237711934.Pdf

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

237711934.Pdf ~ 0 C) u:i zw .....z ~ µ.. z 0 :>-< .....E--< u:i 0:::w C) .....> z ~ z ~ l9 V) w w 0 ci LL z 0 (\') ~ w 0 > l9 IX) w ~ ~ (11e.::1 :slO'Z') l'OU:El'I\ ......J ......J - 3 8'Z't,t, NW 0 w~ S/\0~ u im'1w EMERGING FROM THE DEAN FALL 2018 VOL. 13, NO. 1 EDITORS Amelia Narigon and Trevor Miller Dear Alumni and Friends DESIGNER of the College of Design, Calee Cecconi As each of us knows, design is everywhere. And designers are uniquely positioned to frame COPY EDITOR and orchestrate problem-solving as our society grapples with increasingly complex issues. Sharon Grimes Our faculty, students, and alumni demonstrate ways in which design and design thinking can COLLEGE LEADERSHIP generate much-needed solutions. Carol Strohecker, dean; Marilyn Delong, associate dean for academic affairs; Abimbola Asojo, associate dean This issue highlights a few of the research projects currently underway. They range from for research, creative scholarship, and engagement; Kate Maple, assistant dean for student services; creating more accessible websites (p. 9) to reimagining coastal landscapes in the era of Trevor Miller, assistant dean climate change (p. 15); from apparel design faculty creating safer equipment for female ACADEMIC UNIT HEADS firefighters (p. 9), to our School of Architecture's lead role in partnerships with the University Missy Bye, Department of Design, Housing, and Apparel; of Puerto Rico to rebuild post-Hurricane Maria (p. 9). To help showcase more of this work, I Joe Favour, Department of Landscape Architecture; am delighted that interior design Professor Abimbola Asojo has accepted the position of Marc Swackhamer, School of Architecture associate dean for research, creative scholarsh ip, and engagement. She is already diligently COLLEGE OF DESIGN ADVISORY BOARD working with college leaders to advance research-related coll aborations, support-systems, Stuart Ackerberg, Michael Alexin, Dan Avchen, Maurice Blanks, Roberta Bonoff, Mark Butler, and outcomes for our coll ege (p. 9). Emily Callaghan, Pat Cummens, John Cuningham, Jo Davison, Damon Farber, Kelly Gage, Mary McNellis, Our students are also hard at work with their own research and creative projects. For her Tom Meyer, Linda Mona, Sandy Morris, Dave Norback, capstone, Leslie Johnson (M .L.A '18) joined a team of researchers in Dhamori, India, to help Paul Reyelts, Susan Sokolowski, Mark Swenson, Gary Tushie, Burt Visnick local residents tackle water management issues (p. 6). Students in Professor James Boyd Brent's Color and Form in Surface Design course learned about the consu mer supply chain OUR MISSION and created marketing posters to help to promote heirloom bean production in Minnesota Through a unique commitment to creativity and advancing technologies, the College of Design at the (p. 14). Such experiences are formative in our students becoming proficient, community­ University of Minnesota leads, innovates, and educates engaged designers. Our 2018 commencement speakers, the internationally renowned in a full range of design fields by researching ongoing and emerging issues, exploring new knowledge, and graphic designers Nancy Skolos and Thomas Wedell, spoke to this wh il e elucidating tenets addressing and solving real-world problems, all while of good design through their duet-like address (p. 16). adhering to socially responsible, sustainable principles and collaborative design thinking. College of Design alumni also continue to make waves. I am proud that-for the second year Emerging is published fall and spring semesters by the in a row-a coll ege alumnus has received the Un iversity of Min nesota Alumni Association's University of Minnesota College of Design for alumni, faculty, staff, and friends of the college. This publication u40 Award. This year the recipient is Kaamil Haider (B.F.A. '17), an outstanding member is available in alternative formats upon request. Please of th e contemporary Somal i arts and design community (p. 12). In addition, four of our call 612-624-9751. architecture alumni were inducted into the American Institute of Architects' prestigious Send address changes to design~umn.edu. College of Fellows. Further updates appear in the Alumni Notes section (p. 13). Emerging is available online at deslgn.umn.edu/emerging. Every day, members of the College of Design community are contributing solutions to Th e University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity the problems of our time and equipping the next generation of designers to do the same. educator and employer. Through Coordinated Action Pl ann in g, we are identifying ways to focus our resources and strengthen our concentrated efforts. I look forward to seeing what we ca n build together in MIX I"'." 