Bruce Brook ’69

“Bruce Sanford Brook, age 61, architect and painter, died Thursday, March 27, 2008, in Urbania, Italy. Brook was born on March 16, 1947, in Chicago, Ill., and grew up in Wilmette. Having graduated from Carleton College in 1969 with a B.A. in studio art with distinction, he embarked on a master of architecture program at the University of Pennsylvania, studying with architect Louis Kahn. His graduate work was interrupted by three years of alternative service as a conscientious objector, which took him to northern Minnesota where he designed and developed Camp New Hope, a residential camp for mentally challenged youth and adults. Brook earned a master of architecture from Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1978. He won several design competitions and grants for the design of prototypical passive solar homes and, in 1977, was a Grahm Foundation Scholar working on adaptive reuse of Bosto’s Leather District. For four years, he worked with Moshe Safdie and Associates in Boston, working on a variety of international projects in Singapore, Israel, and Canada. In 1984, he moved with his wife to Concord, N.H., and established the firm of Brook Design Associates. Its more than 500 projects included educational facilities, child care facilities, financial institutions, cultural centers, retail, offices, master planning, renovations of historic buildings, and many pro bono projects. He was an Artist in Residence for the N.H. State Council on the Arts and taught Childcare Design Institute classes at Harvard University. Brook settled in Urbania, Italy, in 1999 with his family after purchasing a 400-year-old stone farmhouse, which he spent the next five years renovating. In 2005, he returned full-time to painting and exhibited in numerous group and one-man shows throughout Italy. Brook is survived by his wife, Laurel Wood; son, Schuyler; mother, Bernice Brook of Kansas City, Kan.; brothers, Charles Brook (Deb) of Kansas City, Kan., and David Brook (Barb) of Seattle, Wash.; nieces, Dana Bower, Dana Brook, Carly Brook and Abigail Brook; and nephew, Braden Brook. A memorial celebration of his life will be held at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, May 10, 2008, at Johnson House, the building he designed at Carleton College. Memorials may be directed to Laurel W. Brook for the Schuyler Brook Education Fund.”