-2023. In his last twelve years, Damian led the Architecture Awareness Grants program at MAF.

Damian passed away unexpectedly on February 7, 2023, one week short of his 62nd birthday. Damian is survived by his wife, Katherine Hilboldt Farrell; their children: Brian (and Taylor) Farrell, Amaron (and Shannon) Gerken, and Jonathan (and Marianne) Curtis; and his eleven grandchildren: Noah, Caden, Isabelle, Emma, Christian, Layla, James, Alesia, Patrick, Charles and Ethan.



In April 2023, MAF announced the renaming of their Architectural Awareness Grant to honor Damian’s long advocacy for and leadership of that program.