State(S) of Practice

professional practice issue 08.1

architecture california the journal of the american institute of architects california council 08.1

Serial Departure

rfsinlpatc issue practice professional Urbana 0 Generation 90s 90s GENERATION

California: State(s) of Practice

Licensure and Time Stretching the M. Arch. Blog is in the Details Technology and the Culture of the Profession arc Off the Grid Competition CA Multiple Generations arcCA professional practice issue 08.1 ‘90s Generation

Content

Cabinet for Sleeping Standing Up 15 ➔ Annie Chu, AIA

California: State(s) of Practice 19 ➔ Peter Zellner

Two Generations: a Conversation 23 ➔ David Erdman and Thom Mayne, FAIA

The 1990s: a Theoretical Post Mortem 27 ➔ Patricia Morton and Paulette Singley

Five Schools, Eight Voices, Two Surveys 30

Stretching the M. Arch.: 33 ➔ Christopher Sensenig Dual Degree Students at Cal

Technology and the Culture of the Profession 37 ➔ Edward Mojica, AIA

Licensure and Time 41 ➔ Casius Pealer

Multiple Generations: 45 ➔ David Roccosalva, Assoc. AIA an Interview with Sean Fine

Blog is in the Details: 49 ➔ Jimmy Stamp Spread the Good Word

A Conversation with Shigeru Ban, Hon. FAIA 53 ➔ Michael Franklin Ross, FAIA

Off Grid Ideas Competition 56

Under the Radar: Rob Ley 64 ➔ Stephen Slaughter, AIA

05 Comment 07 Contributors 09 Correspondence 67 ... and Counting 68 Coda

3 Cover photo: Mina Javid and Stella Lee Comment arcCA 08.1 arcCA, the journal of the American arcCA is published quarterly and distributed to AIACC members as part Editor Tim Culvahouse, FAIA of their membership dues. In addition, single copies and subscriptions Managing Editor Laura Schatzkin are available at the following rates: Institute of Architects California Culvahouse Consulting Single copies: $6 AIA members; $9 non-members. Group, Inc. Subscriptions (four issues per year): $24 AIA members; Celebrating Whit Cox Council, is dedicated to exploring $15 students; $34 non-members, U.S.; $38 Canada; $42 foreign. Editorial Board Paul Halajian, AIA, Chair ideas, issues, and projects relevant John Leighton Chase, AIA Subscriptions: arcCA, c/o AIACC, 1303 J Street, Suite 200, Sacramento, Those of you who knew Whitson W. Cox, FAIA, may have noticed that, in the soft-cover edition of Celebrating a Peter Dodge, FAIA CA 95814, www.aiacc.org Century of California Architecture, mailed with the third quarter 2007 issue of arcCA, the photo accompanying Annie Chu, AIA Advertising: 877.887.7175. his biography as California’s thirteenth State Architect was not of Cox, but of an earlier State Architect, William D. to the practice of architecture in Wendy Kohn Eric Naslund, FAIA Inquiries and submissions: Tim Culvahouse, Editor: [email protected]; Coates, Jr. California. arcCA focuses quarterly Stephen Slaughter, AIA c/o AIACC, 1303 J Street, Suite 200, Sacramento, CA 95814; 916.448.9082; Kelly Walker fax 916.442.5346. Bob Aufuldish, Aufuldish & Warinner: [email protected]. If I (as editor) and the others involved in putting together this history of the Division of the State Architect had editions on professional practice, Nicholas D. Docous, AIA Copyright and reprinting: © 2008 by AIACC. All rights reserved. Repro- planned the most awkward error we could possibly make, this would probably have been it. For, as many of you duction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. Permission Design Bob Aufuldish also know, Cox passed away during the preparation of the book. I would like to take this opportunity both to is granted through the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC), 222 Rosewood the architect in the community, Aufuldish & Warinner apologize for the mistake and to say a little more about Whit Cox, a beloved figure whose career as an architect in Drive, Danvers, MA 01923. arcCA is a trademark of AIACC. Ragina Johnson private practice was interwoven with the State Architect’s office. It is an interesting history. the AIACC Design Awards, and arcCA (ISSN 0738-1132) is published by The McGraw-Hill Companies on Production Manager Jeffrey Kruger behalf of The American Institute of Architects, California Council. McGraw- In 1954, at age thirty-three, Cox was invited to become the partner of George C. Sellon, who had served, from 1907 works/sectors. Production Lorraine Sacca Hill and AIACC are not responsible for statements or opinions expressed in arcCA, nor do such statements or opinions necessarily express the until 1909, as California’s first State Architect. Sellon, who was then seventy-three years old, died the following Publisher Kathy Varney views of AIACC or its committees. Contributors are responsible for credits year. Shortly thereafter, Cox partnered with James R. Liske to form Cox & Liske, noted for their design of the sec- California Regional Publisher and copyright permissions. Third class postage paid at Lebanon Junction, ond Sacramento Bee Building. In 1967, George Lionakis and Klyne G. Beaumont joined the firm as partners. Among McGraw-Hill Construction Kentucky. Printed by Publishers Press. the noteworthy projects from that period are the Sacramento County Administration Building, Sacramento’s Pacific AIACC Lori Reed Gas and Electric Company Building, the Safety Center of California, and the CSU Chico Student Health Center. The Director of Marketing and firm continues today as Lionakis Beaumont Design Group, currently celebrating the hundredth anniversary of its Communications founding by Sellon.

AIACC 2008 Board of Directors AIA Inland California AIA San Diego The American Institute AIA Regional Directors Pasqual V. Gutierrez, AIA Michele McLain, AIA Cox left the firm in 1979 to form an independent practice. He served as State Architect from 1983 to 1986, notably of Architects, California Council Stephan Castellanos, FAIA Gary L. McGavin, AIA R. Kirk O’Brien, AIA establishing the practice of including public art in the proposal and planning phase of public building review. 1303 J Street, Suite 200 Anne Laird-Blanton, AIA AIA Long Beach Paul E. Schroeder, AIA An accomplished abstract watercolorist, his paintings are included in many distinguished collections, including Sacramento, CA 95814 R. Kent Mather, AIA Peter K. Phinney, AIA Jeanne M. Zagrodnik, AIA 916.448.9082 p 916.442.5346 f Pamela M. Touschner, FAIA AIA Los Angeles AIA San Fernando Valley Sacramento’s Crocker Art Museum. www.aiacc.org Associate Director North Hsin-Ming Fung, AIA Miguel C. Renteria, AIA Gray Dougherty, Associate AIA, John E. Kaliski, AIA AIA San Francisco Paul Welch, Hon. AIA, Executive Director of the AIA California Council, recalls that, 2008 Executive Committee AIA East Bay David D. Montalba, AIA Michael D. Chambers, FAIA AIACC President Associate Director South Katherine J. Spitz, AIA Karin L. Payson, AIA Whit was a close friend and colleague of mine for more than thirty years. Known for his tireless advocacy Jeffrey T. Gill, AIA Leonard Yui, Associate AIA, AIA Martha L. Welborne, FAIA Zigmund Rubel, AIA on behalf of the value of design, elevating communities, and the human spirit, Whit’s devotion to family, AIACC FVP/President-Elect Redwood Empire L. Paul Zajfen, FAIA, RIBA Brian R. Shiles, AIA his love of the profession, and his commitment to his community are legendary. Whit’s life epitomizes the John P. Grounds, AIA Student Director AIA Monterey Bay Alexander J. C. Tsai, Assoc. AIA AIACC Secretary Jairo Alberto Garcia-Guadian, Daniel Fletcher, AIA David P. Wessel, Assoc. AIA highest standards of the profession and is an extraordinary example of how one individual can make a dif- James T. Wirick, AIA AIAS East Bay AIA Orange County AIA San Joaquin ference. We deeply miss his infectious smile and his enthusiasm for life. AIACC VP of Comm./Public Affairs AIA Central Coast Jason Briscoe, AIA Arthur T. Dyson, AIA Nicholas D. Docous, AIA Lauren L. Luker, AIA, LEED AP Brian J. Pratt, AIA AIA San Mateo A Note on Overabundance AIACC VP of Regulation & AIA Central Valley John J. Schroder, AIA Diane Whitaker, AIA Practice Cynthia Easton, AIA AIA Pasadena AIA Sierra Valley For this rather unusual issue of arcCA, focusing not on a topic in the usual sense, but on a generation—those Scott F. Gaudineer, AIA Michael F. Malinowski, AIA J. Guadalupe Flores, AIA Robert T. DeGrasse, AIA architects who graduated during the 1990s—we have gathered a rich excess of material. Three of the articles AIACC VP of Legislative Affairs Matthew Shigihara, AIA Mark S. Gangi, AIA AIA Ventura County included here are, consequently, excerpts from longer narratives. The full-length versions of these articles—“Cali- David L. Phillips, AIA AIA California Desert AIA Redwood Empire Howard E. Leach, AIA AIACC CACE Director Lance Christopher O’Donnell, AIA Alima Silverman, AIA fornia: State(s) of Practice,” “Five Schools, Eight Voices, Two Surveys,” and David Erdman’s conversation with Thom AIACC Staff Nicola Solomons, Hon. AIA/CC AIA East Bay AIA Santa Barbara Executive Vice President Mayne, FAIA—can be found in arcCA online at www.aiacc.org/arcCA. AIACC VP of AEP Anko A. Chen, AIA Gregory C. Rech, AIA Paul W. Welch, Jr., Hon. AIA Jason D. Pierce, Assoc. AIA Philip A. Erickson, AIA AIA Santa Clara Valley Director of Marketing Tim Culvahouse, FAIA, editor Executive Vice President AIA Golden Empire Elizabeth A. Gibbons, AIA and Communications Paul A. Welch, Jr., Hon. AIA Bruce M. Biggar, AIA Thomas F. Horan, AIA Lori Reed [email protected]

4 5 Contributors

Annie Chu, AIA, is a principal of Patricia A. Morton is Chair and Associate Professor to ride turtles at Turtle Park in St. Louis. He may be Chu+Gooding Architects in Los Angeles, of architectural history at UC Riverside. Her book on reached at [email protected]. focusing on projects for arts-related the 1931 Colonial Exposition in Paris, Hybrid Moderni- and higher education clients. Clients ties, was published in 2000 by MIT Press. Her current Paulette Singley is Program Head include Museum of Contemporary Art, research focuses on “bad taste” in 1960s architecture of Architectural History and Theory in The Hammer Museum, Kentucky Museum of Art+Craft, and its relation to postmodern architecture. She has the School of Architecture at Woodbury UC Riverside, LA Philharmonic Association, Getty published widely on architectural history and issues University in Los Angeles. She co-edited Center, and Southern California Public Radio, among of race, gender and marginality. She may be reached at Eating Architecture and Architecture: others. She is a member of the arcCA editorial board [email protected]. In Fashion and has been published in Log, ANY, Assem- and the AIA Interior Architecture Advisory Group and blage and several critical architectural anthologies. may be reached at [email protected]. Casius Pealer is a Tulane architec- She may be reached at paulette.singley@woodbury. ture graduate and a co-founder of Arch- university.edu. David Erdman was the principal Voices. He served as AIAS National Vice of servo’s Los Angeles office before President from 1996 to 1997 and is cur- Stephen Slaughter, AIA, began establishing david clovers in 2007 with rently an affordable housing attorney at his career in Thom Mayne’s studio, partner Clover Lee. His work has been Reno & Cavanaugh in Washington, DC. He may be reached Morphosis, and has since worked with exhibited at the Centre Pompidou, at [email protected]. respected architects throughout the MoMA, San Francisco MOMA, Artists Space, and Bien- world, including Gary Bates (Space nales in Venice, Korea, and Beijing. He teaches at UCLA David Roccosalva, Assoc. AIA, Lab), Wes Jones (Jones, Partners: Architecture), and and is currently the Cullinan Visiting Critic at the Rice is a principal at Page & Turnbull respon- George Yu (Design Office/George Yu Architects). PHAT, University School of Architecture. He may be reached sible for marketing. His interest in his multi-disciplinary design collaborative co-founded at [email protected]. developing the Management of Design with Nathaniel Belcher, has exhibited at the Studio program was to increase awareness Museum in Harlem, Archilab in Orleans, France, and Sean Fine, LEED AP, is a designer at among staff about issues affecting design firms. He may the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia. Page & Turnbull and a member of the be reached at [email protected]. A member of the arcCA editorial board, he may be ULI Young Leader’s Group. With a joint M. reached at [email protected]. Arch. and MBA, he is well suited to lead Michael Franklin Ross, FAIA, Management of Design discussions. Sean is a principal with HGA Architects and Jimmy Stamp is a designer with Mark may be reached at [email protected]. Engineers, Los Angeles. He was 2007 Horton / Architecture in San Francisco. Chair of the AIA Committee on Design He has been publishing his architec- David Meckel, FAIA, is Director of and 2006 Chair of the AIACC Design ture blog, Life Without Buildings [life- Research & Planning for the California Awards Jury. The author of Beyond Metabolism: The New withoutbuildings.net], since 2004 and is a College of the Arts (CCA) in San Francisco. Japanese Architecture, he has contributed over eighty contributing editor at Curbed San Francisco [sf.curbed.com]. He may be reached at [email protected]. articles to the architectural press, including Architec- He may be reached at [email protected]. tural Record, Progressive Architecture, A+U Architecture & Urbanism, LA Architect, Places, and arcCA. He has Peter Zellner is the founding principal Edward Mojica, AIA, is on the been on the faculty of Tokyo University, UCLA, and SCI- of ZELLNERPLUS, an emerging architec- adjunct faculty in architecture at Arc, where Shigeru Ban was a student of his in the early tural design, planning, and research firm Cosumnes River College, Sacramento, and 1980s. He may be reached at [email protected]. in Los Angeles. He is the author of Hybrid is principal of mas|mojica architecture Space—New Forms in Digital Architecture studio in Roseville. He may be reached Christopher Sensenig lives in and Pacific Edge—Contemporary Architecture on the at [email protected]. Berkeley with his wife, Kate Berry, and Pacific Rim. He teaches in the Design and Cultural Studies dog, Blitz. He is an Urban Designer for programs at SCI-Arc and is a Visiting Assistant Professor Van Meter Williams and Pollack in San at the USC School of Architecture. He may be reached Francisco. Whenever possible, he likes at [email protected].

7 Correspondence

I enjoyed your comment in 07.4 arcCA. It read, nearly can’t be fast-talking, suede-shoed Orange County What a breath of fresh air! Your comments about the word for word, my exact experience during the oral developer types to b.s. their way through. They have to oral exam were right on target. I stopped participating examination (although it was two days before my birth- have the professionalism of a physician in listening and in them as an examiner in ‘05, and have been trying to day) and I had car trouble that day and arrived about answering correctly. get others to speak against this unfair and unneeded twenty minutes late. The experience for me, summed- requirement since. After graduating from an accredited up in a single word, was terrifying. Luckily, I passed Paul S. Wheeler, AIA school of architecture, getting the practical experi- that day, because I think that at some point at the Claremont ence under the IDP program, taking a four day written beginning of the interrogation, I resigned myself to exam, AND having to take what I call “The Inquisition” my belief that I would be back to do this again, even is beyond the pale. Another reason I resigned from though I was very prepared. What an excellent send-up of this retrograde prac- this process was my observation that many of the That said, I think that you need to know the tice! It had me in tears. Pithy & spot-on. Shocking examiners couldn’t pass the exam when it was given material and to be able to demonstrate it through real- that no one has yet taken this on with such wit and to them on the first day of the two-day exam session. time Q&A. The profession as a whole is an organized humor. Maybe we’re all too scarred. So your effort And then we were told that, on a complex question, fire drill—there is reason that (one part) of the licens- is therapeutic at a minimum, or hopefully the next credit could only be given if the answer was given in a ing exam should be testing your ability to function step toward abolition. certain sequence of words! That’s why you heard, “Let within it. me repeat the question,” again and again. Owen Kennerly, AIA Michael J. Stephens, AIA San Francisco Kenneth Kruger, FAIA Yucaipa Santa Barbara

Back in the early ‘90s, I volunteered to serve on the I wanted to compliment you on your wonderful and Oral Exam Board. As examiners, we were instructed to arcCA 07.4 was a surprisingly extensive coverage of humorous description of your experience at the Cali- “read the pre-determined question EXACTLY as writ- the old and new-again notion of prefab. As an architect fornia Supplemental examination. I hope it gives rise to ten,” without inflection or interest. We were to score and prefab practitioner, I appreciate you bringing this examination of the relevance of the exam. It reminded the candidate’s answer as “competent” or “non-com- subject to the best audience for moving this concept to me of the frustration my husband faced when asked petent.” For one segment, we were to present the new heights and dimensions. to design a squirrel cage fan to pass design during his candidate with a parking lot drawing that had three I would challenge your readers to move this State Board Examination forty years ago. Aside from the or four incorrect items regarding disabled access. We concept forward in their own practices. To do this, fact that he was already a full-fledged architect in Den- were instructed that the candidate must point out all though, they should first grasp the depth of the under- mark, he failed to see the connection between a squirrel of the discrepancies and give the “correction and/or statement made by Brian Linder, AIA, in his article’s cage fan and architectural design! dimension verbatim” to the current Title 24 code. One closing remarks: “it’s just a method of construction.” of our candidates looked at the drawing and pointed Roll up your sleeves, dive in, experiment, and Ann Videriksen, Hon. AIA out an incorrect dimension. The candidate’s comment truly understand what the limits of the method are. Los Angeles was, “I am not sure of this dimension. It does not look Only then can you exploit it. As hands-on practitio- right, but I do not have the correct dimension commit- ners, Radziner, Kaufmann, and myself have all embraced ted to memory. I would have to check the code to be the early California tradition of Schindler and Gill and I am an architect with thirty years out of school. I sure.” According to the proctors, we were supposed invested not only in the concept but also in the means of respectfully disagree with your comments in arcCA. to score the answer as “non-competent.” According production. Perhaps in the ultimate irony of what might An architect is called on to solve many problems, to the three examiners, the score was “competent.” It seem an “off-the-shelf” approach, we have embraced the but the architect must first listen to fully under- was also the last time I volunteered to sit on the Oral entire process, including building the shelf itself. Join us stand the problem. If an architect cannot under- Examination Board. in the discovery of what prefab Architecture can become. stand the verbal problem submitted, how can he or Constraints sure. Limits, I don’t think so. she answer? The verbal test, containing three-part James C. Dorr, AIA questions, tests the applicant without relying on crib Arcadia James B. Guthrie, AIA notes. Book tests can’t determine listening skills. They San Diego