'lJ, Pape, r,om I A the next academic year. ~: responsible sources L-.) ~ \ .... Ci I FSC Bl,(?,~q :4s -- Fsc• c10352s Sincerely, -- COLLEGE OF DESIGN Carol Strohecker, Ph.D. Professor and Dean College of Design UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA On the cover: A close-up of student work from a graduate architecture capstone studio (top) and a peek at the aftermath of a semester's worth of screen printing in our graphic design print studios (bottom). 2 EME RGIN G FALL 2018 5 9 design.umn.edu l!◄ Pl•1 N•~ rct••~• ►'49it1411 11 tiffl~! BRINGING UNIVERSAL (~-- r,~ DESIGN to the Self-Checkout ~ ~,01"'9Vr ~ rr~ ~~ Counter The self-checkout counter is a common sight in grocery stores across the nation. But what impact does it have on the design of a store and on people who use it? Architecture student Ryan Hansen worked with Associate Professor Hye-Young Kim (Retail Merchandising) to answer this question in his honors thesis. Why did you decide to team up with the retail merchandising program for your thesis? L-1 ~•rr Working with retail merchandising helped me better understand how a retail space is viewed all the way from top designers to the actu al people that are shopping there. t-,.,r Where did the idea for your honors thesis originate? My honors thesis started with a question I had on Japanese retail design. Th is line of questioning evolved into researching what. the self-checkout line means for our cities and the people in our cities. Working with my advisor and my classmates, I focused on St. Paul and particularly Lund's and Byerly's. I decided to research what a self-checkout counter means for clerks, for space, and, even more specifically, what it means for individuals with disabilities. Why specifically individuals with disabilities? In the School of Architecture, they really emphasize recognizing our own biases. I've never particularly liked the self-checkout counter and when I talked to my thesis advisor, who is partially blind, I really started to recognize that there are a lot of people who don't fit into the mold that this machine tells us we should fit into. Read the full interview at z.umn.edu/emgf18a. 4 EMERGING FALL 2018 0 facebook.com/uofmdesign C) @uofmdesign @ instagram/umndesign EXPLORING UNIVERSAL DESIGN EXPLORING CULTURALLY SENSITIVE Interior Design Interior design juniors explored the ins and individuals who would be using the space outs of universal and cu lturally sensitive and how we would design for them. I took design when they were assigned to the approach of making all of my rooms research th e Hmong culture and design easy to separate or rearrange as needed." a house that combined Hmong and For his house, Ryan Welters based his American lifestyles. "We were asked to entire design on the lotus flower and the think about designing so that oth er water lily. "In Laos, where th e Hmong cultures could adapt the same space for people are originally from, they have the their own needs," explained Rachael lotus flower. Here in the U.S., we have the Springman. Through readings, th e water lily, and so I incorporated both students became familiar with Hmong flowers into my design." This is just one history and cultural practices, which they of the many overlaps that Welters was then incorporated into individual housing surprised to find between the two cultures. designs for a vacant plot of land in St. Paul. "I found it quite easy to design for multiple communities in one house without Th e students had four different hypothetical overthinking it or overcomplicating it. clients they could choose to design for. It's interesting to me that designers don't "Most of us picked the family with eight naturally include these universal design individuals: two parents, two ch ildren at elements when it's quite easy to do." college, three children at home, and an Read the full story at z.umn.edu/emgf18b. elderly relative," explained Abi Lundstrom. "We had to consider the number of design.umn.edu COLLEGE OF DESIGN FALL 2018 5 J~l \.A.A i' f &.-, ·f J. l•na,J- "\ ✓--, \. .,,,, - /,----~ rI~ ~ '';\i .. J..,...,;;,._.,., \ - ~.. "'-1, s......_ \ / 'I .(-~) ... ~ ---~ '- - - IP'- - ~ \ j -"1 , - (t- - Looking Back to MOVE FORWARD Around the world, governments and their University of Fl orida As sistant Professor prior to colonization, not only to hold practices al igned to what Dhamori citizens are grappling with issues of water Alpa Nawre at th e 2017 Landscape excess water, but also as gathering places residents wanted and become self­ availability, cleanliness, and management. Architecture Foundation Summit. Nawre for the village. My capstone work expands sustaining," sa id Johnson. invited Johnson to join her five-person upon these ideas, especially re lated to In her graduate capstone, landscape Upon its completion, the report was research team and help create a report traditional rainwater haNesting techniques." architecture alumna Leslie Johnson (M.L.A. given to a member of India's parliament, on how to improve the water management '18) addressed these issues in the village of Many farm ponds in the region surrounding which has sparked interest from other practices in Dhamori.
