John Bass joined the faculty in fall 2002. His teaching and research address contested landscapes, using visual tools that describe relationships between their physical and historical events, spatial and social practices, and political and economic structures.
Bass is currently editing The Chandigarh Catalogues, with co-authors Patsy Craig and Jonathan Nicholls. The book is organized as a set of volumes that include resident interviews; essays by Chandigarh public servants, entrepreneurs, journalists, demographers and academics; photographic and archival material; and documentation and analysis of the evolving form of the city.
Bass was a co-investigator with the Coastal Communities Project, a multi-disciplinary research initiative of UBC and partner communities situated along the Pacific coast of British Columbia. Several works have resulted from this research, including Naming and Claiming: The Fort Rupert Reconstruction Project. This project was done in collaboration with the Fort Rupert Kwakiutl Band in Fort Rupert, BC. The work maps physical changes to the settlement of Fort Rupert, done through a close observation of the Band’s historic photograph collection, dating to 1866. It includes essays, narrative drawings, graphic spatial reconstructions, and a material culture catalogue. Based on this work, he has begun collaborations with UBC's Sauder School of Business, EcoTrust Canada, and Simon Fraser University's Bill Reid Centre.
Bass is the director of the Delta National Park project, a research and design project and blog dedicated to the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta area of California. A part of this work appeared in GAM01 – Tourism and Landscape, published by the Technical University of Graz, Austria. The project is available online, and contains an interactive map and tagged reference material. The blog offers commentary on technologies, issues, policies, and events related to the Delta.
Bass was previously a core studio design critic at Harvard Design School and adjunct associate professor and coordinator of the third and fourth year design studios at California College of Arts and Crafts. His 15 year experience in architectural practice includes 8 years as an assistant in the offices of Stanley Saitowitz and Antoine Predock.