Don Koster

Donald N. Koster III, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP, is a practicing architect and educator. As a senior lecturer, Koster teaches undergraduate and graduate design studios and seminars on sustainable, community-based design, and development and architectural representation. He has received numerous honors for both academic and professional work, including the AIA School Medal and multiple AIA awards in architecture. He has been awarded public service and collaborative community health grants in support of his community-based teaching and research. Koster was one of two inaugural Weese Fellows in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts and served as visiting assistant professor from 2006-2008, after joining the faculty as a lecturer in 2003. He earned his master’s and bachelor’s degrees in architecture, both with honors, from Washington University in St. Louis, and maintains an independent architecture practice, Donald Nelson Koster Architect, based in St. Louis.

Dedicated to the education of designers committed to work in both the public and private realms, Koster’s practice-based teaching and research has included leading the student design of a sustainable community marketplace and urban agriculture project in The Ville neighborhood of St. Louis in collaboration with the St. Louis chapter of the American Institute of Architects, adaptive reuse proposals on the St. Louis riverfront, and environmentally responsible, affordable housing projects in north St. Louis and University City.