Recommended publications
  • Contemporary Design Philosophy in American Architecture
    ^O 1 CONTEMPORARY DESIGN PHILOSOPHY IN AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE by KENNETH EDWARD LAY, JR. B. Arch., The Pennsylvania State University, 1956 e\\i A MASTER'S REPORT submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE College of Architecture and Design KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY Manhattan, Kansas 1966 Approved by: Ma^or Professor , Lb 2j>^i ii a.o- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I gratefully acknowledge the guidance and encouragement given me during the planning and writing of this report by Professor Emil C. Fischer, Dean of the College of Architecture and Design at Kansas State University. My most sincere appreciation goes to my wife, Margaret F. Lay, A.S.L.A. whose professional advice and understanding helped immeasurably in its preparation. Appreciation is further extended to my committee members, Professor Jack C. Durgan, Professor J. Cranston Heintzelman, Professor Cecil H. Miller, and Dr. William C. Tremmel, and to my typist, Mrs. Michael R. Hawkins. , TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTION: THE MODERN MOVEMENT 1 Prior to the Chicago School 2 The Chicago School of Architecture 4 L'Art Nouveau and Cubism 6 The Organic Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright . 8 The International Style 10 Mies van der Rohe 12 LeCorbusier 14 The Present Situation .............. 16 Design Trends in Architectural Education 17 The Rediscovery of History 19 Structural Experimentation 20 II. THE CLASSIC ARTICLE 22 III. STRUCTURAL EXPRESSIONISM 27 IV. THE AESTHETIC REVIVAL 36 V. THE DIRECTION OF AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE 42 VI. CRITICISM OF CONTEMPORARY DESIGN PHILOSOPHY .... 45 VII. THE NEW FREEDOM WITHIN THE MODERN MOVEMENT 57 VIII. THE NEW FREEDOM'S AVANT-GARDE 71 Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • In This Issue City, China
    AIA Nebraska A Society of The OCULUSA Bimonthly Newsletter of AIA Nebraska The American Institute of Architects Volume 2000, Issue No. 2 M A R C H • A P R I L 2 0 0 0 “Indelibility . the permanence of design on society" 2000 Honor Awards Jury Chair Tapped Ralph Rapson, FAIA with Ralph Rapson & Associates, Inc in Minneapolis will chair the 2000 AIA Nebraska Fall Design Conference. For over forty years Ralph Rapson & Associates, Inc., have provided professional consulting services in the fields of architecture city design, environmental planning, interiors, and graphic design. During this period the firm has built an international reputation for quality design in institutional, public and private architectural work. RR& A has received over sixty international, national, and regional awards including five national AIA Honor Awards for its work. Ralph Rapson received his Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Michigan and did graduate study in Urban and Regional Planning at the Cranbrook Academy. Rapson is a Minnesota institution, widely regarded as the state’s most influential Modernist architect. He has spent 30 years of his professional career in the quiet groves of academia, where he led the University of Minnesota’s architecture program from 1954 – 1984. Rapson has been well acquainted with architects such as Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Eliel Saarinen, and Sibyl Moholy-Nagy. He was a rising star in the 1940’s and early 50’s, having designed lines of chairs for Knoll and foreign embassies in Stockholm and Copenhagen. He was the youngest architect to participate in Arts and Architecture magazine’s Case Study House Program with his design for the Greenbelt House.