9 In this issue of arcCA, we explore the trajectories of the generation of architects who earned their professional degrees in the 1990s. What distinctive experiences have shaped their careers? One, certainly, is the Cabinet for Sleeping rise to dominance of digital tools in the production of buildings. If you Standing Up graduated in 1992, you probably drew your thesis by hand; if you graduated in 1998, you drew it on the computer. That sea change was framed by a set of Annie Chu, AIA exemplars—Thom Mayne, Rem Koolhass, Zaha Hadid, Bernard Tschumi, and Cultural Context In 1988, the death knell for postmodernism in architecture was rung by the Museum of Modern Art’s “Deconstructivist Architecture” show, curated by Philip Johnson (ironically) and Mark Wig- others—who were emerging from largely speculative practices into the ley. Exhibitors included Peter Eisenman, Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas, Daniel Liebe- skind, Bernard Tschumi, and Coop Himmelb(l)au. Most of the old guard discounted these works as mere gallery products, while students consumed them with gusto, examining the application design of major buildings. And young practitioners’ paths were inflected, of structuralist and poststructuralist theory to architecture. Twenty years later, the roster repre- sents some of the most prominent international architects of our time. In 1989, architects Liz Diller and Ric Scofidio launched the multimedia installation “Para- and in some cases deflected, by a significant recession. Site,” also at the Museum of Modern Art. Neither the art nor architecture world could come to terms with this museum-wall destroying episode. Art critic Roberta Smith, writing in the New York Times, blasted the work as “slick, over-done,” and derivative. Diller Scofidio, better known then for temporary installations questioning cultural verities, would continue to struggle for Here, we hope to promote a greater understanding among the several generations represented in acceptance. Even in 1993, New York Times architecture critic Herbert Muschamp would use the platform of the paper to urge the intellectual pair to “Take the plunge. Down the hatch…to focus today’s offices. At the same time, perhaps we can offer encouragement to young architects graduating on more enduring projects.” Nearly two decades later, Muschamp’s wish was realized with Diller Scofidio + Renfro’s Institute of Contemporary Arts in Boston and other major commissions. into an environment of continued technological change, beneath a pantheon of exemplars (who include During the late ‘80s, artist and architect collaborations were very much in vogue, although most projects merely reflected introductory dialogue between the disciplines. Nonetheless, the members of the ‘90s generation itself), and another recession of yet unknown depth. curiosity and “cool” created by the union of the rock stars of both disciplines were too attractive to resist. In 1990, artist Barbara Kruger created the now iconic work, “I shop therefore I am.” It put a magnifying glass on the commercialism and excess of the 1980s and, together with the maturing works of Jenny Holzer and Cindy Sherman, heralded a more politicized art world. The Architect and arcCA editorial board member Annie Chu, AIA, sets the stage with a look at architecture schools in the ‘90s . . . three women’s work also resisted any need for architectural armature; the existing context pro-

14 15 In this issue of arcCA, we explore the trajectories of the generation of architects who earned their professional degrees in the 1990s. What distinctive experiences have shaped their careers? One, certainly, is the Cabinet for Sleeping rise to dominance of digital tools in the production of buildings. If you Standing Up graduated in 1992, you probably drew your thesis by hand; if you graduated in 1998, you drew it on the computer. That sea change was framed by a set of Annie Chu, AIA exemplars—Thom Mayne, Rem Koolhass, Zaha Hadid, Bernard Tschumi, and Cultural Context In 1988, the death knell for postmodernism in architecture was rung by the Museum of Modern Art’s “Deconstructivist Architecture” show, curated by Philip Johnson (ironically) and Mark Wig- others—who were emerging from largely speculative practices into the ley. Exhibitors included Peter Eisenman, Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas, Daniel Liebe- skind, Bernard Tschumi, and Coop Himmelb(l)au. Most of the old guard discounted these works as mere gallery products, while students consumed them with gusto, examining the application design of major buildings. And young practitioners’ paths were inflected, of structuralist and poststructuralist theory to architecture. Twenty years later, the roster repre- sents some of the most prominent international architects of our time. In 1989, architects Liz Diller and Ric Scofidio launched the multimedia installation “Para- and in some cases deflected, by a significant recession. Site,” also at the Museum of Modern Art. Neither the art nor architecture world could come to terms with this museum-wall destroying episode. Art critic Roberta Smith, writing in the New York Times, blasted the work as “slick, over-done,” and derivative. Diller Scofidio, better known then for temporary installations questioning cultural verities, would continue to struggle for Here, we hope to promote a greater understanding among the several generations represented in acceptance. Even in 1993, New York Times architecture critic Herbert Muschamp would use the platform of the paper to urge the intellectual pair to “Take the plunge. Down the hatch…to focus today’s offices. At the same time, perhaps we can offer encouragement to young architects graduating on more enduring projects.” Nearly two decades later, Muschamp’s wish was realized with Diller Scofidio + Renfro’s Institute of Contemporary Arts in Boston and other major commissions. into an environment of continued technological change, beneath a pantheon of exemplars (who include During the late ‘80s, artist and architect collaborations were very much in vogue, although most projects merely reflected introductory dialogue between the disciplines. Nonetheless, the members of the ‘90s generation itself), and another recession of yet unknown depth. curiosity and “cool” created by the union of the rock stars of both disciplines were too attractive to resist. In 1990, artist Barbara Kruger created the now iconic work, “I shop therefore I am.” It put a magnifying glass on the commercialism and excess of the 1980s and, together with the maturing works of Jenny Holzer and Cindy Sherman, heralded a more politicized art world. The Architect and arcCA editorial board member Annie Chu, AIA, sets the stage with a look at architecture schools in the ‘90s . . . three women’s work also resisted any need for architectural armature; the existing context pro-

14 15 SCIARC The studio reaffirms a belief in program as an important determinant 1 STUDIO A perceived set of needs and desires overlaid of architectural form. Program will be taken on as a central focus of upon established patterns of use and FALL 1998 accommodation. the studio, and will be defined in broad yet quite specific terms. The 2 studio accepts programs as pluralistic, ranging from the functional Robert Mangurian Mary-Ann Ray with Pellegrino D'Acierno An Array of lived configurations of space an structure indexed to a culturally defined and program1 of the building type2 to the cultural program3 as interpreted ARCHITECTURE and CINEMA negotiated use. 3 by the author; from the program of construction4 to the (often) applied As interpreted by the author-architect and by programs of metaphor and symbol5. The studio sets forward the building users. 4 opportunity for exploring new program definitions and resulting A mobilization of resources undertaken by Architecture can quite simply be thought of as the accommodation of serious constellations of social and political compositional and constructional expressions for each building type. *Site is defined in a broader sense to include the program within a composed structure on a site*, a site defined to be groups within a society. immediate physical site, but also the site of time, 5 the site of city, the site of the author's work, and part of a larger context constructed by culture. Projected constructions superimposed upon The special program being attended to is the program of FILM in the site of the discipline. perceived qualities - a thing (building), a situation (building), and action (building). general, and the CINEMA - a place for showing film - in particular, ARCHITECTURE and CINEMA will focus on program, including all the issues raised when thinking about ARCHITECTURE structure, and context. The studio, quite simply, is about the and CINEMA. Cinema is an allied art to architecture; the two physical artifact designed in response to the defined program, the disciplines are comnplexly related. The settings for film are within the internal construction demands, and the multiple realities that form space posited by architecture (and edited/transformed by film).

the physical and cultural context. North by Northwest (1959) : Hitchcock director, Cary Grant actor

vided the frames. The number of prominent asked if the drawings were of any scale. When a definite feminine and intimate appeal to combined literature, fine arts, cinema, and and surviving the depressed marketplace closer tor, Douglis explored those limitations. He collaborations dwindled as the country headed the student responded with a definitive no, the young graduate, who would continue in photography with architecture. The intent was to home. The HEDGE Design Collaborative, a researched and tested generative design and into a major recession and a period of intro- Holl took a look at his watch and excused him- subsequent years to explore notions raised by to help students develop generative tools and group begun in 1995 by several SCI-Arc gradu- manufacturing technologies, through the lens spection within the architecture community. self, remarking: “Sorry, I got to go.” Diller’s works. Sung would also continue to utilize the world around them as an infinite ates, included designers from Canada, Japan, of architecture. This trajectory continues in his No one shouted any battle cries, but in archi- Doris Sung, a 1990 Columbia graduate, utilize academic grants to support her critical, classroom. Synchronous teachings in Marga- and the United States. The diverse interests current practice and in the curriculum at Pratt, tecture schools across the nation, faculty and relates another telling episode. A housing research-based practice and teaching activities, ret Crawford’s classes theorized “architecture of the collaborative included architecture, where programming classes challenge the lim- students were trying to sort out their paths after typology studio was traditionally offered in the as had Diller. of the every day,” akin to the ethical cultural interior design, landscape design, and urban its of software. the rollercoaster ride from postmodernism to second year of the M. Arch. program. 1989 Downtown at the same time, the Cooper agenda of Cooper Union. projects, as well as graphic, website, clothing, CNC milling and 3D printing technolo- deconstructivism to a free-for-all. marked a significant shift for the curriculum, Union did not embrace computational tech- While computers were beginning to creep and floral design. Their website expressed the gies became attractive tools for young grad- as half of the studio rebelled against the faculty nologies. Under the leadership of John Hed- into SCI-Arc studios, drawings such as axo- sense of expanded potential in this communal uates eager to realize in physical form the The Academy and rejected the imposition of typology in the juk, it continued to ground the curriculum, nometric and perspectives were still popular arrangement: “Overlapping design priorities non-orthogonal work they designed in school. Bernard Tschumi took over as dean of Colum- studio. Their petition met with welcome from as Douglis puts it, “in a literary, modernist, and expedient tools of discovery and expres- have emerged repeatedly in dialogue between Economical reality pushed some to become bia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning a supportive dean, who was seeking to push a formalist agenda.” Influenced by Aldo Rossi, sion. Ray recalled two SCI-Arc fund raising members and in the execution of work. Direct providers of fabrication and construction ser- and Preservation in the fall of 1988. Imme- series of changes at Columbia. Raimund Abraham, and Hedjuk, the Cooper auctions of drawings made by architects dur- engagement in construction and manufactur- vices, as they continued to develop their own, diately, the halls were abuzz with the launch Upon graduation, Sung would return to Union applied a narrative approach to “carry- ing the early ‘90s. Drawings by the likes of ing, new material research and experimen- often noncommissioned works. of the “Paperless Studio.” Computers were a depressed job market in Los Angeles, where ing out ethical, cultural investigations.” Studio Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, Holl, Rossi, tation, and the re-adaptation of ready-made A significant number of graduates have set up with the latest software. Evan Douglis, she found the shuttered doors of Morphosis, as programs with titles like “Available Light,” Gehry, Thom Mayne, Michael Rotondi, Tadao technologies all factor into many HEDGE proj- returned as studio instructors, modeling them- current chair of undergraduate architecture at Thom Mayne and Michael Rotondi sorted out models of tortoise shell-inspired constructs, Ando and Michael Graves fetched significant ects, as do our interests in branding, identity, selves at times after their mentors. Theoretical Pratt Institute, recalled the impetus at schools their separate ways. If there were work at high and drawings in the manner of Walter Pichler sums for the school. Even a letter from Philip signage, and street dynamics.” Other alterna- pursuits highlighted by instructors such as experimenting with the new language and profile offices such as Frank Gehry’s, the pay offered a snapshot of the phenomenological Johnson, stating he could not do a drawing for tive and hybrid models of practice included Eisenman left graduates yearning for engage- technologies. “They were playing a Piranesian would not sustain a young graduate burdened studio investigations. the auction, was sold. In New York City, Max Mimi Zeigler’s (SCI-Arc) Loud Paper magazine ment they could not find in traditional prac- game of how you access it, not how you build with student loans. Across the country at SCI-Arc, “making Protech Gallery continued to sell architectural and Garrett Finney’s (Yale) work as an architect tice. In the academy, they can pursue expanded it. The old guards were struggling to figure out Having exercised her critical faculty with and meaning” continued to be an important drawings as exalted artistic commodities at a for NASA. possibilities of practice, as well as stay engaged a way to critique the discourse, but the tradi- an undergraduate liberal arts education at tenet pushing through from the late ‘80s. Tom brisk clip. The ‘90s generation acquired facility with with critical discourse and research. This ‘90s tional language was not nimble enough.” Princeton, Sung was attracted to the articulate Buresh taught an ethical approach to architec- As the economic recession restricted the emergent spatial modeling and rendering soft- generation will continue to shape education A popular Columbia anecdote of that time and intellectual tongue of Liz Diller, a frequent ture steeped in material investigation. Perry availability of work for early ‘90s graduates, ware, both as generative and representational as they encounter society under the rubric of recalls a review in Hani Rashid’s studio. Steven critic in Stan Allen’s studio at Columbia. Diller Kulper investigated architecture as phenom- many sought work in cities abroad. Paris and tools. The entertainment industries desired architecture. Holl was one of the critics. The student work Scofidio was a visible model of an “alterna- enon, creating one landscape drawing each Berlin were popular destinations for those who their skills; credits on films such as The Matrix consisted mostly of blueprint paper “draw- tive” practice, setting one foot in architecture day. Across the hall, Robert Mangurian and could muster funds to travel to the doors of include architecture graduates. Comfortable ings” created by forms exposed in the sun. As and the other in art. The sensual prosthetic Mary Ann Ray encouraged students to stretch foreign architects. Other innovative individuals with the software, young graduates also began the first student began his presentation, Holl devices featured in the pair’s early works had their imaginations with studio programs that would see another way of establishing practice to question its limitations. As a young instruc-

16 17 SCIARC The studio reaffirms a belief in program as an important determinant 1 STUDIO A perceived set of needs and desires overlaid of architectural form. Program will be taken on as a central focus of upon established patterns of use and FALL 1998 accommodation. the studio, and will be defined in broad yet quite specific terms. The 2 studio accepts programs as pluralistic, ranging from the functional Robert Mangurian Mary-Ann Ray with Pellegrino D'Acierno An Array of lived configurations of space an structure indexed to a culturally defined and program1 of the building type2 to the cultural program3 as interpreted ARCHITECTURE and CINEMA negotiated use. 3 by the author; from the program of construction4 to the (often) applied As interpreted by the author-architect and by programs of metaphor and symbol5. The studio sets forward the building users. 4 opportunity for exploring new program definitions and resulting A mobilization of resources undertaken by Architecture can quite simply be thought of as the accommodation of serious constellations of social and political compositional and constructional expressions for each building type. *Site is defined in a broader sense to include the program within a composed structure on a site*, a site defined to be groups within a society. immediate physical site, but also the site of time, 5 the site of city, the site of the author's work, and part of a larger context constructed by culture. Projected constructions superimposed upon The special program being attended to is the program of FILM in the site of the discipline. perceived qualities - a thing (building), a situation (building), and action (building). general, and the CINEMA - a place for showing film - in particular, ARCHITECTURE and CINEMA will focus on program, including all the issues raised when thinking about ARCHITECTURE structure, and context. The studio, quite simply, is about the and CINEMA. Cinema is an allied art to architecture; the two physical artifact designed in response to the defined program, the disciplines are comnplexly related. The settings for film are within the internal construction demands, and the multiple realities that form space posited by architecture (and edited/transformed by film).

the physical and cultural context. North by Northwest (1959) : Hitchcock director, Cary Grant actor

16 17 State(s) of Practice Excerpts from a Conversation Convened and Moderated by Peter Zellner

Peter Zellner

Editor’s note: the full transcript of the Given that architecture may be considered one of the few forms of cultural production that leaves a last- conversation is available on the arcCA website ing imprint on the physical, social, and economic environment, what are some of the goals you have at www.aiacc.org/arcCA. established for your practice relative to the notions of innovation, contribution, and legacy? If there was one thing about architecture that your practice might change (even slightly) through its own evolution, what would that be?

Lloyd Russell, AIA, San Diego: Meaningful architecture is the expression of the sum of forces that bring it into being. The goal of my practice is to express exactly the unique condition that arises from combining the roles of architect, developer, and contractor. A city built by enlightened developer-contractor-architects is my definition of utopia. I hope my practice and teaching get us a little closer.

Tom Wiscombe, EMERGENT, Los Angeles: I am getting more interested in dealing with energy in terms of design. The trick is to avoid formal assumptions about “green building” and move on to more inventive territory. “Energy performance” is starting to breed a new functionalism, which would be a huge step backward. The next generation of digital production will involve more sophisticated opposite: top, Marcelo Spina, Broad Cafe; middle, Joe Day, tools, such as true physics simulators, which have the capacity for optimization feedback loops. Sagewater Spa; Stephen Slaughter, Null; bottom, This has begun to happen with the so-called BIM revolution, which is not a revolution at all but Thom Faulders, Airspace Tokyo, building design by Studio M, an inevitable expediency. At the end of the day, it is in the realm of design that architects are the screen facade design by Faulders Architecture with Proces2, most productive, and I am committed to that above all. photo by Tatsuo Masubuchi; Peter Zellner, Toy Factory

18 19 State(s) of Practice Excerpts from a Conversation Convened and Moderated by Peter Zellner

Peter Zellner

18 19 left to right: Rene Peralta, Mandelbrot; Iwamoto Scott, Twin Peaks; Lloyd Russell, R3 Triangle, photo by Dave Harrison; Tom Wiscombe, Novosibirsk Pavilion; Gail Borden, Low Country LIne House; Teddy Cruz, Hillside

