Born November 27, 1952, in Geneva, Switzerland, Diane Elliott Gayer is an architect, environmentally conscious designer, teacher, artist, and writer who has mostly practiced in the United States. From 1976 to 1979 Gayer attended a Masters in Architecture Program at the University of Colorado, Denver. There, she completed a thesis project proposing a mixed-use hospital expansion for the National Jewish Hospital-University of Colorado Medical Center complex. After graduating, she took a job at Marvin E. Knedler & Associates, and her work there led to other opportunities at the firms Duff, Reck, and Lehman Architects, and later at Michael Gaviglio & Associates. In 1983, she and her husband/business partner Geoff Kampe established their own practice, Artemis Designs, Inc., where they worked as a team to design the Left Bank Townhouses in Lakewood, Colorado, an infill project on reclaimed land. While still living in Colorado, she developed and taught teacher training programs in environmental education and served as architect in residence for the Colorado Arts Council and environmental design consultant for the Gifted and Talented Program of the Jefferson County School District. In 1988, Gayer relocated to Vermont to work as an associate architect at the University of Vermont.

Over the years, she has taught at Norwich University, the University of Vermont (UVM), and at the Yestermorrow Design/Build School in Waitsfield, Vermont. She also worked as architect, planner, and environmental designer at Diane Elliott Gayer Associates in Hinesburg, Vermont. From 1991-1997, Gayer served on the advisory board of the Vermont Design Institute (VDI), a non-profit design and community development collaborative based in Burlington, Vermont, that had grown out of an outreach effort of the Vermont Council on the Arts. From 1995 to 2016, she served as its director. As a teacher, she regularly pulled design problems and case studies from her work as a planner, and, conversely, would use student input and solutions to inform her approach to design. Many student projects and course materials make mention of VDI projects, like the Historic Main Street Study of St. Johnsbury or the Old Main building renovations at the UVM campus.

She’s devoted her career to examining what architecture can do and to building a more sustainable future through community empowerment. She has worked as a teacher, organizer, volunteer, and advocate for sustainability and environmental awareness in design. Professionally, she has been active in many organizations, including Women in Design of the Built Environment (WIND), of which she was a founding member, the Colorado chapter of Women in Architecture, l’Union International des Femmes Architects (UIFA), and the American Institute of Architects (AIA), among others. She was selected as a consultant volunteer for Citizens Democracy Corps and spent a year in Yekaterinburg, Russia, working on curriculum development with and for the Urals Architecture Institute. Additionally, she’s participated in, consulted on, and led many design charrettes and workshops.

She served as editor of and frequent contributor to the Vermont Design Quarterly, the quarterly publication of the Vermont Design Institute, from 1998-2001. She’s written that she feels that the quarterly represents her “work and vision as an architect and planner.” Along with Jane Petrillo, she co-authored a monograph, also associated with VDI, called Groundswell, a 24 page large-format graphic publication focused on community planning and design.

Sources (other than the collection itself)

Gayer, Diane E. "Reflections: Creating an Architectural Practice." In The Routledge Companion to Women in Architecture, edited by Anna Sokolina, 370-381. New York, NY: Routledge, 2021.