    [Show full text]
  • Zain Abuseir, Robert Adams, Michelle Adebayo, Anirban Adhya, Manju
    Zain Abuseir, Robert Adams, Michelle Adebayo, Anirban Adhya, Manju Adikesavan, Kanwal Aftab, Jacob Aftergood, Florence Agbenyega, Sejal Agrawal, Sang Ahn, Gabriel Albarran, Nicole Allen, Peter Allen, Charles Alwakeel, Nora Ames, Amy Anderson, Christina Anderson, Kymberly Anderson, Leon Andrews, Rajeev Aravapalli, Ken Arbogast-Wilson, Turquoise Archie, Mashawnta Armstrong, Michael Arnold, Catherine Arreaza, Kevin Azanger, Omar Baghdady, Stephanie Bailey, Piyush Bajpal, Vera Baranova, Joshua Bard, Dane Barnes, Norman E. Barnett, Carlton Basmajian, James Bassett, Aaron Batsakis, Vandana Baweja, Christopher Beach, Melissa Beams, John Beck, Eric Beckett, Robert Beckley, Beth Berenter, Aysu Berk, Jason Berryhill, Rachel Betzen, Sara Biederman, Gunnar G. Birkerts, Alexander Block, Sara Blumenstein, Danielle Bober, Harold Borkin, M. Craig Borum, Mallory Bourdo, Kendal Bowman, T’Chana Bradford, Kurt Brandle, Lucas Branham, Peter Bratt, Stacy Braverman, Gary Brieschke, William Brodnax, Nicholas Brooks, Derek Brown, Keith A. Brown, Laura Brown, Donald Buaku, Andrey Budzinskiy, Jerome Buford, Matthew Buhr, Sarah Bulgarelli, Rachel Bullock, Atsen Bulus, Renee Burdick, Tom Buresh, Khalilah Burt, Sam Butler, Ashley Byers, Karam Byun, Hongyi Cai, Leonardo Caion-Demaestri, Robert Cameron, Scott Campbell, Greogroy Carley, Jason Carmello, Patrick Carmody, Andrés Carter, Kathryn Caskey, Sang Yeol Cha, Jeong-WonChae, James Chaffers, Kenneth Chaklos, Jennifer Chamberlin, Elizabeth Chan, Anny Chang, Jae Dong Chang, Justin Chang, Katherine Chang, Nupur Chaudhury, Lieh-Feng Chen, Xuezhen Chen, Gregory Cheng, Shan Cheng, Nina Cherian, Robin Chhabra, Chang-Yeon Cho, Seong Yun Cho , Hee Jung Choi, Anne Choike, Shun-Hui Chuang, Jihyun Chung, Aaron Clausen, Caitlyn Clauson, Alexis Coir, Sandro Condori, Caroline Constant, Adam Constantino, Michael Cooper, Whitney Cooper, Emily Corbett, Angela Corradin, Nondita Correa-Mehrotra, Christopher Coutts, Jennifer Cramer, J.
    [Show full text]
  • 100 Famous Cranbrook People
    Cranbrook People -A- -B- Bacon, Edmund (CAA’36, urban planner) Born in 1910 in Philadelphia, Bacon earned his bachelor of architecture degree in 1932 from Cornell University. He then attended Cranbrook Academy of Art and worked with Saarinen from 1935-36. He is credited with designing Philadelphia’s master plan during his nearly 30 year long career with the Philadelphia City Planning Commission which lasted from the 1940s through 1970. Bacon also taught at University of Pennsylvania for many years beginning in 1950. He has been associated with Modev International and has been in private practice from 1970 to present. On a side note, he is also the father of actor Kevin Bacon. Keywords: urban planning, architecture Barone, Michael (C’62, journalist & editor) Barone earned his bachelor’s degree from Harvard College in 1966 (where he was editor of the Harvard Crimson) and his law degree from Yale Law School (where he served as editor of The Yale Law Journal) in 1969. From 1974 to 1981, he was a vice president of the polling firm of Peter D. Hart Research Associates. In the 1980s, he took on the role of editorial page staff member for The Washington Post. From 1989 to 1996 and again from 1998 to the present, he served as a senior writer for U.S. News and World Report. From 1996 to 1998, he was a senior staff editor at Reader’s Digest. Barone’s work has appeared in numerous publications including The Economist and The New York Times. He is a regular panelist on PBS’ The McLaughlin Group and a contributor to the Fox News Channel.