Joe Day, Deegan Day Design, Los important role: Canclini’s hybridity, Koolhaas’s discussion. There are three parking spaces for also building a position. We are so obsessed grounded in ethics. An architect or architect- that things become messy and complex. That Angeles: Almost all of us oscillate generic city, De Cauter’s heterotopias, and other every car in the U.S.: 720 square feet, counting with the conditions of design that we are not developer without a soul is a tool for some- is the ultimate definition of density: to embrace between the pure and the provi- contemporary urban and cultural conditions. I half the aisle. How big is an affordable unit? designing the conditions that can yield alterna- one else to use. Technology is not the answer, the contradictory. It’s precisely what we have sional—between speculation and have been adjusting to an alternative practice 720 square feet. As a culture, we are building tive architectures and, in turn, new cultural because it was never the problem. erased from our systems of thought: complexity, realization, but also between the due to my “positioning” on the border. Our con- parking lots instead of affordable housing. experiences. not of forms but of social relations. It is amaz- ideal and ad hoc. I don’t feel like a guerrilla, tribution differs drastically as we move between Wiscombe: The market for extreme forms is ing how our notions of democracy, as Michael doing daring work against long bureaucratic/ San Diego and Tijuana. To the north, we intend Thom Faulders, Thom Faulders Archi- Craig Scott, Iwamoto small, yet such forms are as critical for trans- Sorkin reminds us, are based on the right to be capitalist odds, nor like part of a movement to stimulate a discourse, while in the south it’s tecture, San Francisco: The city—con- Scott Architecture, San forming architectural thought as discovery is let alone. Democracy should be measured by pioneering a field of digital possibility. My all about tactics (architectonic and urban) that temporary and future—is a con- Francisco: Most archi- for catalyzing scientific revolutions. Moral- our capacity and willingness to be together in goals are modestly Duchampian—as he put it, deal with the volatile process of change. struct born of collective behav- tects focusing on re- izing political tendencies in design are too a space: propinquity—like this precarious chat “mediumistic”: to elucidate the mechanics of iors, complex economies, politics, power, flows search are ultimately open-ended; architecture can too easily become room. Can architecture frame democracy? our discipline and its impact on cities, in the Teddy Cruz, Estudio Teddy Cruz, San and expenditures of energies, and so on. What also aiming at the marketplace. If a politi- the tool of factions on both sides. A degree hope of sensitizing more people, more acutely, Diego: I think of the political as happens when global sameness pervades this cal stance can break through the common of autonomy is necessary, and the control of Day: My last thoughts have to do with a series to their environment. a process by which we expose arena? One aspect of our work is to develop a socio-cultural barriers that challenge small space and form is extremely political. of overlapping sensibilities: the minimal and I feel as I imagine Duchamp must have, power: Who owns the resources? language for producing spaces with provisional experimental practices in the U.S.—the bot- post-minimal, the millennial and post-millen- arriving in Paris after his two older brothers had Whose jurisdiction is it? Who and idiosyncratic qualities. Our goal is toward tom-line mentality of much public and pri- Marcelo Spina, LA PATTERNS, INC., Los nial. Minimalism was about presence, post- already immersed themselves in Cubism. All the profits? Can a neighborhood be a developer? the formless rather than the form, so we look vate work, the expectation of an established Angeles: Architecture engenders minimalism about diversified approaches to serious positions in advanced abstraction had One example: in San Diego’s most suc- to new paradigms generated by the co-opting of track record, and the strongly tradition-based spatial conditions that induce the same; the millennial about immersion, the been staked out, but no one was weighing the cessful recent building boom, not one afford- technologies coming out of Silicon Valley. What construction industry—then more power to new forms of experience and post-millennial its ramifications and diversifi- avant-gardes against one another or doing work able housing project has been built in some of if architecture could be transformed as readily as political action. sensation. We aspire to an archi- cation. We are still at the cusp of the millen- that “stripped bare” their techniques enough the depressed neighborhoods. Why? Because one “transforms” content and navigation in per- tecture that best incarnates these conditions, nial / post-millennial, a moment that will be to invite a public into dialogue. to be competitive in terms of tax credits, and sonal electronics? Would this be a new form of Gail Borden, AIA, Borden Partnership, what Peter Eisenman called “presentness,” an dated to 9/11 and the mess we’ve made since. Advanced architecture is at a similar hence profitable, projects would have to be at collective empowerment of end users? Probably. Los Angeles: My interest in aca- aura that persists over time, independent of Already, the most groundbreaking work of the moment of intense but deeply self-regarding least fifty units in density, but zoning prohibits Or a noisy mess? Probably. Who knows? But it demia stems from the desire to use or meaning. We want to produce singular last few years has the look and logic of amalga- innovation, and almost all of the nuances we fifty units. Without encroaching into the conflict gets us into the studio each day. have an impact on the broader spaces that challenge the body and assumed mation, collaboration, and informality, rather fret over are lost on a broader audience. I’m between the political (zoning) and the econom- profession, to teach towards our notions of inhabitation. Our interest is not than the heroic and aesthetically doctrinaire not interested in refuting those advances, but ics of lending, housing design goes nowhere. Cruz: I am not suggesting that each of us should collective responsibility. The conversation in necessarily in producing newness, but rather essays of the ‘90s—Super Modernity, Bilbao/ in doing work that opens them to and chal- turn into the Che Guevara of urbanism, nor that architecture needs to return to space. Technol- in articulating moments of local innovation Getty, and FORM. lenges them in a wider arena. Russell: Architecture is not going to move practice as a rigorous, self-referential, autono- ogy of fabrication, of formal generation, of within existing models, like the paintings of beyond the nuances that only architects can mous process is worth nothing in a world materials: all of these are interesting, but if Francis Bacon, inserting indeterminacy into Peralta: Thanks to everybody for making this Rene Peralta, generica arquitectura, see until we branch out into other areas. Funny polarized by social and economic inequalities. they do not aggregate into architecture, which matter, variability into figure. forum full of passion. I sometimes feel that stu- Tijuana: There are so many pos- thing is, when you ask a community what they We need “good” design. What turns me off is ultimately is about space, something is lost. dents don’t have passion; it’s hard to get them sible futures, since my firm is want, it’s usually more parking and no more that a hyper project of beautification, whether Cruz: French art critic Nicolas Bourriad says form to be critical of our profession. I hope this dia- engaging in writing, film, and density. Architects agree that density is good New Urbanist or avant-garde, continues to hide Russell: I began teaching in the Masters in Real is a tool to anticipate social encounter. I agree, logue demonstrates that to be a young practice architecture, all strategies to for cities and that the suburbs are unsustain- the true problems of our cities. Practice should Estate Development program at Woodbury. and would like to denounce autonomy, to tran- requires sacrifice, passion, and dedication. survive as a young practice. Theory plays an able, yet the public has no idea about this accommodate not only building buildings but Before you take on these tools, you have to be scend the property line and my solitude, so

20 21 left to right: Rene Peralta, Mandelbrot; Iwamoto Scott, Twin Peaks; Lloyd Russell, R3 Triangle, photo by Dave Harrison; Tom Wiscombe, Novosibirsk Pavilion; Gail Borden, Low Country LIne House; Teddy Cruz, Hillside

20 21 Two Generations: a Conversation

David Erdman and Thom Mayne, FAIA

Editor’s note: the full transcript of the David Erdman: In your and your peers’ work, I see a clear intention to render different systems but not conversation is available on the arcCA website let any one become isolated. Often, each is assigned a different materiality and geometry—one for an at www.aiacc.org/arcCA. urban scale, another for the scale of the body. Those different “orders” are never allowed to totally gel. I think about your Sixth Street House and how you were drawing in earlier projects, where the edges are blurry due to a layering of different scales. This layering seems to be a meditation on boundaries and space, on inducing fullness by making those orders less legible. I suspect our generations share this intention, but in different ways.

Thom Mayne: But with Sixth Street, I was attacking the singularity of the thing, and it led immediately to an idea that the elevations were radically different and dealt with the contingency of a particular place. It was connected to an urban idea, a potential for radical difference of things.

Erdman: There seems to be an assumption that working with effects is an effort to reduce multiplicity and limit design to singularities. I can’t say with certainty what the specific effect of a project will be, but I can make sure I’m working with a number of different orders and qualities. The similarity between us is that there’s an intentional murkiness between these orders; the difference may be that they’re more pushed together in our generation than they were in yours, perhaps because of ways of modeling and drawing.

Mayne: It seems, with your work, that the method itself is a connective tissue. Whether it’s Maya or whatever tool you’re using, it changes the equation. That has had a huge effect on your generation. There’s the smoothing or the connectivity that comes out of the computational mathematics. opposite: Morphosis, Diamond Ranch High School, photo by Timothy Hursley; above, Thom Mayne, FAIA, and David Erdman, Erdman: Initially, yes, but it’s evolved. The more recent obsessions with effect, mood, and atmosphere photos courtesy of Morphosis. require different materialities—not necessarily literal materials but often more abstract formations.

22 23 Two Generations: a Conversation

David Erdman and Thom Mayne, FAIA

22 23 left: David Erdman/servo, darkplaces, Santa Monica Museum of Art, 2006, in collaboration with Peter Cho and Elise Co, photo by Erdman Photography; opposite left, Unibail- Morphosis, Phare Tower; opposite right, Morphosis, 6th Street Residence

For example, I’m only interested in “interaction and Gregory Ain and a group of people we all apart and they’re going to be smaller scale, on the east coast it seems very few fully make it psychological or personal. It has to do with going to have to say, “No, I’m not ready. These technologies” or “luminosity” because they provide rejected but who were still there somewhere what people trust you with in terms of invest- through that cycle. the general environment, and maybe in some aren’t my interests, so to move from this proj- other dimensional ecologies that work on the mate- rattling around in our brains. ment. And your job is to do your research. simple way it has to do with what’s going on ect to that project is actually going to harm me, rial stuff I’m organizing in the space. Immaterial Your generation started in a much more In your 40s, you’re in transition. You’re Mayne: New York—I’ve been a transplant there right now with the current political scene, with because the distance is too great, and I need some and material play off one another, and because conceptual territory, and it seems to have the emotionally more frustrated. You’re proba- my whole life, because of the architectural Obama, that he seems to be bringing in large sort of a ramping up to maintain who I am.” they can’t be coordinated within the same software opposite problem. I accepted a simple, generic bly exhausting those ideas that are operating scene—living there now, I’m starting to realize numbers of young people who go up to your At 45, I was so pissed off I could barely or the same dimensions—some operating in four palette, and I find my architecture spatially, only on paper. And you should be ready— it’s a centralized city, power-wise, and com- age, the 20 and 30s who, if they haven’t been talk to anybody, because I was ready to do that or more—they are difficult to organize exclusively organizationally, and other places. You guys: in terms of your energy level, your accom- modity capital is so powerful that it’s extremely disgusted by government, find it totally irrel- work. And now I look back and say, “Actually, using Maya. You have to look at them in many the materials haven’t been invented yet to plishments, where you are in your artistic, difficult, especially for architects. Young archi- evant. And he seems to be galvanizing a whole really, I wasn’t quite ready to do what I thought ways, often prototyping at full scale. accommodate your formal language and your intellectual project, in your research—to start tects get consumed by it. It’s the city of War- new group of people. I was ready to do.” I was thinking about it in When Greg [Lynn] and Sylvia [Lavin] and aspirations, the desires you have that come testing. Teaching’s probably becoming quite hol, and it just swallows you up. The thing that changed me the most— design terms, and maybe that was correct. Neil [Denari] brought us out here to teach, many with the nature of that language. different in terms of the questions you ask. But L.A., for whatever reason, is still an when I hit, say, 50, I was with Richard Wein- But I wasn’t thinking about the complexity of us focused on these almost rote, “demonstration” A lot of you put larger demands on the It’s probably not as much first-principle; it’s institutionalized anarchism, it allows for a cer- stein and we were walking and talking and it takes to accomplish a project on a certain projects—often installations. They offered a way to conceptual part of your work. You aren’t in now much more in sync with where you are tain creativity and freedom and autonomy. Two looking at this and that, and he turned around scale, which takes an organization that you’ve get our hands on technologies that a small practice any way burdened with those types of reali- in your work life and becoming a bit more powerful things in my generation were seeing and said, “Thom, you’ve finally done it. You’ve built up so that it’s not you anymore, it’s your mightn’t otherwise acquire; and they provided a ties or even the potential of those realities. pragmatic because of that—more synthesized, architecture as an autonomous activity and connected the social act and the aesthetic act.” culture. It’s you as a thought leader, with the theoretical territory in which to explore the design That’s going to limit the type of work—instal- typological projects that are paralleling, pos- that autonomy as connected to resistance. Not For him, that’s the definition of architecture. authority and the strength and the talent to implications of LA’s technological assets. Did your lation versus small-scale versus large-scale sibly, your practice, but much less investiga- the resistance and autonomy of modernists in And it was for me, too. I felt it was like the bring people together and multiply your ability early development among colleagues in LA have a project—but it probably should. Something tions into broad theories that don’t even relate the manifesto. A much more calculated, much first building I had ever done, the first time I’d to deal with complex problems. similar progression? important about being 30 to 40 years old: your to building. more personal, private, diminished objective. actually affected society. I did something that I’m working on this project in Paris right job description is establishing your intellectual, It seems impossible to get out of that But still absolutely connected to resistance. It’s could shape behavior, that in some small way now with a group of people who are taking Mayne: When we did that it was very small conceptual, artistic priorities. That’s your job. when you’re young, to win a major competi- still incredibly important, the political nature . . . Forget the modernist—I’m not talking about big pieces of it, and I went over and did a projects, but somehow they were immediately tion at 35—which can be, by the way, a horrible of architecture, part of my practice and my it in those terms, that architecture’s going to charette. We had to make a huge amount of affected by material and tectonics and their Erdman: Did you feel that way yourself? thing. As many times as it’s made careers, it’s person. I would have said it’s a little different change the world. We’ve been there. But, in fact, changes. And I came back and—I don’t mean role. But it was quite conventional, almost ended careers, because you’re not ready. The in your generation. in some way it can change somebody’s life. to be bragging—I was really proud of myself, nineteenth-century. I was looking at Diderot. Mayne: Absolutely. In your 20s, you’re a kid still Koreans talk about making opportunity, and For architects, there’s a huge amount because I got a lot done in five days, and I was There was definitely a commonality at a and you’re just—you’re trying to establish what when you get an opportunity, you have to be Erdman: It’s a big difference. There’s been a kind of serendipity involved in your development, able to solve a huge amount of stuff. I can get mechanical, material, tectonic level among the the project is. In your 30s, it’s still very pos- prepared to utilize that opportunity. You had to of apolitical posture . . . which you have no control over. It’s been frus- my arms around a vast project that has thou- people here. It was challenging the simplic- sible that your practice is not primary, which have gone through these stages in some fash- trating, because I’m a person who would like sands of variables, and I was joking with my ity and the crudeness of the construction that makes sense pragmatically, because nothing ion to be able to utilize it. Mayne: And with that goes the resistance. to have control over my own destiny. Some- wife, “Damn, I actually learned some shit all takes place, and how to protect your artistic important is going to happen—in this country, There’s nothing to resist. I think that’s going thing takes place that will completely change this time.” capital in this part of the world. And it also especially—until you’re 50 anyway, or 45, if you Erdman: In L.A., there’s a legacy of people going to change. Every generation develops at its the responses you as an architect need to make probably came from the tradition of Schindler get lucky. But the commissions will be farther fully through the evolution you outlined, whereas own rate, and part of that development isn’t to resolve the problem. At that point you’re

24 25 left: David Erdman/servo, darkplaces, Santa Monica Museum of Art, 2006, in collaboration with Peter Cho and Elise Co, photo by Erdman Photography; opposite left, Unibail- Morphosis, Phare Tower; opposite right, Morphosis, 6th Street Residence

24 25 The 1990s: A Theoretical Post Mortem

Patricia Morton and Paulette Singley

If the 1990s began in 1988 with MoMA’s “Deconstructivist Architecture” exhibition, they died with the closing of the critical journal of architecture Assemblage, whose forty-one issues spanned from 1986 to 2000. —Paulette Singley

Patricia Morton: Theory’s ascendancy within architecture culture can be traced in the rise of new, outcast institutions, such as the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies (IAUS, 1967-1985) in New York and the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc, founded 1972) in Los Angeles. Oppositions, published by the IAUS, was the original for Assemblage and its successors; it was a livelier, more topical version of what has become a somewhat tired mix of history, theory, and criticism. The members of the IAUS elite corps are now the gray-haired establishment of architecture (Peter Eisenman, Anthony Vidler, Mario Gandelsonas, Diana Agrest, Steven Peterson, Rem Kool- haas, et al.), but they were rebels who broke with International Modernism and brought politics, theory, and history to the fore. A similar thing has happened to the SCI-Arc establishment, but LA’s geographical distance from the dominant East-Coast schools has kept SCI-Arc closer to the edge of both practice and theory.

Paulette Singley: The publication of two anthologies—Kate Nesbitt’s Theorizing a New Agenda for Architecture: An Anthology of Architectural Theory 1965-1995 (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1996) and K. Michael Hays’s Architecture Theory Since 1968 (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1998)—signaled both the rise and the demise of architectural theory. These publications trans- lated what had been an exclusive, rarified bibliography and vocabulary into a semi-transparent and more accessible format and in so doing popularized an elitist body of knowledge. opposite: Oppositions Reader, design by Massimo Vignelli. They collected in one place most of the most important essays that influenced this moment

26 27 The 1990s: A Theoretical Post Mortem

Patricia Morton and Paulette Singley

26 27 left to right: Assemblage 20, April 1993; Theorizing a New Agenda for Architecture: An Anthology of Architectural Theory 1965–1995, Kate Nesbitt, editor; Architecture Theory since 1968, edited by Michael Hays.

in time, bringing together writings by archi- In many circles, it was not simply theory neous voicing of many positions. Out of this Architect: Reconstructing Her Practice, Francesca between those architects who learned to design and political incorrectness pounced upon. Is it tects, architectural theorists, architectural that held sway, but a particular brand of theory wildly diverse range of influences, subjects and Hughes, ed. There was an explosion of inter- on the computer and those who had to learn any wonder that there was a backlash, and that historians, and philosophers. As the title of called postmodernism. But here is where it styles of writing that had been excluded found est in gender, sexuality, and identity and their later (or hire people who know how). And this moment of intensity was not sustainable? Vidler’s The Writing of the Walls: Architectural gets tricky. This was not the postmodern clas- space in publication—feminism, queer theory, expression in architecture. there was a certain amount of sorting out, At times the voices became shrill, the archi- Theory in the Late Enlightenment (Princeton: sicism of Robert Venturi and Michael Graves, postcolonial theory, etc. Also in the 1990s, environmental activ- equivalent to downsizing in the manufacturing tecture increasingly irrelevant, and the ability Princeton Architectural Press, 1987) suggests, which sought architecture’s potential to com- ism and sustainability emerged as a persistent industries, because firms could produce draw- to generate form nearly abandoned. Theory this moment was concerned with writing, municate through the language of form, but Morton: The old slogan “the personal is political, political arena that’s now of actual importance, ings with many fewer staff. risked theorizing itself and architecture out of language, reading difficult texts, and seeking rather a deep reliance on philosophy, on the the political is personal” could be the motto of with global warming on everyone’s mind. This In the early 1990s, during the economic existence. The jouissance and sheer ecstasy of architecture’s theoretical potential. legacy of Marxist thought, on Jacques Derrida’s the 1990s, but it sometimes devolved from a is an area where architects have the power and doldrums before the Clinton-era boom years, this time period produced an excess of words practice of deconstruction, post-structuralist concern with the political aspects of private knowledge to have a huge impact on the pub- architecture students went into animation stu- that eclipsed the necessity of design and even- Morton: In the 1990s, the critique of Modern- analysis, and the death of the author—the life into an excuse for the cult of the personal- lic realm, even given their limited role in the dios, which had lucrative work, while archi- tually eclipsed itself. Today, the volumes of ism was codified and institutionalized, the notion that texts beget more texts, that nobody ity. Politics was drained of actuality; no social design of the built environment. tecture firms were closing and cutting back. Derrida, Jacques Lacan, and even Walter Ben- young rebels became middle-aged culture authors anything. Postmodernism, in this mission was left for architecture in the flurry Simultaneously, architects learned how to use jamin sit on bookshelves collecting dust. stars, and Ivy-League architecture schools guise, entertained the work of both Eisenman of discourse and disciplines that absorbed the Singley: Where language, discourse, and repre- algorithms, tweak the programs, or simply use dominated High Architecture discourse and and Venturi. culture. Koolhaas is the poster child for this sentation represent one end of the intellectual the clunky form-generating software to gener- Morton: Given the corporatism of Robert A.M. practice. Hays’s and Nesbitt’s anthologies froze retreat from a critical architecture (or, some spectrum, the other end might be the body, ate new aesthetics, new cool stuff. Stern, Michael Graves, and Rem Koolhaas, the discourse and its history into a canon, Morton: Could it all be a hangover from the would say, abdication of responsibility). phenomenology, and practices of everyday Forms that had been painstakingly plotted why not some jouissance, some joy, some deca- which could then be ignored as outdated, part Beaux-Arts revival? The figural, the decorative, There were exceptions, like Sam Mock- life. Michel Foucault emerged as a dominant by hand or in model (early Gehry) or generated dence, even if it was “just” words? What hap- of the previous generation of discourse. What and internally-generated form have been the bee, who did exquisite, revolutionary build- influence for critiquing the power of corpo- by “chance” operations (Eisenman at the Wex- pened to the delirious? Architects looked for they left out was as interesting as what they dominant impulses in architectural thinking, ings in the service of poor people. His work real disciplines and their corresponding archi- ler), could be turned out in little time with the alternatives. Sometimes they were frivolous, included: sociological investigations of built although no longer clothed in historical language. was a revelation: you didn’t have to design the tectural institutions. In bodily and cognitive right software. Surface, pattern, spatial ambi- but sometimes they were productive and excit- form, political activism, polemics outside (or equivalent of Birkenstocks to bring a social vision, architecture and theory found common guity, warped roofs, splintered walls, all the ing. There were collaborations between art- against) the academy, guerilla building, com- Singley: If for some, postmodernism never conscience to architecture. ground—in frames, points of view, systems of attributes of what was variously called Decon- ists and architects, strange amalgamated and munity design. really existed, and for others it was politically At the same time, feminism provided a surveillance, or absolutist planning techniques. structivism or blob architecture or other terms. hybrid practices (the HEDGE Collective in Los irresponsible, then for yet others it was a site private/public politics and a way of creating Vision and visuality emerged as dominant What’s most surprising is the degree to Angeles or the Storefront for Art and Architec- Singley: With theory serving as the operative of liberation, intellectual freedom, and class a political practice that wasn’t about bleed- obsessions of designers (at least to the extent which this “new” work looked a lot like hand- ture in New York, for example), and practices term in design education, a new position empowerment. In its quasi-dialectical mode, ing-heart liberalism or urban planning, which that reflective surfaces could be fetishized). made work (think of Zaha Hadid’s Hong Kong that seemed to have nothing to do with “archi- emerged in architecture schools, that of the the periphery was the center, surfaces were seemed to be the only alternatives. And (speak- competition entry), and pretty much every- tecture.” These new practices have led to an architectural theorist. Theory was neither a deep, and ornament was structure. All of the ing of anthologies), three important collections Morton: Technology had an enormous impact thing looked the same. Maybe technology isn’t opening out of architecture, and a new concern homogenous nor a consistent discipline, but groups formerly excluded from power were of feminist work appeared in 1996: The Sex on the obsession with sight and visuality, and determinant. for melding theory with practice. in its more aggressive moments it proposed a given voices and tools with which to operate. of Architecture, Diana Agrest, Patricia Con- not just from the theory side. You can “see” totalizing regime while simultaneously calling Moreover, writing about architecture way, and Leslie Kanes Weisman, eds.; Architec- things differently with computers. CAD and Singley: Marshalling such heady intellectual for the end of totalizing regimes. In disclaim- opened up to include alternative modes—per- ture and Feminism, Debra Coleman, Elizabeth other design software transformed architec- prowess also led to a kind of intellectual terror- ing grand narrative, it in fact constructed one. sonal voice, fragments, letters—the simulta- Danze, and Carol Henderson, eds.; and The ture, and there’s a real generational divide ism in which words were deployed as weapons

