Julia Morgan as a Design Inspiration

I wish I could have known or worked with Julia Morgan. She is one of only a handful of past Architects whose design sensibilities and philosophy of practice seem to resonate well with my own. Morgan was steeped in the historicism and eclecticism of the Beaux Arts, but practiced in an era of tremendous stylistic upheaval and technological change. In the unsettled and challenging cultural environment of her time she was able to create a body of work that drew upon historical precedent but was never limited by it. She rarely fell into the trap of placing rote stylistic expression above beauty, comfort, and functionality. Her designs are drawn from her client's vision, the opportunities presented by the site, the required function, and woven into works of beauty and repose. It's a remarkable body of work that is worth careful study.

My thoughts on Julia Morgan wouldn't be complete without mentioning how much less comfortable I feel with the projects at Hearst Castle. Coming relatively late in her career, Hearst Castle is probably the commission that she is most celebrated for. I have tremendous respect for her effort there, but it troubles me on many levels and is far from the best example of her design talent. This is an excellent topic for a future entry, so stay tuned...

http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Orchard/8642/jmorgan_dwg.html
http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/jmberkcity/jmberkcity.html
http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/jmberkhses/colby.html
http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/jmmerritt/jmmerritt.html
http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/jmwmshse/jmwmshse.html
http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/jmjolon/jolon.html
http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/jmasilomar/jmasilomarhousing.html

Charles Rennie Mackintosh as a Design Inspiration

Mackintosh was one of very few Architects who have achieved complete synergy between exterior and interior design. Where given an opportunity, Mackintosh extended his unwavering attention to detail from the massing of a building all the way down to the finest element of its decor... including design of the furnishings. But even where projects were limited to interior design, he created exquisite designs without compromise in creativity or energy.

http://www.armin-grewe.com/crm/crm-pics.htm
http://www.armin-grewe.com/crm/crm-hillhouse.htm
http://hanser.ceat.okstate.edu/6083/mackintosh/Kunstfreundes/haus_eines_kunstfreundes.htm
http://hanser.ceat.okstate.edu/6083/mackintosh/Hill%20House/hill_house.htm

Edwin Lutyens as a Design Inspiration

Edwin Lutyens was an Architect with a keen sense of how Architecture is both a product of, and an embodiment of its own context. His residential Architecture is a particular inspiration for my own work... the easy blending of traditional and vernacular elements into eclectic designs that always appear to be perfectly rooted in their time and place. Lutyens was a British contemporary of Frank Lloyd Wright, but my impression of Lutyens' practice is that it was quite a bit more like my own, despite the cultural distance. Rather than Wright's famously adversarial and iconoclastic tendencies, it appears that the hallmark of Lutyens' practice was to carefully study the client, the site, the socio-cultural context, and work tirelessly to blend these disparate elements into a design that enhanced them all.

http://greywalls.co.uk/
http://www.lutyenstrust.org.uk/gallery/11.htm
http://www.lutyenstrust.org.uk/gallery/12.htm
http://www.lutyenstrust.org.uk/gallery/9.htm

Le Corbusier as a Design Inspiration

Le Corbusier's work always appears fresh, and no matter how many times I study one of his designs I always seem to find something new and meaningful. He was a design genius whose remarkable creativity and enthusiasm never faded. His rich body of work embodied the leading edge of Architectural design for much of the 50+ years he practiced.

http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/Corbu.html
http://www.demel.net/fs-ronchamp.html
http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/ronchamps/ronchamps.html
http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Maisons_Jaoul.html

Katsura Imperial Villa and Sukiya Style Architecture as an Inspiration

I often think about the Katsura Imperial Villa in Kyoto. Its a magnificent place to visit- and even though I was there over 25 years ago, the experience remains fresh and powerful for me. It's rarely far from my mind when working on a new design, as both an inspiration and a challenge. I was affected by the place on many levels, particularly by the way interior and exterior space complete and complement one another to a level rarely seen elsewhere. I also became fascinated with the design of the buildings in the compound. I experienced a balance of opposites that results in sublimely beautiful Architecture. The fact that the buildings are designed with an almost obsessive adherence to abstract principles of proportion can be easily grasped. The rigor of the geometry appears to rival the most self-conscious of Western "Classical" monuments. Yet the use of raw materials and textures appropriated directly from nature is just as important to the overall aesthetic as the underlying geometries. While not an expert in the Japanese concept of "Wabi", Katsura appears to be an excellent illustration. It balances the tension between mathematical perfection and natural imperfection in a way that is inspiring and beautiful.


http://www.jgarden.org/gardens.asp?TAB=photos&ID=13

Competing Design Philosophies

Thinking back to when I was in graduate school at Columbia University in 1980-83, there were two competing ideological camps. There was the camp of heroic modernism... Architecture as political force and intellectual discipline. This camp was championed by the historian Kenneth Frampton. And across the divide was the eclectic, "historicism is okay" camp, championed and best exemplified by Robert A. M. Stern. As I recall, design critiques where both of these professors were present could get pretty heated. But the professor I respected most was Steven Holl- an Architect who has an unquestionable talent for creating beautiful buildings. And over the course of the years that has become the essence of Architectural practice for me. When the dialectic ends, when the debate is over- I believe Architecture is really about making beautiful places that work for the people who use them.

Notes on a Philosophy of Design

I was recently asked by a friend to describe my design philosophy. I was a little taken aback by the question... it's not something I think about much, and I didn't know how to capture the way I approach design in a few sentences. I certainly didn't have an elevator speech ready to go. However, on reflection I was able to tell my friend that I'm a pragmatist, a realist, and an eclectic. I'm a pragmatist because I believe my projects are driven by the clients and the economics, not by an abstract design imperative imposed by the Architect. I'm a realist because I recognize that once an Architect leaves academia for "the real world", the overarching context created by economics, local politics, and popular culture acts as a design determinate that overpowers all but the most substantive academic debates. And I'm an eclectic because I'm apt to take whatever I feel is appropriate from the grab bag of context, history, and local vernacular to create a design. I don't put much stock in rules, but find myself repeatedly asking if a design works for its intended purpose, and if it is beautiful.

Greene and Greene as an Inspiration

The body of work left by the Greene brothers is exceptional in every respect. The unsurpassed beauty and elegance of these homes makes visiting them an unforgettable experience. The genius, energy, and dedication that brought these magnificent designs to fruition is easily seen in images of the homes, and I can feel it all around me when I have the opportunity to visit one. To anyone who appreciates the power of design to affect the emotions, the work of Greene and Greene is a true inspiration!

http://www.greatbuildings.com/cgi-bin/glk?http://gamblehouse.usc.edu/