Maurice Cox is an associate professor at the University of Virginia’s School of Architecture and a founding partner of RBGC Architecture, Research & Urbanism. He also served as mayor of Charlottesville, Virginia from 2002-2004. His experience merges architecture, politics and design education to define a new role for the designer—the architect as civic leader. RBGC is acclaimed for its partnerships with communities traditionally underserved by architecture. Their design for a new rural village in Bayview, Virginia has been featured in Architecture Magazine, on CBS’s “60 Minutes”, and in the new documentary film, “This Black Soil”. Named one of “20 Masters of Design” in 2004 by Fast Company Business Magazine he is characterized as “a game changer, risk taker and agitator who is rewriting the rules of design”.

As mayor, he commissioned AIA and CNU award-winning public works of architecture and urban design and appointed numerous architects and designers to important civic positions in the public life of Charlottesville.