28 29 left to right: Assemblage 20, April 1993; Theorizing a New Agenda for Architecture: An Anthology of Architectural Theory 1965–1995, Kate Nesbitt, editor; Architecture Theory since 1968, edited by Michael Hays.

28 29 horticulture, and music. I’ve also begun assisting Causes for Change received my MFA at Art Center in Pasadena. I’ve done rock concert stage International with their vision for developing Exploration Institutes for sets for Korn, Limp Bizkit, and Ice Cube, and I had a gig on The Discov- Children and Youth with Disabilities throughout Latin America. ery Channel—it was crazy—as an illustrator on “Monster House.”

Eric Nulman Scott Uriu (left) SLO 1999, Harvard 2004 Pomona 1993 Lecturer, Cal Poly SLO B+U, Los Angeles (with Herwig Baumgartner, Licensed NY University of Applied Arts, Vienna, 1996) Among Morphosis, Grimshaw Architects, and Ateliers Licensed CA Jean Nouvel, I expected the obvious differences in models of practice The early ‘90s were a tumultuous period in L.A.: Rodney King riots, and theoretical frameworks, but differences in mentorship were more Northridge earthquake, recession. Offices used technology to dig out of challenging than I anticipated. At Morphosis, small project teams the economic wreckage. We started designing with software developed enabled a comprehensive understanding of the project, team hierarchy for the aerospace or movie industry. The thing to own was the refrigera- was relatively flat, and team members participated in consultant and cli- tor size ONYX from SGI, one of the few computers that had a powerful ent meetings. The mentor-protégé relationship Mayne developed—and enough graphics engine to run sophisticated 3D programs. We experi- left to right, top to bottom: Cole Butler, Braly Residence, Lake Tahoe; Dominic Leong, Mobile to which project managers and architects were committed—led to con- enced an evolution like the music recording industry a decade earlier: Art Park, Roosevelt Island, NY; Juan Moreno, with Ghafari Associates, Kansas City Star Building, sistent quality. Access to Sir Nicholas Grimshaw was limited; neverthe- from all analog recording to all digital, and then a mixture of the two. photo by Jeff Millies with Hedrich Blessing; Eric Nulman, Housing; Justin Piercy, Single-family less, the strong office infrastructure focused on employee development. Today we write our own software. house proposal, San Diego; Craig Rizzo, with Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects, LLP, St. Anthony Three partners, each offering a specific expertise, were easily approach- Hospital Chapel, Gig Harbor, Washington, model by Tomoko Briggs, photo by Mark Gesinger; able. I participated in most internal meetings, but only external meet- Michael Young Scott Uriu and Herwig Baumgartner, B + U, LLP, Leisure Activity Generator, Los Angeles; Michael ings that related to my deliverables package—and never client meetings. SLO 1997, Princeton 2005 Young, Apartment Building, Miami, FL At Ateliers Jean Nouvel, in a joint venture with Foster and Partners, the Assistant Professor Adjunct, Cooper Union, NY team struggled constantly, due to lack of hierarchy between the offices Licensed NY and a difference in practice models, and there was no apparent effort My wife just had a baby, and things have gotten really busy. Dominic Leong towards mentorship. Five Schools, Eight Voices, SLO 2001, Columbia 2003 PARA, Brooklyn, NY Justin Piercy Two Surveys I had the chance to work in Bernard Tschumi’s office dur- Pomona 1996 Consistent with arcCA’s practice of “casting a wide net, but poorly mended,” we ing his transition from academia to full-time practitioner. Alonso Balaguer + Associates, Barcelona asked the two Bay Area architecture schools to survey their graduating classes of I share Bernard’s disdain for pure formalism, but I am not “anti-form.” My first job, at a giant Southern California engineering 1998 (one B. Arch., one M. Arch.), and we learned the following things: This discourse still provides a critical perspective, given the increas- firm, did not provide much inspiration but did provide a ingly dexterous formalism we see today. I strongly agree with Bernard solid foundation for organizing a project. A few of the more interesting From CCA, of 21 B. Arch. graduates of the Class of ’98, five are principals of architec- when he says, “Architecture is not a knowledge of form, but a form of things I did in San Francisco are: set design for a FOX-TV/NFL commer- ture firms, five are licensed, two went on to complete masters degrees, and three (or knowledge.” Architects will always design buildings; that is what the cial; forming a collective of artists, graphic designers, animators, musi- maybe four) are working in related fields: urban design, general contracting, lighting Cole Butler public expects, so that’s where we start, what we hope to master and go cians, music producers, and architects in a downtown warehouse space, design (unconfirmed), and as Chief Architect for the Hong Kong government. Woodbury 1995 beyond, to deploy the knowledge of “architectural” thinking to many where we met to create and play; designing and installing a sensory art Laughing Gravy Studios, Truckee more arenas. event to showcase work from a graphic design firm’s five global offices; From UC Berkeley, of 18 respondents from the M. Arch. Class of ’98, three received Licensed CA, NV and a video-sculpture installation for a championship boxing event. joint degrees at Cal, four are principals of architecture firms, six are licensed, two My first job out of school was for a scenery company in Juan Moreno went on to complete PhDs, three are university faculty, one is a non-architectural Carson City, and I went on to do fire special effects. I’ve been a local Pomona 1992 Craig Rizzo business owner, and one is Housing Development Manager for the City of Oakland. planning commissioner, helped establish a 501c3 for the Sierra Green Ghafari Associates, Chicago, IL Woodbury 1994, Art Center 1998 Undergraduate fields of study represented, in addition to architecture, were art, Eng- Building Association, and am helping to establish a co-housing com- Licensed, CA Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects LLP, Seattle, WA lish literature, history, industrial design, linguistics, organizational studies, religious munity. I have a straw bale home under construction and am starting I have been helping El Valor, an organization started thirty I had the great fortune of a small school environment, studies, and urban studies. DD on a Tahoe City fire station. I’ve found the ideal schedule is Monday years ago by a Latina woman with a disabled son. She found that there more like a family, and it’s amazing what everyone’s through Thursday, six weeks on, two weeks off. The time off comes were no reintegration services in Chicago to help her son become a doing: architecture, fashion design, set design, animation, construction, without pay, projects go slower, but I do a better job when I am not so viable part of society. They have a vision for an International Inclusion teaching (all ages), city planners, developers, I think even a baker. I had stressed out. I aspire to be involved with aesthetic projects that contrib- Center, bringing together people of all disabilities and ethnic and socio- always wanted to pursue fine art and considered dropping out of archi- ute to healing the planet. economic backgrounds to learn to reintegrate through the culinary arts, tecture to do so, but I’m glad I didn’t. I learned a lot in school and later

30 31 horticulture, and music. I’ve also begun assisting Causes for Change received my MFA at Art Center in Pasadena. I’ve done rock concert stage International with their vision for developing Exploration Institutes for sets for Korn, Limp Bizkit, and Ice Cube, and I had a gig on The Discov- Children and Youth with Disabilities throughout Latin America. ery Channel—it was crazy—as an illustrator on “Monster House.”

30 31 Stretching the M. Arch.:

Dual Degree Students at Cal

Christopher Sensenig

Between 1997 and 2000, six students—Mara Baum, Jeff Carney, Kari Holmgren, Laura Mezoff, Amit Price Patel, and I—graduated from Washington University’s School of Architecture and went on to pursue dual degrees in architecture and city planning at U.C. Berkeley. Three of these students, Amit, Laura, and Jeff, won the prestigious Branner Traveling Fellowship, a nine-month journey around the world studying a topic of relevance to their theses. Currently, Emily Cub- bison, a 2003 graduate of Wash. U., is completing a dual degree in architecture and landscape architecture at Cal. During this time, no Wash. U. grad has come to Berkeley without pursuing dual degrees. What is it about our experience that led us all to pursue dual degrees? Seven students may form a small sample, but it begins to suggest a common knowledge, worldview, and philosophy about architecture. Whether our experience is more broadly representative of our generation, I can’t say. In this article, I will simply explore how the influence of the City of St. Louis, Washing- ton University, and individual professors led us to pursue dual degrees.

St. Louis The City of St. Louis has been in a constant state of despair since World War II, continually trying to reinvent itself and reclaim some of its previous glory. It is also a city with very visible color and income lines drawn into its fabric. Built for a million people, it has struggled to keep its population above three hundred thousand while the suburbs have exploded, pushing the metropolitan area’s population well above two million. With two thirds of the city’s population missing, only a third of its buildings are inhabited. The vacant city is omnipresent, a constant reminder to those who remain of what is missing and an insurmountable hurdle for new development. opposite: Jo Noero’s Bohemian Hill Infill Housing, While it has had its struggles, St. Louis is filled with vibrant, diverse neighborhoods and photo by Chris Sensenig public parks. Exploring them taught us what it means to live in a city and how both people and

32 33 Stretching the M. Arch.:

Dual Degree Students at Cal

Christopher Sensenig

32 33 left to right: Gaslight Square, a thriving entertainment district through the 1960s, sits empty in 1993. Photo by Paul Hohmann, AIA, vanishingstl.blogspot.com.

A year later, in 1994, this block of Gaslight Square was demolished, typical of the constant decay occurring throughout St. Louis. Photo by Paul Hohmann, AIA.

Typical infill housing project in poorer parts of town. Photo by Chris Sensenig.

buildings create a place. During our time, the loaded classroom buildings. One could wander ate ‘place,’ when everyone is leaving or has in Givens Hall, an intimate 1936 Beaux Arts and the world. What Bob Hansman did outside Mark Dekay, an author of Sun, Wind and city was experiencing drastic changes: Forest the campus for hours and never get bored; already left?” For Mara, a minor in anthropol- building, with a grand, central staircase where of his drawing and painting courses taught us Light, brought sustainability to the forefront Park, the second largest city park in the U.S., every space had a unique character and charm. ogy helped build her interest in the impacts students gather. The scale of the program was the importance of working with and for the when it was largely ignored in the studio and was going through its biggest redesign since The campus taught me the importance of of design on human health and well-being. intimate, as well. Undergrad and grad students neglected people of the city. Through drawing the profession. Mara, who worked closely with the 1906 World’s Fair, and a plan by John Hoal the public realm and how buildings define it. “Design,” she believes, “is not just about cre- took classes together, hung out together, and and painting classes, his organization, City him, pursued architecture and urban design called for daylighting the River des Peres and It also taught me the importance of planning ating beautiful spaces; it’s about the relation- shared experiences. Third semester Option Faces, teaches inner-city youth the importance at Cal with a focus on the environmental and restoring natural habitats. The old loft build- and what kinds of details matter in creating ship between people and those spaces. Study- 3 Masters students took studios with first of one’s creative side. Laura recalls, “Teaching health impacts of buildings and cities. ings of Washington Avenue were transforming a plan. The student union and the old law ing anthropology improved my ability to put semester undergrads. The graduate students for City Faces and having Bob as a profes- The studios of John Hoal, another South into residences and offices, bringing new life school (much hated for its concrete modern myself in other peoples’ shoes.” Erin Cubbison provided leadership and a broader worldview, sor exposed me to a whole new part of urban African who co-founded and directed the to a quiet downtown. One summer, Mara and I aesthetic and since torn down) were contempo- minored in environmental studies, where sci- while undergraduates brought energy, passion, existence and helped me to care about people City of St. Louis’s first urban design depart- watched the demolition of the Darst-Webbe Pub- rary pieces that exemplified the qualities of the ence-based classes encouraged her to pursue and blind faith in design. and parts of the city that are rarely seen by the ment, introduced us to the profession of urban lic Housing Project, the last of the towers that original campus plan. The business school and landscape architecture concurrently with archi- Washington University is steeped in the designer who sits in a glass office all day.” design. Gia Daskalakis and her work in Detroit represented the failed ideals of modernist public new, faux-Gothic law school buildings, by con- tecture at Cal. philosophy of the Bauhaus and Team 10. From Gay Loberbaum taught that architecture and Barcelona taught a very different per- housing, while we worked on a small infill hous- trast, are the antithesis of the plan, with fully A few memorable classes helped me the start, we were encouraged to look beyond is not just the design of an object but of a spective on urban-based architecture and the ing project across the street for Jo Noero. enclosed courtyards, shut off from the public expand my understanding of architecture and the object to the social factors of design. In the meaningful and delightful place for people, a impact of larger forces. Zeuler Lima’s “Archi- St. Louis, the laboratory of our architec- with more than a hint of elitism. These four its role in society. The New Woman in American first design studio, we were taught the “seven collaboration among planners, designers, and culture” studio taught the importance of map- tural adolescence, played a large part in our buildings formed a recurring subject of the Society 1890-1930 was an in-depth look at the essentials”: site context, climate, program, space users, working together toward a better end. ping how the built environment reflects larger understanding of architecture as something architecture curriculum and a favorite topic of birth of feminism; much of the discussion and light, structure and materials, transitions, His emphasis on site and climate became inte- cultural forces. greater than an object. As we explored the city, discussion with our non-architecture friends. focused on the role of the city in the women’s and the meaning of place. gral to our thinking. struggled to understand its contradictions, and movement. Human Behavior, Cultural Anthro- The school also took great advantage of South African architect Jo Noero, chair of University of California, Berkeley and Beyond fell in love with its charm, we experimented A Liberal Arts Education pology, and Introduction to Human Evolution the larger university. Professors from a wide the graduate program, lectured on the impor- Our experiences at Washington University with the altruistic potential of design and the Washington University offers undergradu- taught how people and societies interact with range of subjects lectured in Givens Hall on tance of place and architecture’s role in society, led us all in search of a greater understand- role of the architect in creating place. ates a four-year Bachelor of Arts degree with a place. In particular, Professor Richard Smith’s the relationships between their areas of study both as a catalyst for and a reaction to culture. ing of our built environment. We understood major in architecture. It is a liberal arts educa- final lecture in Human Evolution, a call for and the built environment. Jeff and Kari each As Amit relates, “From Jo, I learned about the that an architecture or planning degree alone Washington University tion, and the classes we took outside of the activism to fight global warming, altered the took a graduate level course taught jointly by long-term importance of design in a larger cul- would not be enough to pursue either field in Washington University’s campus played a simi- School of Architecture broadened our view of way I thought about the world and architec- Architecture and Social Work, exploring the tural and historical context and the responsibil- a way that suited our desires. The dual degree larly large role. Built of Missouri red granite in architecture and led us ultimately to pursue ture’s connection to it. The lecture so moved relationship between the built environment ity of a designer as a political and social being.” program at Cal, as Amit so eloquently points a mostly academic Gothic style, it sits impres- dual graduate degrees. me that I lobbied for it to be given to students and the social problems of the city. Amit, Mara, and I worked for him in his small out, “allowed us to explore a wide range of sively on a hilltop at the city’s edge, overlooking A postmodern comparative literature in the School of Architecture, and it is now St. Louis practice on Red Location, a museum topics that resulted in an invaluable general Forest Park. What I loved about the campus course, exploring the memory of place in rela- part of the sophomore design studio. Professors of Architecture of apartheid in Port Elizabeth and a redevelop- education—almost like a liberal arts graduate was not so much its buildings, but the spaces tion to the construction of place, was defining While each professor at Washington University ment plan for its South African township, and program.” between them. The campus is a maze of inter- for Jeff. In a largely abandoned city like St. Givens Hall played a role, a few great mentors had a special on Bohemian Hill, a small infill housing proj- connected spaces outlined by thin, double- Louis, it led to the question, “How do you cre- Wash. U.’s School of Architecture is housed influence on our understanding of architecture ect in St. Louis.

34 35 left to right: Gaslight Square, a thriving entertainment district through the 1960s, sits empty in 1993. Photo by Paul Hohmann, AIA, vanishingstl.blogspot.com.

A year later, in 1994, this block of Gaslight Square was demolished, typical of the constant decay occurring throughout St. Louis. Photo by Paul Hohmann, AIA.

Typical infill housing project in poorer parts of town. Photo by Chris Sensenig.

34 35 Technology and the Culture of the Profession

Ed Mojica, AIA

The multitude of technological changes of the last two decades have had a tremendous impact on the way architects do things. But it is equally important to recognize and understand the impact on the culture and structure of our profession. When I first started in this profession as a pre-intern in 1989, CAD was just becoming commonplace in architecture firms, but was used mainly by a few, specially trained CAD drafts- persons. Only a select few had a PC at their desks; the bulk of the technology was located in the CAD room. Most work was still produced in the traditional manner: a single designer passing on information via drawings and sketches to a drafting technician, who would complete a sheet of working drawings on a drafting table with pencil or pen on vellum. Other technologies in use at the time were the ammonia-based blueline machine for creating reproductions, the felt or metal tipped pen plotter, 5.25" and 3.25" floppy disks, the KROY lettering machine, and the abundant use of the Letraset® peel-and-stick films and lines. All of these available technologies helped us do things a little faster, but it was still a relatively slow way to produce work. Today we have BIM—Building Information Modeling—3D modeling programs such as Sketchup and FormZ, email and instant messaging, smart phones and the Web. These technologies provide us with a better and faster way to communicate, to find information, and ultimately to be more productive in our work. Everything is faster, smaller, and contains more memory: think iPod nano. Technology has given us the ability to get information now-now. Podcasts, Tivo, and YouTube allow us to find information or entertainment on demand, rather than waiting for a specific showtime. Friends, family, and coworkers easily communicate using email, texting, or IM’ing (instant messaging), regardless of their geographic location. In project delivery, information can be uploaded and shared with a click of the mouse and instantly provide the most current and up-to-date information for our client, contractor, and others. photos: Ragina Johnson Our profession has been profoundly altered by the constant and quickly changing technolo-

36 37 Technology and the Culture of the Profession

Ed Mojica, AIA

36 37 In our profession, the expectation of immediacy has produced some very positive changes. Our generation finds technology to be easily digested, and we understand its continually evolving nature.

gies available to us. The obvious changes have mates as possible as quickly as possible. If to produce happier employees, better projects, which, if an employee is unhappy in a current The changes in technology in the ‘90s cre- to do with increased productivity in our project sparks don’t happen in thirty seconds or less, reduced schedules, and increased profitability. position, it is easy to seek other, more desir- ated many benefits and challenges for our pro- delivery methods, the ability to produce 3D then what is the chance I might like this per- These are among the many positive out- able opportunities. Employment is now seen fession. We can only expect that such changes representations for our clients quickly and effi- son in the long term? We have become stimu- comes that stem from the expectation of imme- as a mutually beneficial business relationship, will accelerate as technology moves in more ciently, and the compressed schedules under lus-driven and often require multiple streams diacy, but it has also caused tensions within which lasts only as long as both parties have interesting and varied directions. Understand- which our projects are required to perform. of information in a short amount of time to the workplace. These tensions usually relate to an interest in it. This situation has given our ing both the direct and indirect implications of More interesting, though, are the changes in keep us interested and focused. our seeming impatience with the way things generation the stigma of being disloyal to our these changes will be critical for the develop- the relationship the ‘90s generation has with In our profession, the expectation of are. We have trouble waiting, because, when firms—especially if the firm has invested quite ment of future generations of architects, for the this profession and others in it. immediacy has produced some very positive it comes to technology, we are used to getting a bit of time and money in the development of culture of the profession, and for the thing we Our generation of architects has many changes. Our generation finds technology to things as quickly as we ask for them. Upon the employee. do best: creating the emotional and spiritual characteristics that are in large part due to be easily digested, and we understand its con- graduation from college, we expected immedi- But if AT&T provides the iPhone with sense of place that we are charged to create. our relationship to this rapidly changing tech- tinually evolving nature. We are comfortable ate licensing (well, at least some of us did). We their service only, and you can’t get it with Ver- nological environment. One that has had the with the speed of change. We thrive on the want to run our own projects, hold positions izon, you’ll change service in a heartbeat to get greatest effect on our profession is the expecta- ‘new’, as we know that it will make our work of leadership, and receive rapid increases in the new service, right? Similarly, if a business tion of immediacy—a desire for those things easier, faster, and better. We anxiously await pay. We are impatient for the opportunity to relationship is not providing the opportunities that we want to happen to happen now. This the next release of our BIM software, know- show our capabilities and to earn our place, necessary for development, those opportuni- expectation stems from our experience with ing it will provide that one tool that will help right now. Because we are so used to having to ties will be sought out elsewhere. This is not technology, which has conditioned and spoiled speed the process of creating construction figure out technology for ourselves, we are self so different from a firm choosing to terminate us. If we want something newer, or smaller, or documents. Email, instant messaging, smart sufficient and willing to take risks—sometimes employment when it judges that it is not get- faster, it is available to us even before we know phones, online social networking communi- to the dismay of our elders. ting what it is paying for. Most of the ‘90s we want it. Consider “speed dating.” Rather ties, and the web keep us globally connected The problem is compounded by the fact Generation simply considers a good place to than meeting people in a more traditional with friends and colleagues and assist us in that the ‘90s left a huge void of qualified archi- work as one with a stimulating and challeng- way—at church, at the store, in the local bar being more productive in our work. If capital- tects when the profession hit a major economic ing environment, a clear path for growth, and scene—the idea is to meet as many potential ized upon, these tools benefit firms by helping low. This void created a competitive market in opportunity for leadership in the firm.

38 39 In our profession, the expectation of immediacy has produced some very positive changes. Our generation finds technology to be easily digested, and we understand its continually evolving nature.

38 39 “ In some ways, I feel that the low “ I think that prestige architecture “ The multi-partof the intern “ Are we really out of firms were exam puzzlesschool did surprised a number on more my lasting that career me. In somesense of ways, supportive of self-worth. and licensing Licensure and Time I watched all “I The multi-partappreciate exam thethe time and my fellow ambitions are university other needs flexibilitypuzzles me. In some ways, I graduates in continually become when 10 or ‘engineers’, postponed Casius Pealer scheduling,appreciate the flexibility in but in consultants’, 15 interns In the 1990s, the time it took for a professional degree graduate to complete licensure requirements more and ‘project while interns than doubled. managers’, otherscheduling, but in other ways ways I werefeel taking On June 20, 1996, the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) admin- while I struggle to istered the last paper-and-pencil version of the Architect Registration Examination (ARE). Thus ended a mentally and physically grueling three-day rite of passage for U.S. architects that offi- remained an the exam cially began in 1962, but had its origins in the nineteenth-century charrettes of the Ecole des thatI feel that I underwent all theI underwent‘intern’ for satisfy their Beaux Arts. What followed that last exam changed the licensure process to this day in multiple and unexpected ways. five years.” all together. That same year, another event occurred that marked a significant change in the licensure “The deeper you get into life, the employers?” process: completion of NCARB’s Intern Development Program (IDP) became required for an allstress of a huge examthe stress NCARB Certificate, which facilitates interstate reciprocity and national architectural practice. harder it is to take the exam. A Now it’s one Although IDP is required by individual state boards rather than by national mandate, states increasingly adopted this requirement throughout the 1990s in accordance with NCARB’s Model Law. At the start of the decade, just fifteen states had made IDP mandatory for initial licensure; friend of mine finished the whole ofnine times instead a of one.” huge examhere, one by the end of the decade, forty-four states and the District of Columbia required IDP. NCARB’s change in 1996 marks the date when IDP could first be called a truly profession-wide program. exam in five months, and I said I there, and The Intern Development Program Selected remarks from interns discussing the effect of the IDP was initially developed in the late 1970s as a voluntary system for interns to document their nine timeswas going to do the same thing. instead computerized ARE with the author at AIA Houston on breadth of professional experience in training areas that NCARB felt were important for architec- it’s like the February 27, 2003, the sixth anniversary of the new ARE. tural practice. In 1978, Mississippi became the first state to make this voluntary program manda- But I have a child, and finding that Published in ArchVoices on February 28, 2003, and available tory, with the intent of ensuring a structured transition between education and practice. Yet IDP of one.” in the archive at www.archvoices.org. never was (and still is not) a structured internship program. much time to study on my own firm is doing

40 41 after work was just impossible.” you a favor.” “ In some ways, I feel that the low “ I think that prestige architecture “ The multi-partof the intern “ Are we really out of firms were exam puzzlesschool did surprised a number on more my lasting that career me. In somesense of ways, supportive of self-worth. and licensing Licensure and Time I watched all “I The multi-partappreciate exam thethe time and my fellow ambitions are university other needs flexibilitypuzzles me. In some ways, I graduates in continually become when 10 or ‘engineers’, postponed Casius Pealer scheduling,appreciate the flexibility in but in consultants’, 15 interns In the 1990s, the time it took for a professional degree graduate to complete licensure requirements more and ‘project while interns than doubled. managers’, otherscheduling, but in other ways ways I werefeel taking On June 20, 1996, the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) admin- while I struggle to istered the last paper-and-pencil version of the Architect Registration Examination (ARE). Thus ended a mentally and physically grueling three-day rite of passage for U.S. architects that offi- remained an the exam cially began in 1962, but had its origins in the nineteenth-century charrettes of the Ecole des thatI feel that I underwent all theI underwent‘intern’ for satisfy their Beaux Arts. What followed that last exam changed the licensure process to this day in multiple and unexpected ways. five years.” all together. That same year, another event occurred that marked a significant change in the licensure “The deeper you get into life, the employers?” process: completion of NCARB’s Intern Development Program (IDP) became required for an allstress of a huge examthe stress NCARB Certificate, which facilitates interstate reciprocity and national architectural practice. harder it is to take the exam. A Now it’s one Although IDP is required by individual state boards rather than by national mandate, states increasingly adopted this requirement throughout the 1990s in accordance with NCARB’s Model Law. At the start of the decade, just fifteen states had made IDP mandatory for initial licensure; friend of mine finished the whole ofnine times instead a of one.” huge examhere, one by the end of the decade, forty-four states and the District of Columbia required IDP. NCARB’s change in 1996 marks the date when IDP could first be called a truly profession-wide program. exam in five months, and I said I there, and The Intern Development Program Selected remarks from interns discussing the effect of the IDP was initially developed in the late 1970s as a voluntary system for interns to document their nine timeswas going to do the same thing. instead computerized ARE with the author at AIA Houston on breadth of professional experience in training areas that NCARB felt were important for architec- it’s like the February 27, 2003, the sixth anniversary of the new ARE. tural practice. In 1978, Mississippi became the first state to make this voluntary program manda- But I have a child, and finding that Published in ArchVoices on February 28, 2003, and available tory, with the intent of ensuring a structured transition between education and practice. Yet IDP of one.” in the archive at www.archvoices.org. never was (and still is not) a structured internship program. much time to study on my own firm is doing

40 41 after work was just impossible.” you a favor.” 2000 2000 1990

Graphs, left to right: 1990 number of states requiring IDP, 1990-2005; 2000 number of individuals registered for IDP, 1990-2000; and total number of ARE divisions taken, 1990-2000. 1990 Source: NCARB States Requiring IDP IDP Record Activity ARE Divisions Taken

A 1999 study of the impact of IDP, the paper and pencil version, as well as when sage. An architect who graduated in the 1990s interns completing licensure, most architects creation” seriously. small number of states, like California, already funded by NCARB, recommended that the compared to other professions. A 2001 com- was far more likely to celebrate licensure as an were unaware of the demographic changes. It is possible, however, that the same deci- allowed this structure, and a number of profes- profession return IDP to a voluntary program parison of the costs of professional licensing individual rather than a shared achievement. Where individual interns expressed frustration sions would have been made even if all the rel- sion-wide task forces had recommended the rather than a mandatory requirement, as there conducted by the American Institute of Cer- Additionally, that celebration was almost cer- with encountering an entirely different system evant data had been available at the time. This change, but there was no clear national direc- were no significant differences between the tified Public Accountants revealed that the tainly triggered by a letter stating that the indi- than had been described to them in school and is certainly what happened when the California tion. The 2005 Internship and Career Survey experiences of interns who participated in the $981 fee for the ARE was higher than that for vidual passed the Mechanical & Electrical Sys- by mentors in practice, they were mostly seen Architects’ Board adopted IDP as a mandatory informed the debate and significantly helped program and those who did not. The results all professional exams other than medicine tems division, for example. For architects who as being lazy and not wanting to take responsi- requirement, despite being provided with evi- state licensing boards to vote two years later to of this study were published in a 2003 issue of ($1,300), more than double accounting ($458) graduated in the 1990s, licensure was most bility for their own professional development. dence that the program had no demonstrable allow the ARE to be taken concurrently with the Journal of Architectural Education in an arti- and law ($429), and more than six times engi- often achieved not with a bang, but a whimper. impact on the internship experience, and with- IDP nationally. cle titled, “A Sociological Analysis of the Intern neering ($150). The Point out identifying any evidence showing other- The AIA again circulated a version of Development Program,” by Dr. Beth Quinn. This increase in price even surprised Time to complete The point of this article is not that the licens- wise. (Although, by the time the CAB made this survey late in 2007, and presumably a Dr. Quinn’s article highlighted the problem many state licensing boards and initially led Together, in the mid-1990s, the internship ing requirements should not have changed this decision, IDP had already become a pro- final report of the results will be available later that “IDP simply assumes the goodwill of the the legislature in Texas to refuse to allow the process and the examination process were during the 1990s. Clearly a paper-and-pencil fession-wide program, and the facts of national in 2008. Hopefully, this biennial survey will employer, regulating only the intern, who is ARE to be administered. At the 1998 AIA Con- restructured in ways that artificially extended examination would be an anachronism today, reciprocity were perhaps more important than continue to be used to inform policy decisions arguably the weaker party in the [employment] vention, the AIA membership passed a formal the time it took most graduates to achieve and IDP was intended to respond to genuine the facts of IDP itself.) about licensure and internship. In addition, relationship.” resolution encouraging NCARB to find ways to licensure. Although there were no statistics concerns about the efficacy of a generic three- the AIA has initiated other significant data Because IDP placed additional require- reduce or mitigate the price of the new exams. at the time, IDP is widely understood now to year apprenticeship. Instead, the point is that Statistics collection efforts aimed at diversity in the pro- ments on interns to get specific work expe- More importantly, however, the technol- take an average of five years to complete. This both the internship and the examination pro- In 2003, the AIA and ArchVoices produced the fession (2003) and licensure rates (2004). riences that they were mostly powerless to ogy used to administer the new ARE was opti- meant that by the time they were eligible to cess changed significantly during the 1990s, first Internship and Career Survey—what was NCARB itself has started compiling data on ensure, the time it took for interns to obtain mized for individual test-takers, rather than start taking the ARE, many interns were fur- and that the impact of those changes was not at the time the most comprehensive survey national licensure rates and, just a year ago, these experiences and document the process a group delivery method. It simply did not ther along in their professional careers with anticipated by architecture graduates during of architecture graduates ever compiled. In released ARE passing rates by school for the was often extended from the three years that make sense to fill a convention hall with com- substantial work responsibilities, and more that time, or by the profession as a whole. 2005, NCARB joined in, and that same survey first time. Other initiatives continue to expand was the norm before. Although many gradu- puters for three or four days once a year, and interns had significant community and family As the AIAS National Vice President in was repeated with a broader reach and conse- our knowledge about professional preparation ates in the 1990s took longer to complete so NCARB turned to a single private testing responsibilities. Interns had to balance these 1996-1997, I was in a unique position to talk quently higher quality data. These two surveys and training, such as the Design Intelligence this new internship program, few leaders in company to administer the ARE year-round at expanded responsibilities to others with their with leaders of the profession during many quantified for the first time the overall impact annual rankings of schools and the Inside- the profession were aware of the extent of the sites across the country. This setting made it own need to study for and take each one of the of these changes and to read all the reports of IDP and the ARE on the licensure process. Arch.org website, which allows architecture impact this new program was having on the logical to split what was once one exam—the nine exams required by the ARE. Perhaps as and surveys that were done to support the These surveys were motivated by the lack of firm employees to comment on the work envi- licensing process. ARE—into nine separate exams that could be a result, interns also took longer to complete changes and measure their impact. Mostly, meaningful, public data on internship that ronment at specific firms. taken individually over time. This fragmenting the ARE than had previously been expected. I was shocked at how little information the could be used to guide public policy decisions These advancements could be said in large Architect Registration Examination of the ARE radically changed how candidates In 2005, the most recent survey of recently profession compiled on students and interns, about licensure requirements. part to be products of the dramatic changes Meanwhile, although IDP had slowly but (and the firms that employ them) viewed the licensed architects on this topic indicated an and consequently at how ill-informed many In 2005, these surveys served to transform that occurred in the profession in the 1990s. steadily gained momentum, the switch to the profession’s licensing process. average of 1.9 years to complete the ARE. discussions and policy decisions were. The fact an ongoing national debate about whether to In any case, when we review the changes to the computerized ARE was a sudden shock. One The accessibility and flexibility of the Overall, regulatory changes to the licens- that there remains only one study done on the allow architecture graduates to begin to take profession in the first decade of the twenty-first initial shock was the dramatic increase in cost new computerized ARE was in many ways an ing process during the 1990s turned a mostly actual benefits of IDP during the program’s the ARE while in the midst of IDP. Because century, we will have a lot more information to of the computerized ARE. NCARB’s need to important improvement for interns. But the three-year licensing process into a seven-year thirty-year history, and that the study recom- the ARE was no longer a single exam, it could dissect and debate. develop sophisticated testing software for the obvious benefits came at the non-obvious cost process on average. Yet, because the profes- mended eliminating the program as a require- be completed concurrently with IDP, short- graphics portions of the exam made the tests of making the exam a highly individualized sion had no public data showing the numbers ment, is evidence that the architecture profes- ening the overall licensing process without extraordinarily expensive when compared to experience rather than a collective rite of pas- of interns completing IDP or the numbers of sion has yet to take research or “knowledge eliminating any substantive requirements. A

42 43 2000 2000 1990

42 43 Silent Generation born 1925-1942 Baby Boomers born 1943-1960 Multiple Generation X Generations: an interview with Sean Fine born 1961-1981 David Roccosalva, Assoc. AIA

Management of Design, an internal seminar series set up in 2005 by Page & Turnbull, a San Francisco- based historic preservation architecture firm, seeks to deepen understanding of current business practices and issues. This lunchtime mentoring program, keying off subjects addressed in Harvard Business Review (HBR), has examined leadership, sales, self-evaluation, staffing, and motivation. The program Millennials born was conceived by David Roccosalva, a young Boomer principal at Page & Turnbull. It is coordinated by Sean Fine, an intern architect, who identifies between Generation X and the Millennials.

arcCA: In its Management of Design series, Page & Turnbull recently addressed practice management across generations. What was the objective?

Fine: Our most recent seminar raised awareness regarding the opportunities and challenges of multiple generations in the workplace and how we work together. Each of us works in teams with others who are not necessarily the same age. An HBR article describing the generations, their attributes, and how they work best, was read and discussed (“The Next 20 Years: How Customer and Workforce Attitudes Will Evolve,” July-August 2007). Rarely was the ideal working condition of one generation the same as or even similar to another. Generation Xers, for example, are entrepreneurial individual workers and expect their teams to be just as entrepreneurial. On the other 1982-2005 hand, the younger Millennials require direction and work best in teams.

arcCA: Who attended?

