James Rossant

James Stephan Rossant (August 17, 1928 – December 15, 2009) was an American architect, artist, and professor of architecture. A long-time Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, he is best known for his master plan of Reston, Virginia, the Lower Manhattan Plan, and the UN-sponsored master plan for Dodoma, Tanzania. He was a partner of the architectural firm Conklin & Rossant and principal of James Rossant Architects. He studied architecture at Columbia University, the University of Florida, and Harvard University's Graduate School of Design (under Walter Gropius). the Ramaz School (New York City), Two Charles Center (Baltimore), and the U.S. Navy Memorial at Market Square (Washington, DC).

For 3R Architects, his work included Tanzania's new capital at Dodoma under the sponsorship of the United Nations. He served on New York City's Public Design Commission (formerly the Art Commission of the City of New York). He appeared posthumously from television clips and his wife in interviews as part of Rebekah Wingert-Jabi's 2015 documentary Another Way of Living: The Story of Reston, VA.

Artwork Rossant painted all his life and exhibited frequently (last in Paris, 2009). His sculpture includes work publicly accessible on Washington Plaza along Lake Anne in Reston. He published Cities in the Sky in 2009, based on one of his longest series of architectural paintings.

Teaching

Rossant taught architecture at the Pratt Institute (1970–2005) and Urban Design at New York University's School of Public Administration (1975–1983). As lecturer, he visited the National University of Singapore, the American University of Beirut, Harvard University, the University of Virginia, and Columbia University.

Personal life and death Rossant married Colette Palacci while serving in the army in Europe; the couple moved back the US in the mid-1950s. The couple had four children.

He died at Germonville, Condeau, in the Orne portion of Le Perche, Lower Normandy, from complications of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Rossant was survived by his wife Colette Rossant (food critic, cookbook author, memoirist); children Marianne (educator), Juliette (author and journalist), Cecile (author and architect), and Tomas (architect); and eight grandchildren.

Drawings: