ORAL HISTORY of MYRON GOLDSMITH Interviewed by Betty J
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ORAL HISTORY OF MYRON GOLDSMITH Interviewed by Betty J. Blum Complied under the auspices of the Chicago Architects Oral History Project Ernest R. Graham Study Center for Architectural Drawings Department of Architecture The Art Institute of Chicago Copyright © 1990 Revised Edition © 2001 The Art Institute of Chicago This manuscript is hereby made available for research purposes only. All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publication, are reserved to the Ryerson and Burnham Libraries of The Art Institute of Chicago. No part of this manuscript may be quoted for publication without the written permission of The Art Institute of Chicago. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface iv Outline of Topics vi Oral History 1 Selected References 138 Curriculum Vitae 140 Index of Names and Buildings 142 iii PREFACE Myron and I recorded his memoirs in his home in Wilmette, Illinois, on July 25, 26, September 7, and October 5, 1986. To describe his unique career, a colleague of Myron’s has coined the word “architechnologist,” while an architectural critic labeled him “Chicago’s new structural poet.” His training with world-class masters Mies van der Rohe and Pier Luigi Nervi, combined with Myron’s own poetic vision, have brought forth outstanding projects that embody pristine aesthetics and technology on the cutting edge. Now retired from Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, Myron continues to transmit his special vision of architecture to colleagues and students through his teaching at the Illinois Institute of Technology, guest lecturing, and writing. Our interview sessions were recorded on eight 90-minute cassettes, which have been transcribed and reviewed by both Myron and me. Corrections have been made as necessary in order to clarify and amplify Myron’s thoughts and ideas. The transcript has been minimally edited to maintain the flow, spirit, and tone of Myron’s original comments. The transcription is available for scholarly research in the Ryerson and Burnham Libraries at The Art Institute of Chicago. During the time Myron and I met to record his oral history, he was under a deadline and deeply involved in finalizing his manuscript for a book about his work and ideas, which has since been published. In spite of this demanding prior commitment, Myron took great care to recount his experiences with his usual conscientious candor and attention to detail. For this I wish to thank him. His recollections are an important contribution to a more complete understanding of the events and personalities of his time, for which future scholars will thank him. Myron’s career has been documented in Japanese, French, and English language architectural journals, in the Pigeon Library of Tape/Slide Talks on Architecture, and by Myron himself in his recently published book Myron Goldsmith: Projects and Concepts (Rizzoli, 1987). References that I found particularly helpful in preparing for this oral history are attached to this document. iv Myron Goldsmith’s oral history was sponsored by the Department of Architecture at The Art Institute of Chicago in cooperation with the Canadian Centre for Architecture. We wish to thank the Canadian Centre for Architecture for their support and encouragement in this endeavor. To our transcribers Kai Enenbach and Angela Licup, and editor Sarah Underhill go special thanks and appreciation. Betty J. Blum August 1989 We are grateful to the Illinois Humanities Council for a grant awarded to the Department of Architecture in 2000 to scan, reformat, and make this entire text available on The Art Institute of Chicago's website. Annemarie van Roessel deserves our thanks for her masterful handling of this phase of the process. Betty J. Blum September 2001 v OUTLINE OF TOPICS Goldsmith as “Architechnologist,” Architect and Engineer Equally 1 Early Experiences that Led to a Career in Architecture 3 Study at Armour Institute of Technology in 1935 7 Mies van der Rohe Begins to Teach at Armour 10 Influence of the 1933-34 Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago 18 First Year of Graduate Study under Mies at IIT, 1939-40 20 Social and Political Implications of Mies’s Early Architecture in Germany 23 Return to IIT for Graduate Study 28 IIT in Chicago 29 Relationship with Mies 33 Employment in the Office of William Deknatel 37 Architectural Projects During World War II 37 United States Army Corps of Engineers 38 Return to Mies’s Office after 1946 41 Mies’s One-Man Show at The Art Institute of Chicago, 1938-39 45 Mies’s Approach to Seeking New Clients and Projects 46 Influence of Chicago School Buildings on Mies’s Architecture 49 Salary in Mies’s Office 51 Social Implications of Work Done in Mies’s Office after World War II 53 Thesis: “The Tall Buildings and the Effects of Scale” 56 Peace Bridge Project 61 Goldsmith as “Idea Man” 62 Edith Farnsworth House, Plano, Illinois 64 50 x 50 House Project 73 Goldsmith’s Apartment at Commonwealth Plaza, Chicago 78 Reaction to The Unknown Mies and His Disciples of Modernism 80 Solar Telescope, Kitt Peak, Arizona 86 Study with Pier Luigi Nervi 87 The Merging of IIT with the Institute of Design 90 Employment at SOM in San Francisco, 1955-1958 92 Move to the Chicago Office of SOM, 1958 95 vi Mies’s Dismissal from the IIT Commission, 1958 99 Buildings on IIT Campus by SOM 100 Response to Criticism of Mies as Architect 103 Types of Projects and Work Environment at SOM 108 Fazlur Khan 116 More About SOM Buildings at IIT 117 Further Reaction to “The Unknown Mies…” at The Art Institute of Chicago 121 Preservation and the Architectural Community 123 The Architectural Establishment 129 Goldsmith as Educator 133 Reflections 134 Location of Goldsmith Records, Manuscripts, Photographs and Drawings 137 vii Myron Goldsmith Blum: Today is July 25, 1986, and I’m with Myron Goldsmith in his home in Wilmette, Illinois. Myron, I’ve read that when you were introduced by the President of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1966 you were introduced as an architechnologist. The comment the president made was that you were the kind of professional that was very much in demand, but there were very few like you. How did you come to be what he called an architechnologist? If you will, try to go as far back as you can. Were you in any way influenced by your father’s profession or work? Goldsmith: Do you mean to start from the beginning or try to explain what he meant by architechnologist, which I never understood? Blum: Why don’t you first do that and then we’ll go back. Goldsmith: You know I haven’t read that introduction for twenty years. I don’t know what in the world don’t he was saying. I don't know what an architechnologist is. Blum: My impression from what he said was that he meant you were an architect as well as an engineer, in equal proportions. Goldsmith: Is that what he meant by architechnologist? Blum: I don’t know. That was what I thought it meant. Goldsmith: If we take that idea of it I guess what I have really tried to do is to combine architecture, engineering, and aesthetics, all functioning 1 together. Certainly I’ve been interested in the aesthetics of engineering as well as the technical solutions. I’ve worked in engineering and know if you get into it you’re inundated by practical problems. Once the conceptual design is finished you’re inundated by problems of soil and the foundations and a thousand details that it be built right, analyzed correctly, and all those problems. I’ve not been interested in that although I’ve worked in it and tried and realized it was a mistake. I’ve been interested in engineering and aesthetics and tried to keep away from the details. I guess I don’t know if you can kind of keep away from the details. When I say details, I mean getting involved in the computation and so forth as far as engineering goes, although I was for a while chief engineer of SOM in San Francisco and responsible for all those things. I decided that my area of interest was more focused and narrower. Of course in architecture it’s a different question, you’re involved more in the details of everything. Still, working at SOM gave me a chance. Other people took care of business and the business organization, the great amount of details just of the business of architecture, getting a building done. I was lucky to cut out an area which interested me and that I think I was pretty good at. and to be able to work in my whole career. I don’t know if this responds to your question. Blum: You have sort of added another dimension to what my simple understanding was of the word as he used it. Goldsmith: I don’t know what he meant. I think it’s gobbledygook, myself. Blum: I thought it was a combination of your two skills. Goldsmith: Maybe. You know Nervi wrote a whole book called something like Technology and Aesthetics, and I’m now writing an essay for my book on trying to address this question, and it’s full meaning. Blum: How did your interest in both fields begin? 2 Goldsmith: When it came time to choose a career, when I was in the final years of high school, I knew I was interested in building. I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to become an engineer or an architect. It was quite far down the road when I was faced with making a decision. I tried to hedge the issue by deciding to become both.