Fine: Principals, architects, historians, and conservators attended. The group was all you could hope for—a mix of Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials.

44 45 Silent Generation born 1925-1942 Baby Boomers born 1943-1960 Multiple Generation X Generations: an interview with Sean Fine born 1961-1981 David Roccosalva, Assoc. AIA

arcCA: In its Management of Design series, Page & Turnbull recently addressed practice management across generations. What was the objective?

arcCA: Who attended?

Fine: Principals, architects, historians, and conservators attended. The group was all you could hope for—a mix of Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials.

44 45 It was a bit of a shock to Gen-Xers that Millennials did not put work first. The younger crowd has multiple interests—one of which is work— but that is certainly not the priority.

arcCA: Did participants identify with their gen- listened and then generally noted the need for few lessons. The Generation Xers want to try Fine: In a single word, cooperation. In our case, firm, we always look for ways to influence the tecture is a deeply personal creative endeavor. erations? more than just work. It was a bit of a shock it out on a few small projects, see how it goes, it happens to be Xer entrepreneurs needing design intersection between the historic and Generational differences seem to be just one to Gen-Xers that Millennials did not put work then slowly work it into the system. Maybe the others to help achieve their goals. If they cre- the contemporary. Whatever skills get us to among many factors that lead us to different Fine: Not always. It was interesting to see how first. The younger crowd has multiple inter- difference is that Gen X is financially respon- ate an environment that supports and sustains that goal, you can be sure that multiple genera- approaches to our profession. engaged everyone got when it came to feeling ests—one of which is work—but that is cer- sible and doesn’t want to make hasty decisions creative and collaborative group work, they tions were involved. like part of a group or a generation. Or not. tainly not the priority. It’s not easy for Xers, as that would be costly to undo. But sometimes will meet their goals, which include income arcCA: On balance, are generation gaps a Those who clearly identified with their “own” hard-working entrepreneurs, to be completely the entrepreneurial spirit shows through. and financial viability. Although group work, arcCA: Do clients interact differently with positive thing? generation really defended how they work and comfortable with this. as an example, can be more expensive because different generations? Can you project something how accurately they were described. Those arcCA: What other key differences were revealed? it involves more people (hence, more billings), of the future experience with clients? Fine: Absolutely, provided that they can be who fell between generations, myself included, arcCA: An obvious differentiator might be group-think might also be able to solve a prob- managed. Each generation has its own hab- were less likely to identify with the generation adapting to technology. Is it? Fine: Although there were differences in rate lem more quickly and creatively than an indi- Fine: Depends who your clients are, because its, requirements, and attitudes. You will not either above or below. We identified with an of technology adoption, degree of caution, vidual can do. In other cases, a more singularly they come from various generations too. We change those, so a good work environment will unnamed in-between generation but of course Fine: You would think that, the older the gen- priority of work over personal life, and most focused approach might actually be the right find that it’s productive to have profession- recognize the different ways that people work thought of ourselves as having the best attri- eration, the more resistant it is to technology. obviously work habits, there was no difference fit. If clients get good and timely service and als from various generations in positions of and will provide for those habits. The hard butes of the generation older and younger. But remember that Generation X played a between Gen X and Millennial with regard internal morale stays high, why not work in authority. Clients will usually identify best with part isn’t identifying the differences. The hard big part in the development of a lot of the to firm loyalty. Everybody felt loyal, provided multiple kinds of ways according to the pattern some over others. Interestingly, though, those part is identifying the differences that cause arcCA: Management typically is from one technology that we use today. As a whole, it that they could express their own individual- of outcomes you see? comfort levels with the client aren’t necessarily problems—inefficiencies, strife with clients generation and everybody else is from younger gen- was understood and accepted that we need to ity. Generation X needs to have opportunities driven by age—whether you’re laid back or fairly and inside the office. Successfully tackling erations. What discussion did that generate? adapt new technologies, no matter what gener- to assemble their own teams, work out prob- arcCA: When multiple generations work together, aggressive can be a plus or a negative given how problematic differences, whether or not they’re ation we belong to. The difference lies in how lems as they arise, and be responsible and what is the impact on creativity? a client reacts to that kind of personality. rooted in generational issues, will have us all Fine: Our practice happens to be managed quickly and blindly we will jump in. Millenni- accountable for the results. Millennials have a on the way to better business practices. largely by Boomers and Generation X, and als are willing to make wholesale changes, Gen desire to be in groups and work out problems Fine: In the best of all circumstances, I think arcCA: What surprised you most about work is completed by younger Xers, Millenni- X wanted to think it through, see how other collaboratively in a supportive environment the impact can be extraordinary when the fin- this session? als, and those in between who don’t fully iden- people like the technology. Older generations while accepting constructive criticism and est talents of each generation are allowed to tify with either generation. Many of the Xers adopt technology as it is handed to them, using expecting rewards. be expressed, are encouraged to be expressed. Fine: My biggest surprise was that, in spite of commandeered the discussion and described it in a limited capacity and usually not explor- Maybe that occurs in watercolor or in sketch- real differences in how the generations want to what they expected from their teams, and how ing the full potential. An example is the change arcCA: How can entrepreneurial and group-work ing or with computer modeling. We can’t all do work and do work, the differences among indi- they like to work. They are also the largest from AutoCAD to Revit. Millennials and the practitioners be useful to each other? it all, but we can appreciate the range of talents viduals within generations seem just as sig- group represented in the office. Millennials in-betweens are ready to jump in with only a we have around us. As a historic preservation nificant as those across the generations. Archi-

46 47 It was a bit of a shock to Gen-Xers that Millennials did not put work first. The younger crowd has multiple interests—one of which is work— but that is certainly not the priority.

46 47 Blog Is in the Details: Spread the Good Word

Jimmy Stamp

In Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game, protagonist Ender Wiggins finds himself launched into deep space, charged with the task of defending humans from an intergalactic menace. Not content to stand by and do nothing while their brother saves the galaxy, Peter and Valentine Wiggins take it upon themselves to tackle a more terrestrial, yet no less difficult, challenge—preventing the next world war. Using the virtual communications network, “The Nets,” to educate themselves on world history, international politics, and even transportation and infrastructure networks, the Wigginses familiarize themselves with contemporary world politics. Once properly informed, they begin to self-publish their thoughts and concerns onto net discussion groups and private forums. Peter and Valentine are able to attract like-minded thinkers who respond and contribute to their ideas, eventually developing a dialogue having massive global ramifications. In this subplot of Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card was essentially describing a vast and powerful network of political blogs and bloggers. It’s worth noting at this point that Ender’s Game was published in 1977. To make sure we’re all up to speed here, let’s establish a basic definition for the term “weblog” or “blog.” Paraphrased somewhat, Wikipedia defines a blog as “a website where entries are commonly displayed in reverse chronological order, combining text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. Many provide commentary or news on a particular subject while others function as more personal online diaries. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs.” With that taken care of, the question now remains, “What does this have to do with architecture?” For many people, the first serious exposure to architecture and architectural discourse doesn’t come until college, where everything seems to become suddenly accessible at once. The inner sanctum of academia offers its acolytes a well-versed faculty, lively peer groups, studios, histories, crits, discussions, and specialized libraries filled with vast collections of books, maga- opposite, collage of screens from Technorati.com zines, and journals. Views and opinions can finally take shape, technique is developed, and per-

48 49 Blog Is in the Details: Spread the Good Word

Jimmy Stamp

48 49 They are a live, evolving network of individuals— haps the first signs of style begin to appear. Unfortunately for many, the Jimmy’s Top Seven Architecture Blogs content, linking back and forth, and commenting on and creating responses to posts, informal last serious exposure to architecture and architectural discourse occurs networks of common interests are established. This drastically helps the reader distill those 5,405 an infinite classroom or endless studio full of not only architects, when we leave that sanctum sanctorum. Today, thanks to the Internet, Archinect architecture blogs, making it possible to find the desired type of content and avoid those blogs designers, artists, and critics, but also nurses, neither situation is necessarily absolute. From the comfort of their own www.archinect.com that in their eyes have “just broken the water pitcher.” home, a twelve-year-old French boy and an eighty-year-old Japanese Really an architecture community more than butchers, bartenders, and salesman. woman can both learn about the history of architecture in Dubai and an architecture blog. Archinect is a must-read. Just Please Don’t Call it “Blogitecture” Each person has the opportunity to study industry-specific texts, the importance of sustainable design in the desert. Like the children in Take a photo, upload it, write a brief post or description, click “publish” and that’s it. Congratula- Ender’s Game, they have access to a profusion of news, texts, films, pho- A Daily Dose of Architecture: “(Almost) daily tions. You’re a published blogger. With publishing speeds like that, one needn’t wait until next to read first-hand accounts of incredible new works of architecture, tographs, and—most importantly—ideas. musings from New York City.” month’s issue of (insert your favorite architecture magazine here) to get an update on that excit- and to add their voices to the chorus. Blogs are more than the rather static definition given above. They www.archidose.blogspot.com ing new project halfway around the world—if there’s even room for it in that issue, of course. are a live, evolving network of individuals—an infinite classroom or This is the first architecture blog I ever read Returning to young Peter Wiggins, the prescience of Ender’s Game once again becomes clear. endless studio full of not only architects, designers, artists, and crit- and I still check it every day. Inspiring photo- While speaking of his Net publication, Peter Wiggins describes—quoted here slightly out of con- ics, but also nurses, butchers, bartenders, and salesman. Each person graphs and insightful commentary on some of text—what could be considered as one of blogging’s greatest benefits. “We can say the words that has the opportunity to study industry-specific texts, to read first-hand the best contemporary architecture out there. everyone else will be saying two weeks later. We can do that. We don’t have to wait.” accounts of incredible new works of architecture, and to add their voices With the astounding array of content and an immediacy of distribution previously unthink- to the chorus. With this kind of information no longer relegated to stu- BLDG BLOG: “Architecture conjecture. able, it’s now possible to follow almost any project from conception to construction. The instan- dio discussions and university theory seminars, architecture is becom- Urban Speculation. Landscape Futures.” taneity of publication means that an article doesn’t just cover a design when it is unveiled or a ing much more accessible to the public. Welcome to the blogosphere. www.bldgblog.blogspot.com building when construction is complete. It has the power to grow and evolve with the project, Perhaps the most imaginative and poetic archi- making it theoretically possible to document the life of a building—from gestation to ribbon The Only Sure Things are Death and Taxonomy tecture blog out there. Topics range cutting to demolition—and share it with millions of people as it’s happening. Renderings and According to blog search engine Technorati.com, there are 112.8 million from underground civilizations to the sound- photos are published and republished, virtually dispersing around the world almost as soon as unique blogs as of January 2008, 5,405 of which are listed as relevant to scapes of urban environments. they’re made public. To anyone with an Internet connection, the discourse is open long before “architecture.” That may seem like an inaccessible abundance of infor- the doors of the building, and readers are on the inside right from the beginning, critiquing it mation, but blogs are nothing if not 1) specialized and 2) ephemeral. Inhabitat: “Future forward design for the and arguing every step of the way. Readers quickly discover their preferred sites and visit them regularly, world you inhabit.” Comparisons have been made describing blogs as the modern equivalent to the small, often expecting new content. If it’s not there, readership diminishes until the www.inhabitat.com self-published architecture magazines of the ‘60s and ‘70s. Both serve as engines to further new blog drops off the radar—sometimes this happens after years of daily Inhabitat is my go-to source for green design and often radical ideas, featuring passionate authors sharing their ideas and their vision of how updates and regular maintenance. Demand for content is high, and as and prefab architecture. architecture could potentially improve the cities we live in, or even alter our landscape and shape blogs are labors of love, those who write them are typically offered little the world around us. Such polemical projects and ideological stances are by no means foreign to reward besides the fleeting thrill of new comments, continual discus- Strange Harvest the architectural blogosphere, but many blogs currently act primarily as news outlets that inject sion, and the occasional fifteen megabytes of fame. www.strangeharvest.com wit and opinion into their hyper-linked stories. As architecture blogs evolve, more and more may In this group of loosely affiliated, dedicated compatriots, there are Another site with a welcome, broad definition move from reporting and critiquing into actually producing independent work to support their as many different types of architecture blogs as there are architecture of architecture, written by Sam Jacobs, director ideas. There are already those that dig for deeper meaning, trying to understand an architectural bloggers, and more are signing on (5,406...5,407...5,408...) every day. of British architecture firm FAT work on a more conceptual level, so it’s not a stretch to envision a very near future where an Content ranges from the super local (“I’m thinking about renovating affiliation of architecture bloggers—perhaps even an international online design collective—will my apartment...”) to the international; from adding new information Where: “A blog about urban places, placemak- become the next Archigram or Team 10. And who knows, maybe they’ll even achieve interplan- multiple times a day to updating just once a month; from praising the ing, and the concept of ‘place.’” etary peace in the process. work of emerging young architects to spreading the gospel of REM thewhereblog.blogspot.com Koolhaas—sometimes in the same post. Generally speaking, most archi- The subtitle says it all, really. I only need to tecture blogs can be collected into just a few basic categories, but with so add that it’s incredibly well written. many individuals creating unique content, the taxonomy becomes limit- lessly idiosyncratic, reminiscent of yet another famous work of fiction, Super Colossal Borges’s The Analytical Language of John Wilkins. In this work, the author www.supercolossal.ch recalls some of the elaborate classification systems he has encountered; A great Australian blog that has been success- most notably, the “Celestial Empire of Benevolent Knowledge,” a system fully integrated with the writer’s newly-opened dividing animals into categories such as (a) belonging to the emperor, office, Super Colossal. (b) embalmed, (g) stray dogs, (m) having just broken the water pitcher. Luckily, like-minded bloggers tend to attract one another. By sharing

50 51 They are a live, evolving network of individuals— haps the first signs of style begin to appear. Unfortunately for many, the Jimmy’s Top Seven Architecture Blogs content, linking back and forth, and commenting on and creating responses to posts, informal last serious exposure to architecture and architectural discourse occurs networks of common interests are established. This drastically helps the reader distill those 5,405 an infinite classroom or endless studio full of not only architects, when we leave that sanctum sanctorum. Today, thanks to the Internet, Archinect architecture blogs, making it possible to find the desired type of content and avoid those blogs designers, artists, and critics, but also nurses, neither situation is necessarily absolute. From the comfort of their own www.archinect.com that in their eyes have “just broken the water pitcher.” home, a twelve-year-old French boy and an eighty-year-old Japanese Really an architecture community more than butchers, bartenders, and salesman. woman can both learn about the history of architecture in Dubai and an architecture blog. Archinect is a must-read. Just Please Don’t Call it “Blogitecture” Each person has the opportunity to study industry-specific texts, the importance of sustainable design in the desert. Like the children in Take a photo, upload it, write a brief post or description, click “publish” and that’s it. Congratula- Ender’s Game, they have access to a profusion of news, texts, films, pho- A Daily Dose of Architecture: “(Almost) daily tions. You’re a published blogger. With publishing speeds like that, one needn’t wait until next to read first-hand accounts of incredible new works of architecture, tographs, and—most importantly—ideas. musings from New York City.” month’s issue of (insert your favorite architecture magazine here) to get an update on that excit- and to add their voices to the chorus. Blogs are more than the rather static definition given above. They www.archidose.blogspot.com ing new project halfway around the world—if there’s even room for it in that issue, of course. are a live, evolving network of individuals—an infinite classroom or This is the first architecture blog I ever read Returning to young Peter Wiggins, the prescience of Ender’s Game once again becomes clear. endless studio full of not only architects, designers, artists, and crit- and I still check it every day. Inspiring photo- While speaking of his Net publication, Peter Wiggins describes—quoted here slightly out of con- ics, but also nurses, butchers, bartenders, and salesman. Each person graphs and insightful commentary on some of text—what could be considered as one of blogging’s greatest benefits. “We can say the words that has the opportunity to study industry-specific texts, to read first-hand the best contemporary architecture out there. everyone else will be saying two weeks later. We can do that. We don’t have to wait.” accounts of incredible new works of architecture, and to add their voices With the astounding array of content and an immediacy of distribution previously unthink- to the chorus. With this kind of information no longer relegated to stu- BLDG BLOG: “Architecture conjecture. able, it’s now possible to follow almost any project from conception to construction. The instan- dio discussions and university theory seminars, architecture is becom- Urban Speculation. Landscape Futures.” taneity of publication means that an article doesn’t just cover a design when it is unveiled or a ing much more accessible to the public. Welcome to the blogosphere. www.bldgblog.blogspot.com building when construction is complete. It has the power to grow and evolve with the project, Perhaps the most imaginative and poetic archi- making it theoretically possible to document the life of a building—from gestation to ribbon The Only Sure Things are Death and Taxonomy tecture blog out there. Topics range cutting to demolition—and share it with millions of people as it’s happening. Renderings and According to blog search engine Technorati.com, there are 112.8 million from underground civilizations to the sound- photos are published and republished, virtually dispersing around the world almost as soon as unique blogs as of January 2008, 5,405 of which are listed as relevant to scapes of urban environments. they’re made public. To anyone with an Internet connection, the discourse is open long before “architecture.” That may seem like an inaccessible abundance of infor- the doors of the building, and readers are on the inside right from the beginning, critiquing it mation, but blogs are nothing if not 1) specialized and 2) ephemeral. Inhabitat: “Future forward design for the and arguing every step of the way. Readers quickly discover their preferred sites and visit them regularly, world you inhabit.” Comparisons have been made describing blogs as the modern equivalent to the small, often expecting new content. If it’s not there, readership diminishes until the www.inhabitat.com self-published architecture magazines of the ‘60s and ‘70s. Both serve as engines to further new blog drops off the radar—sometimes this happens after years of daily Inhabitat is my go-to source for green design and often radical ideas, featuring passionate authors sharing their ideas and their vision of how updates and regular maintenance. Demand for content is high, and as and prefab architecture. architecture could potentially improve the cities we live in, or even alter our landscape and shape blogs are labors of love, those who write them are typically offered little the world around us. Such polemical projects and ideological stances are by no means foreign to reward besides the fleeting thrill of new comments, continual discus- Strange Harvest the architectural blogosphere, but many blogs currently act primarily as news outlets that inject sion, and the occasional fifteen megabytes of fame. www.strangeharvest.com wit and opinion into their hyper-linked stories. As architecture blogs evolve, more and more may In this group of loosely affiliated, dedicated compatriots, there are Another site with a welcome, broad definition move from reporting and critiquing into actually producing independent work to support their as many different types of architecture blogs as there are architecture of architecture, written by Sam Jacobs, director ideas. There are already those that dig for deeper meaning, trying to understand an architectural bloggers, and more are signing on (5,406...5,407...5,408...) every day. of British architecture firm FAT work on a more conceptual level, so it’s not a stretch to envision a very near future where an Content ranges from the super local (“I’m thinking about renovating affiliation of architecture bloggers—perhaps even an international online design collective—will my apartment...”) to the international; from adding new information Where: “A blog about urban places, placemak- become the next Archigram or Team 10. And who knows, maybe they’ll even achieve interplan- multiple times a day to updating just once a month; from praising the ing, and the concept of ‘place.’” etary peace in the process. work of emerging young architects to spreading the gospel of REM thewhereblog.blogspot.com Koolhaas—sometimes in the same post. Generally speaking, most archi- The subtitle says it all, really. I only need to tecture blogs can be collected into just a few basic categories, but with so add that it’s incredibly well written. many individuals creating unique content, the taxonomy becomes limit- lessly idiosyncratic, reminiscent of yet another famous work of fiction, Super Colossal Borges’s The Analytical Language of John Wilkins. In this work, the author www.supercolossal.ch recalls some of the elaborate classification systems he has encountered; A great Australian blog that has been success- most notably, the “Celestial Empire of Benevolent Knowledge,” a system fully integrated with the writer’s newly-opened dividing animals into categories such as (a) belonging to the emperor, office, Super Colossal. (b) embalmed, (g) stray dogs, (m) having just broken the water pitcher. Luckily, like-minded bloggers tend to attract one another. By sharing

50 51 A Conversation with Shigeru Ban

Michael Franklin Ross, FAIA

The 2007 AIACC Monterey Design Conference convened in Pacific Grove last October. The conference was about sharing ideas and inspiring architects to think beyond their daily practice and be innovative. The theme was “the Lateral and the Vertical”: vertical is about aspiring to new heights, while lateral is about a design logic that moves beyond the traditional. The Keynote Speaker was Shigeru Ban, Hon. FAIA, a Japanese architect with a diverse and international practice. Ban spoke about his architecture, his humanitarian efforts worldwide, providing housing to victims of natural disasters, and his design philosophy. He epitomized the Design Conference theme by showing work that both aspires to new heights and provokes us to think beyond the traditional. Ban first gained international prominence by making architecture out of non-traditional materials such as cardboard tubes and more recently out of shipping containers. By converting these banal and everyday materials into poetic, lyrical forms and spaces, Ban has inspired all of us to think differently, to imagine, and to dream. After his lecture, Michael Franklin Ross, FAIA, had an opportunity to sit down with Shigeru Ban to discuss his work.

arcCA: You have designed housing for displaced refugees in Rwanda, a paper-tube church for earthquake victims in Kobe, and shelters for victims of natural disasters in India, Africa, and Asia. What moves you to do this?

