Résumé

Manger, Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership, planning prijects, Portland, OR, 1982-1983. The journal of the American Institute of Architects, Washington Council, Northwest Architecture, said of Tillett in 1983: "He joined ZGF in 1982, managing the firm's planning projects in Oregon and Washington." (See "People," Northwest Architecture, vol. 6, no. 3, 07-08/1983, p. 14.) ZGF hired Tillett to work on the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet) Metropolitan Area Express (MAX) light rail line, begun in 1982. He worked on the MAX Blue Line, a 15.1-mile project, that connected Portland to Gresham, OR, and opened on 09/05/1986.

Director of Planning and Urban Design, Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership, Portland, OR, 1983- .

Teaching

Adjunct Professor, Portland State University, Portland, OR.

Professional Activities

Licensed Architect in States of OR and ID and the United Kingdom.

Member, Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).

Member, Royal Town Planning Institute (MRTPI).

Member, American Planning Association (APA)

Chair, APA National Urban Design and Preservation Division.

Member, National Council of Architectural Boards (NCARB).

Member, American Institute of Architects (AIA), Portland Chapter.

Co-Chair, AIA, Portland Chapter, Urban Design Panel.

President, AIA, Portland Chapter.

Member, City of Portland, Parks and Recreation Board, Portland, OR.

Member, Portland Parks Foundation, Board of Directors, Portland, OR.

LEED Accredited Professional (AP).

Member, Urban Design Advisory Committee, Portland Central City 2035 Plan, Portland, OR.

Chair, Willamette Light Brigade: a non-profit organization for lighting Portland's river bridges.

Speaker, American Planning Association, Oregon-Washington Joint Conference, 2011, "Meeting the Northwest’s Livability Challenge," 10/21/2011. Tillett was a featured speaker at this conference along with Arnold Cogan, Carol Mayer-Reed, Jill Sterrett and David Siegel.

Speaker, American Planning Association, "United We Plan! Collaborative, Game-Changing Efforts to Create Livable Communities," 2012. Other speakers at this event were John Owen, MAKERS; Carol Mayer Reed, Mayer-Reed; and Joe Tovar, innova planning llc.

Author, The Routledge Handbook of Planning for Health and Well-Being, Hugh Barton, Susan Thompson, Sarah Burgess, Marcus Grant, eds., Chapter, 41. "Designing for Conviviality and City Vitality in Portland," [London ; New York : Routledge Publishing, Taylor & Francis Group: 2015].)

Professional Awards

Fellow, American Institute of Architects (FAIA), 1996. (See The American Institute of Architects College of Fellows, History & Directory, 2024 Edition, [Washington, DC: American Institute of Architects, College of Fellows, 2024], p. 250.)

Fellow, American Institute of Certified Planners (FAICP).

Fellow, Royal Town Planning Institute (FRTPI).

College

Diploma, University of Oxford, School of Architecture, Oxford, England, 1968.

Master of Civic Design, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, England, 1972.

The publication Northwest Architecture said of his college education in 1983: "An architectural graduate from Oxford, he has a degreein civic design from the University of Liverpool." (See "People," Northwest Architecture, vol. 6, no. 3, 07-08/1983, p. 14.)

Relocation

Michael Patrick Cameron Tillett, nicknamed "Paddy," was born in Scotland in 1943.

He attended college at the University of Oxford in architecture and received an additional degree civic design from the University of Liverpool. After graduating from Oxford, he traveled to Japan, where he obtained an internship working on a light rail project.

Following his time in Japan, he returned to England and worked in London.

Biographical Notes

Paddy Tillett became a skilled navigator of "ocean racing yachts." (See Debbie Cahill, AARP.org, "A Life by Design: Paddy Tillett - Young at Any Age," published 01/09/2017, accessed 03/19/2025.)

He spent an extended period cruising in the South Pacific aboard a yacht, and returned to England via Portland, OR, where he happened to meet one of the partners of Zimmer Gunsul Frasca. A 2017 article on the AARP website said: "After 10 months cruising the South Pacific, he stopped in Portland. He happened to meet a partner of the firm at which he works today—ZGF Architects, LLP. That chance meeting proved fortuitous when a year or so later while back in Europe, Paddy received a call. The firm needed someone to help Portland with the first light rail line. The TriMet board had approved the project in 1978, and construction began in 1982." (See Debbie Cahill, AARP.org, "A Life by Design: Paddy Tillett - Young at Any Age," published 01/09/2017, accessed 03/19/2025.)

Member, City Club of Portland, Portland, OR.

Presdient, City Club of Portland, Portland, OR.

Recipient, City Club of Portland, Distinguished Citizen Award, Portland, OR, 2004.

Member, Museum of the City, Board of Directors, Portland, OR.