    [Show full text]
  • The Spatial Dimensions of Liturgy in Eliel and Eero Saarinen's Christ
    Ozayr Saloojee Research University of Minneapolis The Next Largest Thing: College of Design School of Architecture The Spatial Dimensions of Liturgy in UMN Twin Cities Eliel and Eero Saarinen’s Christ 89 Church St S E Minneapolis, MN 55455 1 Church Lutheran, Minneapolis [email protected] Abstract. Christ Church Lutheran in Minneapolis, Keywords: Eliel Saarinen, Eero Minnesota, was designed by Eliel Saarinen, then 75, and Saarinen, Christ Church added to by his son Eero Saarinen 10 years later. Deeply Lutheran, modern architecture loved by its community, it also serves as a touching example of the relationship between the father and the son. This present examination looks at the building on various scales, underscoring the finesse and material elegance of the building complex, the spatial genius and expertise of Eliel Saarinen, and the deferential addition by Eero. Written into the National Register of Historic Places, Eliel and Eero Saarinen’s Christ Church Lutheran was named as a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior in early 2009. Widely considered to be Eliel Saarinen’s masterwork, the church has been hailed as the singular building example that heralded a new direction for ecclesiastic architecture in the United States. Completed in 1949, Eliel’s sanctuary sits – in the words of his grand-daughter Susan Saarinen – “quietly there”.1 It is an unprepossessing building from the exterior, a massing of simple forms – largely rectangular seeming solids, faced with Chicago brick and Mankato Stone, occupying the corner of 34th Avenue South and East 33rd Street in Minneapolis’s Longfellow neighborhood. Its exterior belies its interior, which demonstrates Eliel Saarinen’s consummate skill as an architect capable of understanding the scale of experience as an essential part of liturgy and as an evocative catalyst for a deep and personal sense of spirit.
    [Show full text]
  • National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
    NPS Form 10-900 OVB No. 1024-0018 (Rev. 8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations of eligibility for individual properties or districts. See instructions in Guidelines for Completing National Register Forms (National Register Bulletin 16). Complete each item by marking "x" in the appropriate box or by entering the requested information. If an item does not apply to the property being documented, enter "N/A" for "not applicable." For functions, styles, materials, and areas of significance, enter only the categories and subcategories listed in the instructions. For additional space use continuation sheets (Form 10-900a). Type all entries. 1. Name of Property___________________ _________________________ historic name Cranbrook other names/site number 2. Location street & number 500 Lone Pine Road I I not for publication city, town Bloomfield Hills T Tvicinity state Michigan code MI county Oakland code 125 zip code 48013 3. Classification Ownership of Property Category of Property Number of Resources within Property [~xl private __ building(s) Contributing Noncontributing I I public-local JL district 14 ____ buildings I I public-State __ site ____ sites [ I public-Federal I structure ____ structures 1 object ____ objects 14 Total Name of related multiple property listing: Number of contributing resources previously listed in the National Register 14___ 4. State/Federal Agency Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended, I hereby certify that this EH nomination EU request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60.
    [Show full text]
  • Celebrated Minneapolis Architect Ralph Rapson Died of a Heart Attack Saturday in His Home
    Points of interest – grant apps content: Celebrated Minneapolis architect Ralph Rapson died of a heart attack Saturday in his home. He was 93. His son, architect Toby Rapson, told The Associated Press on Monday that his father had the heart attack Saturday after going upstairs to bed and could not be revived. Rapson led the University of Minnesota School of Architecture from 1954 to 1984. Current Dean Tom Fisher remembered Rapson as the "Dean of Minnesota's architectural community and the last of the second generation of modernists in America still practicing." Ralph Rapson has been described as a prolific architect whose most famous work was the former Guthrie Theater building in downtown Minneapolis. He also designed the United States embassies in Stockholm, Sweden, and Copenhagen, Denmark. His other works in Minnesota include St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in St. Paul Park and the former Pillsbury House in Wayzata. He also had his own furniture line in the 1950s, and in recent years, his Minneapolis-based company has developed a line of prefabricated modern houses. Rapson, born in 1914 in Alma, Mich., studied at the University of Michigan and Cranbrook Academy of Art. He led the architecture department at the Bauhaus School in Chicago and practiced in Cambridge, Mass.; Stockholm and Paris. Renowned Minneapolis architect Ralph Rapson, a pioneer in modernist architecture style and creator of the original Guthrie Theater, has died. Rapson, 93, suffered a heart attack Saturday night at his home, his son Toby confirmed in an interview Monday. Rapson was the founder of Minneapolis-based Ralph Rapson and Associates Inc.
    [Show full text]
  • Portico Winter 2008
    university of michigan taubman college of architecture + urban planning spring 2008 portico contents 1 letter from the dean 3 the michigan difference 4 faculty update 10 student update 18 On The Wright Path: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Palmer House 21 Building Addition 25 alumni update 27 class notes calendar Cover and inside cover: Visiting Fellow in Sustainability Blaine Brownell’s PET Wall. Since the problem of material waste exists at a scale far greater than that of personal consumer products, strategies for reuse and recycling should be expanded to the scale of architecture. PET Wall was created from approximately 2,000 post-consumer PET bottles and integrated LED light nets cycling through gradually undulat ing sequences of warm and cool white illumination. This new self-supporting second surface demonstrates the structural and light-filtering propensities of this commonly disposed material. The University of Michigan, Recycle Ann Arbor, High Line School children, and Taubman College student collaborators Chris Drinkwater and Natasha Krol provided invaluable assistance for the project. letter from the dean It’s flown by so fast! As I complete my second five-year term as dean, it feels like the last decade has passed in the blink of an eye. No doubt it’s because we’ve been focused so intently on our mission—teaching, research/creative achievement, and service. To do these as well as we possibly can—often as well as anybody can—is hard work. And, if there’s one thing that can be said about our faculty, students, and staff, it is that they are hardworking—as well as intensely conscientious, and productive.
    [Show full text]
  • Columbus, Indiana: Eero Saarinen’S Legacy
    COLUMBUS, INDIANA: EERO SAARINEN’S LEGACY A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE MASTER OF SCIENCE IN HISTORIC PRESERVATION BY AMY MARISAVLJEVIC (EDWARD WOLNER) BALL STATE UNIVERISTY MUCNIE, INDIANA MAY 2012 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author wishes to express sincere appreciation to Professor Emeritus Anthony Costello for his vast reserve of knowledge and enthusiasm, Professor Edward Wolner for his persistence, Frank Hurdis for his diligence, and Professor Duncan Campbell for his encouragement. This thesis would never have been completed without the support and devotion of her family and friends. ii Table of Contents Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………ii List of Tables …………………………………………………………………………….iv List of Images ……….…………………………………………………………………....v Introduction…………………………………………………………………………….....1 Chapter One The Context For Columbus Architectural Development………………………..………...7 Chapter Two Eero Saarinen: the Man Behind the Architecture……………………...…………...……25 Chapter Three Origins of Columbus’ Architectural Development…………………………………..…..44 Chapter Four The Cummins Engine Foundation Architecture Program During the Life of Eero Saarinen…………………………………………………….….51 Chapter Five The Cummins Engine Foundation Architecture Program After Eero Saarinen ……………………………………………………………………...62 Chapter Six Corporate Architecture in Bartholomew County………………………………………...78 Chapter Seven Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….83 Bibliography …………………………………………………………………………….90 iii List of Illustrations
    [Show full text]
  • Ralph Rapson, Prominent Modernist Architect
    Ralph Rapson, Prominent Modernist Architect: Renowned Minneapolis architect, Ralph Rapson (1914 – 2008), was one of the world’s oldest practicing architects and also one of the most prolific. His most famous work was the former Guthrie Theater building in downtown Minneapolis. He also designed the United States embassies in Stockholm, Sweden and Copenhagen, Denmark. His other works in Minnesota include St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in St. Paul Park, and the former Pillsbury House in Wayzata. Rapson was born in 1914 in Alma, Michigan and studied at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and Cranbrook Academy of Art. He taught at what is now the Illinois Institute of Technology from 1942 to 1946, and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1946 to 1954. He later became the dean of the architecture school at the University of Minnesota from 1954 to 1984. Rapson designed a prototype of a streamlined yet whimsical bentwood rocking chair. Knoll Associates introduced it on the retail market as a solid-wood version called the Rapson Rapid Rocker in 1945. Frank Lloyd Wright bought two for $99.50 each. In a full-page ad in the New York Times, Bloomingdale’s promoted the chair as an “innovative and attractive modern take on a traditional piece.” In addition to designing innovative furniture, Rapson also turned out seemingly endless plans for embassies, churches, homes, birdhouses, and an unrealized master plan for the redesign of southeast Minneapolis. In his later years, Rapson’s Minneapolis-based company developed a line of prefabricated modern houses called “Rapson Greenbelt.” Although he’s known in Minnesota mostly for the original Guthrie Theater, Rapson also designed homes throughout the Twin Cities, including one in the Jonathan area of Chaska.
    [Show full text]