Ban: Even in disaster areas, I want to create beautiful buildings; this is what it means to build a monument for common people.

arcCA: I noticed you designed a bridge made of cardboard tubes across the Gardon River in the south of opposite, Nomadic Museum, photo by Michael Moran France. It is adjacent to the Roman aqueduct Pont du Gard. What was your idea for this bridge?

52 53 A Conversation with Shigeru Ban

Michael Franklin Ross, FAIA

Ban: Even in disaster areas, I want to create beautiful buildings; this is what it means to build a monument for common people.

52 53 left page, Paper Bridge, photo by Didier Boy de la Tour this page, Nomadic Museum, photo by Michael Moran

Ban: I built this bridge with my students. I tects. For example, using interesting formwork Japan Pavilion, in consultation with Frei Otto, in Containers are made for things, not for people. from outside to inside. You know France is So he did it as a hobby and out of interest. He brought my Japanese students to work with with concrete or exploring the use of industrial Hanover. Do you still have an interest in paper- I never thought of using the inside of the con- shaped somewhat like a hexagon. It is an would always ask me to come over at 6 p.m. local students. It’s only up for the summer, for materials. Also, trying different construction tube structures? tainer, but I use the container as a structural admired geometry in France. We used the He would do all his calculations. He taught me a festival. Afterwards, they dismantle it and methods has had an influence on me. It’s the element, to frame the space. So that’s the dif- interlocking hexagons as the structural system, to see the structural engineering process visu- rebuild it next year. It is a very interesting con- same as the Farnsworth House idea, making Ban: Not only paper tubes. That’s only part of ference. which allows the roof to bend and slope while ally, almost intuitively. Then, exactly at 7 p.m., trast, the Roman stone bridge and the paper an interesting building with minimal use of it. I still have an interest, but not particularly maintaining structural integrity. In the design he would get bored, and he would ask his bridge. Paper, too, can be strong and lasting. materials. At Farnsworth, Mies called the glass in paper tubes. I want to create my own struc- arcCA: I understand very well. I visited your concept, the landscaped garden came first, housekeeper to bring in food and whiskey. He skin the curtain wall, but removing the wall is tural system. When we read the history books Nomadic Museum on a pier in New York City and the roof is like a “tent” over the garden. would always tell interesting stories. arcCA: It can be dismantled and rebuilt. This cheaper, and it allows the use of an industrial and see new structural materials, new archi- and the Nomadic Museum adjacent to the Santa We won this project through an international reminds me of Japanese Pagodas that were dis- material that is an actual curtain. I am also tecture comes out of it. Otherwise, you are just Monica Pier in southern California. The linear competition. arcCA: With work all over the world, what would mantled during the feudal wars and then rebuilt. interested in using materials for multi-pur- following the fashion of the period. And I am space with the paper-tube colonnade was very you consider to be an exciting project for you in All the pieces were numbered so they could be poses, like using storage units as structure, so not really interested in following the fashion. powerful. Are there going to be more Nomadic arcCA: I mentioned that Cecil Balmond won the next few years? re-assembled without the use of nails or screws. Is the structure becomes more invisible. Museums? the Gengo Matsui Prize. Since you studied with this Japanese recycling? arcCA: You mentioned that you are interested in Gengo Matsui, what was he like, and how did he Ban: Obviously, it doesn’t depend on size. I arcCA: I notice you are very interested in structure using industrial materials in unusual and creative Ban: The last one is in Tokyo. We rent the con- influence your thinking? enjoy an innovative challenge and a client Ban: Yes it is, but I never studied Japanese and work with some of the world’s most innovative ways, such as your use of shipping containers in tainers locally, so there is no need to ship the who accepts new ideas. It is very enjoyable. I architecture, so I don’t connect my ideas with structural engineers. the design of the Nomadic Museums. I’m sure structural elements. Each museum is made Ban: He passed away a number of years ago, but receive many invitations outside of Japan, but Japanese history. You know where I got the you heard that Kisho Kurokawa died last week. to fit into the local situation, and there is no he was the leading structural engineer in Japan. you know I have only five residential build- Japanese influence? From the Case Study Ban: I studied in Japan with Gengo Matsui. He designed the Nakagin Capsule Building, using waste. It is very sustainable. I started working with him on the paper-tube ings in Japan right now. The recently com- Houses in California, from Craig Ellwood and Later, I’ve worked with Frei Otto on the Japan refined shipping containers as mini-apartments structures. He was the only one at that time pleted Nicolas Hayek Center for Swatch Group others who created intermediate spaces. Pavilion in Hanover, Germany, with Buro Hap- and hotel rooms in the Ginza district of Tokyo. arcCA: I understand you are working with Cecil who was very innovative in Japan. He designed in Tokyo was a commission not from Japanese pold on the Nomadic Museums, and with Cecil Balmond, Arup Fellow, on the roof canopy for the many timber structures and bamboo struc- but Swiss. I grew up in Japan, and it would be arcCA: You also create the flow of space from Balmond of ARUP on the Pompidou Centre in Ban: Yes, I heard about Kisho Kurokawa. He new Pompidou Centre in Metz, France. Balmond tures, so I asked him to work with paper. I said very good to do something experimental in inside to outside, as in your now famous Curtain Metz, France. was a very talented architect, but I use ship- won the Gengo Matsui Prize in 2002 as the out- to him, after wood and bamboo, then why not Japan. We have excellent general contractors Wall House, where you used an actual curtain. ping containers in a different way. I had a ter- standing structural engineer in the world. What’s paper? Because he was so famous, it was dif- and craftsmen. arcCA: In 2000, you were able to realize two rible experience in Turkey, after an earthquake, unique about the roof? ficult to approach him with small things. Yet, Ban: Yes. It’s not only about inside/outside, but extraordinary paper-tube structures: the Paper when people were living inside of the contain- since he lived alone and was single, he would also about the construction process. I am inter- Arch at the Museum of Modern Art, Abby Aldrich ers. It was very hot and then it was very cold Ban: The roof was inspired by a Chinese straw ask me to come to his home instead of the ested in the experiments done by those archi- Rockefeller Sculpture Garden in New York and the inside the containers. It is a horrible space. hat, but it is more complex than that. It flows office, because he knew I could not pay him.

54 55 left page, Paper Bridge, photo by Didier Boy de la Tour this page, Nomadic Museum, photo by Michael Moran

54 55 of Highway 101, it is bounded by Bayshore A typical residential density in San Fran- the most important principles, the AIA Com- Boulevard on the west and Tunnel Avenue cisco is approximately 25 dwelling units per mittee on the Environment has developed its to the east. Landmarks in the neighborhood gross acre or 50 dwelling units per net acre. “Top Ten” measures for sustainable design, include Candlestick Park on the shores of the To achieve eco-effectiveness at a neighborhood which entrants may use as a loose guideline: Bay to the northeast and the Cow Palace to the scale, it was anticipated that the site might “Great design includes environmental, tech- west. The area is surrounded by a broad variety tend more toward the 50 to 60 dwelling units nical, and aesthetic excellence. Stewardship, The twenty-four-hour life of the urban fabric of our communities is of residential, commercial, and industrial uses. per gross acre density. A typical project in this performance, and inspiration are essential and Off Grid Ideas Competition affecting not only the natural environment, but human health and Only a short distance from both downtown area might be required to park the site at a inseparable.” (See the AIA Top Ten Green Proj- well-being. As noted by the U.S. Green Building Council, buildings in San Francisco and the high-tech environment ratio of 1.5 to 2 cars per dwelling unit on site; ect Metrics at http://aiatopten.org.) The William Turnbull, Jr. the U.S. consume more than 30% of our total energy and 60% of our of Silicon Valley, there are an abundance of the competition developer was permitted, as The jury reviewed each submission on Environmental Prize electricity. The U.S. consumes 5 billion gallons of potable water per day resources available for creative development. an environmentally friendly designer, to work the basis of the multi-dimensional impact the just to flush toilets. A typical North American commercial construc- A previous study of this site had yielded with a reduced parking requirement of .75 ideas offer for re-shaping the way in which we Sponsored by the California Architectural Foundation tion project generates up to 2.5 pounds of solid waste per square foot of a planning overlay that outlines a series of spaces per dwelling unit on site. That require- create our communities. While components In conjunction with the 2007 AIACC Monterey Design Conference floor area. Sustainable design practices can substantially reduce these mixed-use commercial and residential over- ment could be further reduced with justification and systems need not have been wholly drawn negative environmental impacts and reverse the trend of unsustainable lay zones. A current Planning Department and narrative regarding how transportation will from existing technologies, it was expected construction practices, but we must look beyond doing less harm to pro- study also outlines a conceptual open-space be handled through alternative means. that the concepts are realizable within the near viding designs that heal the earth. network, to be taken as a guideline and not a Achieving a “zero carbon footprint” is term. Inclusion of concepts drawn from ongo- The California Architectural Foundation challenged architects, requirement—commitment to public access difficult on an individual dwelling or business ing research and the application of previously students, designers, planners, and all interested individuals to develop to open space is the underlying issue. Consid- scale. It becomes increasingly achievable as the theoretical elements was encouraged. The goal solutions to reduce the environmental impacts on our planet, slow eration should be given to the scale of the sur- design approaches a neighborhood scale. There was to stretch the imagination of all who are urban sprawl, and discover innovative ways to effectively reuse existing rounding community and how the proposed is, no doubt, a tipping point where the density exposed to the concepts that emerge, leading resources. The aim of the competition was to examine strategies that development will enhance the area beyond of development goes beyond the eco-advan- our profession toward a carbon neutral future. not only minimize the footprint created by the construction and ongo- the immediate boundaries of the site. At the tages and slides toward over-development. It ing operation of a project but reach beyond to heal the damage inflicted same time, it is expected and desired that this was incumbent upon the submissions to find Eligibility by less sensitive development. development be seen as a new landmark for all that optimal point and to describe the way in The competition was open to any California who pass on the nearby 101 freeway. Adjust- which it can be quantified. resident (including students who attend school The Brief ments to scale and density that are supported in California, but may not be official residents The competition sought sustainable solutions for urban infill projects by analysis based on the ability to better go “off Criteria of California). with a zero carbon footprint. The site is an approximately sixty-acre par- grid” will be assessed to determine the eco- Definitions of “sustainable design” vary and cel located in Visitacion Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula. Just west advantage of the increases. are subject to interpretation. To help clarify

56 57 of Highway 101, it is bounded by Bayshore A typical residential density in San Fran- the most important principles, the AIA Com- Boulevard on the west and Tunnel Avenue cisco is approximately 25 dwelling units per mittee on the Environment has developed its to the east. Landmarks in the neighborhood gross acre or 50 dwelling units per net acre. “Top Ten” measures for sustainable design, include Candlestick Park on the shores of the To achieve eco-effectiveness at a neighborhood which entrants may use as a loose guideline: Bay to the northeast and the Cow Palace to the scale, it was anticipated that the site might “Great design includes environmental, tech- west. The area is surrounded by a broad variety tend more toward the 50 to 60 dwelling units nical, and aesthetic excellence. Stewardship, The twenty-four-hour life of the urban fabric of our communities is of residential, commercial, and industrial uses. per gross acre density. A typical project in this performance, and inspiration are essential and Off Grid Ideas Competition affecting not only the natural environment, but human health and Only a short distance from both downtown area might be required to park the site at a inseparable.” (See the AIA Top Ten Green Proj- well-being. As noted by the U.S. Green Building Council, buildings in San Francisco and the high-tech environment ratio of 1.5 to 2 cars per dwelling unit on site; ect Metrics at http://aiatopten.org.) The William Turnbull, Jr. the U.S. consume more than 30% of our total energy and 60% of our of Silicon Valley, there are an abundance of the competition developer was permitted, as The jury reviewed each submission on Environmental Prize electricity. The U.S. consumes 5 billion gallons of potable water per day resources available for creative development. an environmentally friendly designer, to work the basis of the multi-dimensional impact the just to flush toilets. A typical North American commercial construc- A previous study of this site had yielded with a reduced parking requirement of .75 ideas offer for re-shaping the way in which we Sponsored by the California Architectural Foundation tion project generates up to 2.5 pounds of solid waste per square foot of a planning overlay that outlines a series of spaces per dwelling unit on site. That require- create our communities. While components In conjunction with the 2007 AIACC Monterey Design Conference floor area. Sustainable design practices can substantially reduce these mixed-use commercial and residential over- ment could be further reduced with justification and systems need not have been wholly drawn negative environmental impacts and reverse the trend of unsustainable lay zones. A current Planning Department and narrative regarding how transportation will from existing technologies, it was expected construction practices, but we must look beyond doing less harm to pro- study also outlines a conceptual open-space be handled through alternative means. that the concepts are realizable within the near viding designs that heal the earth. network, to be taken as a guideline and not a Achieving a “zero carbon footprint” is term. Inclusion of concepts drawn from ongo- The California Architectural Foundation challenged architects, requirement—commitment to public access difficult on an individual dwelling or business ing research and the application of previously students, designers, planners, and all interested individuals to develop to open space is the underlying issue. Consid- scale. It becomes increasingly achievable as the theoretical elements was encouraged. The goal solutions to reduce the environmental impacts on our planet, slow eration should be given to the scale of the sur- design approaches a neighborhood scale. There was to stretch the imagination of all who are urban sprawl, and discover innovative ways to effectively reuse existing rounding community and how the proposed is, no doubt, a tipping point where the density exposed to the concepts that emerge, leading resources. The aim of the competition was to examine strategies that development will enhance the area beyond of development goes beyond the eco-advan- our profession toward a carbon neutral future. not only minimize the footprint created by the construction and ongo- the immediate boundaries of the site. At the tages and slides toward over-development. It ing operation of a project but reach beyond to heal the damage inflicted same time, it is expected and desired that this was incumbent upon the submissions to find Eligibility by less sensitive development. development be seen as a new landmark for all that optimal point and to describe the way in The competition was open to any California who pass on the nearby 101 freeway. Adjust- which it can be quantified. resident (including students who attend school The Brief ments to scale and density that are supported in California, but may not be official residents The competition sought sustainable solutions for urban infill projects by analysis based on the ability to better go “off Criteria of California). with a zero carbon footprint. The site is an approximately sixty-acre par- grid” will be assessed to determine the eco- Definitions of “sustainable design” vary and cel located in Visitacion Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula. Just west advantage of the increases. are subject to interpretation. To help clarify

56 57 JURY WINNERS “Cascading Energy” to the world that a sustainable urban commu- Lance Bird, FAIA 1ST PRIZE: DES Architects + Engineers nity is possible and preferable. A dual-pronged La Canada Design Group, Inc. Commendation Award Redwood City approach is used to both generate energy and Costa Mesa ($2,500 plus $5,000 to the architecture reduce consumption to neutralize the carbon school of the winner’s choosing, the Design Team: emissions and environmental impact of the site. Mary Griffin, FAIA College of Architecture and Environmental Candice Lui The site tells us what it wants to be. It Turnbull Griffin Haesloop Design, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo) Tracy Wong wants to be tall to take advantage of the high San Francisco Howard Kwok winds. It wants to be compact in design to Chi-Wing Wong reduce energy consumption. It wants to pay Harrison Fraker, FAIA Ginny Yi homage to its past as home of the former Dean, College of Environmental Design Waibun Lee Schlage Factory. It wants to be connected to UC Berkeley Rico del Moral adjacent neighborhoods. It wants to use its Amy M. Strazzarino open space to unite the community in festi- Byron K. Wong vals, to grow its own food, and to filter its own Enoc Lira pollutants. Energy transforms from a physical state to Cascading Energy is energy transferred. Wind a communal vibrance to a cultural enterprise. becomes electricity. Electricity converts to a social The flow continues and energy cascades. vigor. Social vigor sustains an economic life. This new development is about creating, con- serving, and sustaining energy in all its forms. Visitacion Valley is the gateway to the City of San Francisco. At the threshold of this entry is a new architectural billboard declaring

58 59 JURY WINNERS “Cascading Energy” to the world that a sustainable urban commu- Lance Bird, FAIA 1ST PRIZE: DES Architects + Engineers nity is possible and preferable. A dual-pronged La Canada Design Group, Inc. Commendation Award Redwood City approach is used to both generate energy and Costa Mesa ($2,500 plus $5,000 to the architecture reduce consumption to neutralize the carbon school of the winner’s choosing, the Design Team: emissions and environmental impact of the site. Mary Griffin, FAIA College of Architecture and Environmental Candice Lui The site tells us what it wants to be. It Turnbull Griffin Haesloop Design, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo) Tracy Wong wants to be tall to take advantage of the high San Francisco Howard Kwok winds. It wants to be compact in design to Chi-Wing Wong reduce energy consumption. It wants to pay Harrison Fraker, FAIA Ginny Yi homage to its past as home of the former Dean, College of Environmental Design Waibun Lee Schlage Factory. It wants to be connected to UC Berkeley Rico del Moral adjacent neighborhoods. It wants to use its Amy M. Strazzarino open space to unite the community in festi- Byron K. Wong vals, to grow its own food, and to filter its own Enoc Lira pollutants. Energy transforms from a physical state to Cascading Energy is energy transferred. Wind a communal vibrance to a cultural enterprise. becomes electricity. Electricity converts to a social The flow continues and energy cascades. vigor. Social vigor sustains an economic life. This new development is about creating, con- serving, and sustaining energy in all its forms. Visitacion Valley is the gateway to the City of San Francisco. At the threshold of this entry is a new architectural billboard declaring

58 59 2ND PRIZE: Architecture is in the midst of a revolution. architectural system is a colony of non-dif- Citation Award ($1,250) In order to continue to prosper as a practice, ferentiated cellular units. These units can be we must strive to meet the needs of a rap- removed or added without compromising the “Dissipative Colony” idly changing environment. Seeking a carbon integrity of the system. Gray Dougherty, Assoc. AIA neutral existence using solutions that employ In this investigation, each cell contains Dan Sullivan established technology allows scientists to all necessary pieces for survival. The networks Albany determine the future of habitation while leaving created by each system overlap and intersect architects within the dated modernist envelope. to form a fully redundant, decentralized, com- Architecture as a static object defies all plex organism. Natural systems inform the notions of a sustainable system, and thus the architecture in terms of efficiency of primary use of the empty box approach to versatility structure, the employment of redundancy, and fails. A sustainable system must not only draw the use of complex, non-static, adaptive or on material technology but must be systemi- cybernetic structural systems. cally as well as spatially adaptable, relieving We can no longer afford to imagine our- pressure from material sourcing, waste cre- selves as the commanders of nature, and our ation, and decay. current model cannot be changed to accommo- Our current building system is artificial date this new strategy. Only by engaging dras- and inefficient, pitting man against nature. But tic changes, creating architecture as a living, for true solutions to these problems, we need organic insertion, participating in the natural only look to the natural world. Systems biology cycle, will we be able to regain balance. tells us that as cellular specialization increases within an organism, regenerative and adaptive capacity decreases proportionally. Therefore, the proper mimetic system for a fully adaptive

60 61 2ND PRIZE: Architecture is in the midst of a revolution. architectural system is a colony of non-dif- Citation Award ($1,250) In order to continue to prosper as a practice, ferentiated cellular units. These units can be we must strive to meet the needs of a rap- removed or added without compromising the “Dissipative Colony” idly changing environment. Seeking a carbon integrity of the system. Gray Dougherty, Assoc. AIA neutral existence using solutions that employ In this investigation, each cell contains Dan Sullivan established technology allows scientists to all necessary pieces for survival. The networks Albany determine the future of habitation while leaving created by each system overlap and intersect architects within the dated modernist envelope. to form a fully redundant, decentralized, com- Architecture as a static object defies all plex organism. Natural systems inform the notions of a sustainable system, and thus the architecture in terms of efficiency of primary use of the empty box approach to versatility structure, the employment of redundancy, and fails. A sustainable system must not only draw the use of complex, non-static, adaptive or on material technology but must be systemi- cybernetic structural systems. cally as well as spatially adaptable, relieving We can no longer afford to imagine our- pressure from material sourcing, waste cre- selves as the commanders of nature, and our ation, and decay. current model cannot be changed to accommo- Our current building system is artificial date this new strategy. Only by engaging dras- and inefficient, pitting man against nature. But tic changes, creating architecture as a living, for true solutions to these problems, we need organic insertion, participating in the natural only look to the natural world. Systems biology cycle, will we be able to regain balance. tells us that as cellular specialization increases within an organism, regenerative and adaptive capacity decreases proportionally. Therefore, the proper mimetic system for a fully adaptive

60 61 2ND PRIZE: Passive Energy Conservation Building Strategies Green Construction Practices Citation Award ($1,250) • South side overhangs. • Modular construction to reduce the waste • High narrow windows to admit more useful generated on site. “Off-Grid Community” daylight. • Recycling all waste, including day-to-day IBE Consulting Engineers • Minimizing energy intensive commercial worker lunch trash. Sherman Oaks zones. • Site soil erosion prevention plan. • Operable windows. Design Team: • Openings oriented towards the prevailing Promotion of Energy Efficient Transportation Danielle Krauel summer breezes. • No inefficient cars will have parking on-site; Howard Ho • Taller buildings on the south side provide limited parking provided for hybrid vehicles. Peter Simmonds shading during the summer months. • Lend-a-bike system. Michael Leung • Natural ventilation. • Easy access to local mass transit such as the Neil Alexander MUNI and Cal Train. Christie Lyons Rapidly Renewable and Innovative Building Materials • Create an education program to bring green Isaac Chambers • Bamboo floors and other finishes. transportation to the tenants. Paul Baker • Recycled PET Carpet with low VOCs and Patrick Wilkinson lower impact dye process. Efficient Resource Management Hong Gip (Cannon Design) • Bonded Logic Ultra touch denim insulation, • Low-flow fixtures and waterless urinals. made of recycled jeans. • Rainwater harvesting. • Double-paned, Low-E, argon filled glazing. • Drought-resistant flora. • Use of recycled and locally sourced materials. • Gray water reclamation and reuse. • Reuse existing site materials. • On-site wastewater treatment before dis- charging to the sewage system. • Recycling center.

62 63 2ND PRIZE: Passive Energy Conservation Building Strategies Green Construction Practices Citation Award ($1,250) • South side overhangs. • Modular construction to reduce the waste • High narrow windows to admit more useful generated on site. “Off-Grid Community” daylight. • Recycling all waste, including day-to-day IBE Consulting Engineers • Minimizing energy intensive commercial worker lunch trash. Sherman Oaks zones. • Site soil erosion prevention plan. • Operable windows. Design Team: • Openings oriented towards the prevailing Promotion of Energy Efficient Transportation Danielle Krauel summer breezes. • No inefficient cars will have parking on-site; Howard Ho • Taller buildings on the south side provide limited parking provided for hybrid vehicles. Peter Simmonds shading during the summer months. • Lend-a-bike system. Michael Leung • Natural ventilation. • Easy access to local mass transit such as the Neil Alexander MUNI and Cal Train. Christie Lyons Rapidly Renewable and Innovative Building Materials • Create an education program to bring green Isaac Chambers • Bamboo floors and other finishes. transportation to the tenants. Paul Baker • Recycled PET Carpet with low VOCs and Patrick Wilkinson lower impact dye process. Efficient Resource Management Hong Gip (Cannon Design) • Bonded Logic Ultra touch denim insulation, • Low-flow fixtures and waterless urinals. made of recycled jeans. • Rainwater harvesting. • Double-paned, Low-E, argon filled glazing. • Drought-resistant flora. • Use of recycled and locally sourced materials. • Gray water reclamation and reuse. • Reuse existing site materials. • On-site wastewater treatment before dis- charging to the sewage system. • Recycling center.

62 63 “How do you get to Carnegie Hall…?” piece stood as a low-tech translation of the tem required a means of regulating density to Project Team: Under the Radar “Under the Radar” typically features an unnoticed, under appre- high-tech processes of systems modeling and control views; it could not be screwed down, as Urbana: Rob Ley, Principal ciated, and unheralded project, building, or construction. Given the animation. As with his computer model, his was the case in the gallery. As a result, the con- Rob Ley’s Serial Departure unique subject of this issue, we thought it appropriate to feature, on this installation offered, within an undifferenti- nection method for Atwater became a system Fabrication: Mina Javid, Matthew Gillis, and Atwater Residence occasion, a practice instead of a thing. And the term “practice” can be ated field, moments and eruptions of variation of interlocking acrylic pieces with the capacity Sara Daleiden, Joshua G. Stein, Erik Blanchard, taken quite literally when used to describe architect and designer Rob achieved by either varying the length and con- to slide into one another, allowing greater or Shane Acker, Jonathon Deiss, David Sartoris Stephen Slaughter, AIA Ley’s exhibition Serial Departure in L.A.’s Material and Applications Gal- nection detail of his module, or by introducing lesser porosity depending on how tightly or lery and his installation for a private home in Atwater. Together, these an aggregation of new material and forms: loosely spaced the pieces are. With this simple Photography: Mina Javid and Stella Lee projects represent the advancement of a technique, development of a steam-bent wood strips, which allowed his detail, Ley was able to regulate on the fly the method of investigation, and construction of a formal philosophy that relatively contained piece to appropriate space relationship of one space to another as the ser- will probably be the building blocks for Ley’s practice for years to come. and challenge the sanctity of the court. pentine screen meandered through the home, Serial Departure is Ley’s attempt to challenge how practitioners For the Atwater Residence, Ley was essen- organizing and accommodating domestic interested in Computer Aided Design and Computer Numerical Con- tially asked to reproduce the screen wall he had space specifically to its need. trolled fabrication conceive material, connection, detail, and effect. His completed for the M&A. Fortunately, he was “Practice” is all too often used in our Serial Departure, Los Angeles desire was to depart from what were becoming canonized methods of able to convince the client that a new context profession as a noun, interchangeable with Atwater Residence, Los Angeles material translation from digital modeling—CNC milling, 3D print- and program would require a reconsideration “office,” or “firm.” Ley’s work shows that the ing, laser cutting, and vacuum forming—and to look at how traditional of the method of production and a unique and term is still an action verb and can still be used means of construction could be mobilized to describe the same complex specific investigation into effect. Starting with a to describe the process of an architect’s growth systems. He started with a standard building block: a 5" x 24" inch strip simple acrylic module, the problem of domestic towards maturity. Serial Departure and the of bent acrylic, and a simple detail for connection—two stainless steel space led to a variable system, allowing for dif- Atwater Residence are similar with respect to Philips head screws that fasten one end of the acrylic strip to a furred ferences of privacy or porosity required by the their overall form and material, yet each satis- wall. With this material and method he constructed a 9' high by 52' program adjacent to each section of the screen. fies specific needs for specific site conditions long, running bond, bent acrylic screen. The method devised to solve the problem and programmatic requirements. One practice, Installed against an exterior wall in the gallery’s forecourt, Ley’s was a departure from Departure, since the sys- one project, two sites.

64 65 “How do you get to Carnegie Hall…?” piece stood as a low-tech translation of the tem required a means of regulating density to Project Team: Under the Radar “Under the Radar” typically features an unnoticed, under appre- high-tech processes of systems modeling and control views; it could not be screwed down, as Urbana: Rob Ley, Principal ciated, and unheralded project, building, or construction. Given the animation. As with his computer model, his was the case in the gallery. As a result, the con- Rob Ley’s Serial Departure unique subject of this issue, we thought it appropriate to feature, on this installation offered, within an undifferenti- nection method for Atwater became a system Fabrication: Mina Javid, Matthew Gillis, and Atwater Residence occasion, a practice instead of a thing. And the term “practice” can be ated field, moments and eruptions of variation of interlocking acrylic pieces with the capacity Sara Daleiden, Joshua G. Stein, Erik Blanchard, taken quite literally when used to describe architect and designer Rob achieved by either varying the length and con- to slide into one another, allowing greater or Shane Acker, Jonathon Deiss, David Sartoris Stephen Slaughter, AIA Ley’s exhibition Serial Departure in L.A.’s Material and Applications Gal- nection detail of his module, or by introducing lesser porosity depending on how tightly or lery and his installation for a private home in Atwater. Together, these an aggregation of new material and forms: loosely spaced the pieces are. With this simple Photography: Mina Javid and Stella Lee projects represent the advancement of a technique, development of a steam-bent wood strips, which allowed his detail, Ley was able to regulate on the fly the method of investigation, and construction of a formal philosophy that relatively contained piece to appropriate space relationship of one space to another as the ser- will probably be the building blocks for Ley’s practice for years to come. and challenge the sanctity of the court. pentine screen meandered through the home, Serial Departure is Ley’s attempt to challenge how practitioners For the Atwater Residence, Ley was essen- organizing and accommodating domestic interested in Computer Aided Design and Computer Numerical Con- tially asked to reproduce the screen wall he had space specifically to its need. trolled fabrication conceive material, connection, detail, and effect. His completed for the M&A. Fortunately, he was “Practice” is all too often used in our Serial Departure, Los Angeles desire was to depart from what were becoming canonized methods of able to convince the client that a new context profession as a noun, interchangeable with Atwater Residence, Los Angeles material translation from digital modeling—CNC milling, 3D print- and program would require a reconsideration “office,” or “firm.” Ley’s work shows that the ing, laser cutting, and vacuum forming—and to look at how traditional of the method of production and a unique and term is still an action verb and can still be used means of construction could be mobilized to describe the same complex specific investigation into effect. Starting with a to describe the process of an architect’s growth systems. He started with a standard building block: a 5" x 24" inch strip simple acrylic module, the problem of domestic towards maturity. Serial Departure and the of bent acrylic, and a simple detail for connection—two stainless steel space led to a variable system, allowing for dif- Atwater Residence are similar with respect to Philips head screws that fasten one end of the acrylic strip to a furred ferences of privacy or porosity required by the their overall form and material, yet each satis- wall. With this material and method he constructed a 9' high by 52' program adjacent to each section of the screen. fies specific needs for specific site conditions long, running bond, bent acrylic screen. The method devised to solve the problem and programmatic requirements. One practice, Installed against an exterior wall in the gallery’s forecourt, Ley’s was a departure from Departure, since the sys- one project, two sites.

64 65 ADVERTISERS INDEX AIA 13 Graniterock Corp. 12 Lutron OBC ... and Counting Blomberg Window Systems IFC Hunter Panels 2 Marvin Windows & Doors 8 Central Visual Information Systems 8 Ideate 10 Pilkington Fire Protection 1 Echeguren 12 Innerspace Engineering 12 Shen Milsom & Wilke, Inc. 12 Flack + Kurtz Consulting IBC Loewen Windows 11 Stepstone, Inc. 6, 10, 66

David Meckel, FAIA

Most heavily published architects in the ‘90s AIA California Council Firm Award 1990-99 American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS) Mario Botta and Tadao Ando, with over 50 titles each Leason Pomeroy Associates, ELS Architecture, Presidents 1990-99 www.stoutbooks.com Moore Ruble Yudell Architects, Fisher-Friedman Alan Paradis(*), Lynn Simon(*), Courtney Miller, Garen Associates, Gensler, Rob Wellington Quigley FAIA, Miller, Dee Christy Briggs, Robert Rowen, Raymond Architecture and design magazines that ceased A.C. Martin & Associates, Anshen + Allen, Dehn(*), Robert Morgan, Jay Palu(*) publishing in the ‘90s Ralph Allan & Partners, SMWM (*) = current AIA members Progressive Architecture (‘96) www.aiacc.org www.aias.org Design Quarterly (‘98) www.library.cca.edu Pulitzer Prizes for Architectural Criticism in the ‘90s AIAS Forum Cities 1990-99 Allen Temko, San Francisco Chronicle (‘90) San Francisco, Miami, Buffalo, Phoenix, Magazines that launched in the ‘90s Robert Campbell, Boston Globe (‘96) Lexington, Portland, Washington DC, Denver, Harvard Design Magazine (‘96) Blair Kamin, Chicago Tribune (‘99) Fort Lauderdale, Toronto www.library.cca.edu www.pulitzer.org www.aias.org

California architecture programs launched in the ‘90s Architectural Record | Record Houses 1992 AutoCAD version introduced in October 1990 California College of the Arts (San Francisco) House on a Ranch, Petaluma, CA Release 11 (current version is Release 21) NAAB Accredited 1992 David Morton Thomas Cordell Architects www.autodesk.com University of California (San Diego) Ortiz House, Mexico City Opened 1992 / Closed 1993 Taller de Enrique Norten y Asociados 1994 Woodbury University (Los Angeles) Dennison/Peek House, Monkton, VT Year that Yahoo! was founded by two Stanford NAAB Accredited 1994 Brooks & Carey Architects graduate students New School of Architecture (San Diego) Root Guest House, Ormond Beach, FL www.yahoo.com NAAB Accredited 1998 Steven Harris & Associates Architects www.naab.org House for a Film Producer, Los Angeles, CA 1995 Smith-Miller + Hawkinson Architects Year that Amazon’s site was created Some early ‘90s AIA Gold Medal winners Wright House, Lew Beach , NY www.amazon.com Fay Jones (‘90) James Cutler Architect Charles Moore (‘91) Corson-Heinser House, San Francisco, CA 1996 Benjamin Thompson (‘92) Tanner Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects Year that Hotmail® was released Kevin Roche (‘93) Barton House, Madison County, MS www.msn.com www.aia.org Mockbee/Coker/Howorth Architects www.library.cca.edu 1998 Some ‘90s Pritzker Prize winners Year that Google’s search engine was released Aldo Rossi (‘90) AIA Firm Award 1990-99 www.google.com Alvaro Siza (‘92) Kohn Pederson Fox Associates, Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Christian de Portzamparc (‘94) Partnership, James Stewart Polshek and Partners, Sverre Fehn (‘97) Cambridge Seven Associates, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, www.pritzkerprize.com Beyer Blinder Belle, Skidmore Owings & Merrill, R.M. Kliment & Frances Halsband Architects, Centerbrook Architects and Planners, Perkins & Will www.aia.org

67 Coda

extended hollow core members, which would include elevators, stairs, Plug-In Tower, 1971, Harry Newman, AIA ducts and utilities. This triangularly-figurated frame would receive and support individual, self-contained living units, or pods, which when mounted in place become a part of the building. Responding to the preceding issue of arcCA, “Prefabiana,” Harry Newman, The three cores are made of prestressed concrete or structural steel AIA, of Thousand Oaks, sent us an article from the Chicago Sun-Times, sections and may be prefabricated and assembled at the site, or poured written by architecture critic Rob Cuscaden and dated August 8, 1971. The in place if concrete. The framework would include platforms that can article describes Newman’s proposal for a prefabricated high-rise apartment extend outwards to receive the pods, which are delivered by helicopter building. We excerpt a portion of the article here. and wenched [sic] into place. The pods are then secured and the services quickly plugged in . . . . “High-rise buildings today are still essentially handicrafted products,” “And think of the travel and moving possibilities,” enthuses New- says [young Chicago architect Harry] Newman. “They’re produced man. “A vacation or job transfer would simply mean unhooking your piecemeal in the field and under adverse conditions. And as they pod, having it airlifted wherever it was needed, and attaching it into a become increasingly expensive, the amount of living space is reduced similar structure . . . . You could move your complete home from Rogers accordingly.” Park to Hyde Park in a matter of hours—without lifting a single chair!” Newman’s plan is to attack the problem head-on by radically alter- ing the whole structural concept of the high-rise, which has basically remained unchanged during the past five decades, except for facing materials. It is still a massive, usually rectangular, structure supporting huge dead loads of materials, its bulk designed to combat the tremendous wind pressures that build up against the face of the structure. Newman would do away with the “permanent building” concept and replace it with a structural frame consisting of three vertically