“Creativity consists largely of rearranging what we know in order to find out what we do not know. Hence, to think creatively- we must be able to look afresh at what we normally take for granted.”— George Kneller

I know this- True artists have always Re-created themselves…  Picasso had perhaps seven “stylistic phases” over his life/ Frank Gehry started out working with chain link fencing and ended up working in titanium/ Prince changed his name into a symbol (ok maybe not the greatest idea).  Also, great businesses never stop and rest on their laurels.  On the import of thinking anew, Steve Jobs- one of the world’s most famous innovators said this- “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower”.

Apres’ ski were conversations and outpouring of ideas and all were enhanced greatly by our experience at a small gastro-pub called TAG and, specifically, with a young guy named Tyler.  Said bespectacled and mustachioed Tyler was serving us elixirs he hand-made for us based on a little input from us -he used what he called  ”flavor profiles” and his vast knowledge of all things alcohol to create these elixirs right in front of us.  After a bit, I realized that this guy was actually a chemist- but I later realized that what he was in the broader sense, was an artist- oh nowwww I was getting it!  So interesting was our be-tatted friend (and the menu that he was also very knowledgeable of) that we cancelled our reservations at a very nice steak house to stay and continue this experience with ‘the artist formerly known as Tyler‘… And be inspired- and talk with Louis.

What would be transformative for our firm- the work, the process, our clients, and the people who work with us?  What a great question…  Sometimes the best answers in life are just- the question. The right question can be inspiring.  It triggers all kinds of emotions and possibilities; it makes you dream bigger.  You cannot be risk averse in those moments- it will kill the dream before you even have it.

So we get half way through our first libation and I go to the restroom (which is in the basement) and I get off the elevator and there’s a bar downstairs too! Wow, didn’t expect that.  As I walk past, I notice another interesting character complete with a fedora behind the bar, and he is introducing himself to a couple and I hear him say ‘hi, I’m David what can I make you tonight?’ I mean, this happens in about the five seconds it takes me to whisk past en route to the loo- but I’m like wait a minute!  Tyler did the same thing when we sat down upstairs…  Yes at this point I’m taking care of pressing matters in the bathroom, which by the way had the same thumpy mix of music playing as was in the restaurant and bar. The loo was not over the top, but equipped with thoughtful things like mouthwash and cool hand soap —Okay,  I’m like ‘there are too many happy accidents going on in this place…  I think they are playin’ us!’  They actually want us to have a great experience, and are doing little thoughtful things and providing details to make it happen.  These people are sneaky… What can we learn from them?

So I get back upstairs and Louis and I keep talking.  We realize that our business model is many-fold eg; we design buildings (which, ironically, we have always held are not buildings but ‘experiences‘) and, simultaneously, there exists this arduous journey of design and construction- that we walk through with our clients.  So really, we chiefly provide a SERVICE, and there exists this relationship that is key to the success of the process and the final Product.  I can say with all certitude that as a creative person bent on making great places that inspire people and even affect their lives of the following truth:  There is no great architecture without strong relationships.  Tyler comes back for round two,  having already quickly gained our trust (not easy for bartenders as I am an amateur mixologist).  I’m like ‘ok buddy- if we are writing a book and the ginger beer and champagne infused thing was the first chapter, what’s the next chapter taste like?’  He asks a couple questions and is off to his work and whips up some crazy thing with about 7 ingredients, all along the way telling us about this and that (providing a service). The bitters he makes himself with cayenne peppers and the French family with the rogue son who wanted to do his own thing and makes the liqueur he is putting in now- this guy knows everything you can know about his craft.

It was not just the bartender either.  There was excellence in this place. The food was amazing; the way they paired ingredients and their throw-the-rules out attitude (like the fish with pop rocks- yes it’s what you think) and creativity was on full display for the eyes and palette; but for all the excellence it would never have happened if it were not for Tyler, who had quickly developed a relationship with us.  This guy was engaging and knowledgeable and visually …well, a smorgasbord- of tats and facial hair.  But truthfully he was a passionate, engaging educator and salesman of his art- just as we try to be.  He was providing a service as a tour guide (or sherpa) through the vicissitudes of aperitif and appetites. It’s no different in the aggregate than what we do– passionate creative people working to help other people enjoy life more.  Okay, he may have some advantages in that we don’t serve alcohol or food to our clients (wait a minute, Louis said we could be re-thinking that). Oh, and our relationships with clients have to encompass a shelf life of years, not hours.  Excellence and passion are magical and inspiring and sometimes transformative.  No telling what else they could have taught us in that creative kitchen- with kangaroo, kampachi, kumquat …and pop rocks.

Of the enjoyment of music I have found many varieties that I love and appreciate such as (in no order of preference)- classical, folk, rock, alternative, country and even some rap music. Oh, and not least jazz.  I know that most people also enjoy a large cross section of stylings and I believe the reason is that each taps into a different emotion and elicits a certain desired response.  In addition, because of all the complexities of persona and circumstance, those emotions make appropriate alignments with the music- at a given time.  Therefore, what sounds good in the morning is different from what we want in the afternoon or at a dinner party, for example.  I have found I actually like music that is often in the emotional realm of melancholy. This always has surprised me, because I don’t see myself as that kind of person, but I have come to believe that music and lyrics of a deeper nature speak to me, and often it has this emotional tint of being more serious or perhaps somber. But it’s more about depth and some mystery of truth spoken succinctly or deeply felt- than about being somber or sad.

I also have to say that in my musical journey lyrics have played a key role.  I can’t tell how much of that is due to my high school English teacher who got me totally fascinated with words that I had never heard before, or for my love of quotes and pithy sayings.  Anytime someone can express themselves succinctly and/or eloquently they have my attention and appreciation.  I also get bored easily, so if you need to verbally drive around the block in order to cross the street to make a point, I will be gone by the time you get there.  Great lyrics show that the person really has something interesting to say and has thought it important enough to be selective in HOW they say it.  A lot of writing and discourse could be had just discussing great lines and phrases from songs through the last say, 35 years of music.

So, there are these ‘purveyors of emotion and feeling’ who, because of their giftings, have the ability to compose words and rhythms in a powerful way.  Amongst this bastion that I enjoy (and it would be difficult to cover them all), there are truly a few that I would volunteer have shaped the way I feel about music or have been able to help express things I felt in a more elegant, fun, raw, and/or cool and meaningful way. I am going to pick three, which of course is excruciating to even attempt such discipline and futile choices.  It really feels impossible to have any conversation about my early musical education without talking about REM, the quartet from Athens, Georgia.  They initially had a sound that was simultaneously alt-rock but also had been blended in a totally innovative way, infused with Southernness.  To paraphrase Michael Sutton, they dared to be “moody and poetic when American music had become aggressive and juvenile”.  I was able to see them around 1985 at a frat house party at the University of Georgia as they were just getting into their second album and, though destined for stardom, were still accessible.  They had these lyrics that were marbled and muddled, and honestly half the enjoyment was trying to figure out what the hell they were even saying.  Of the words that were intelligible, there were stories of gardens, train engineers, night swimming and maps and legends (note the omission of love and drugs as fodder), which somehow triggered memories of growing up in the South and imagery of genius Samuel Clemens-esque adventures along the banks of the Mississippi.  Many younger people fail to appreciate REM and their contribution to music as a whole, but they represent a seminal shift in music from the time they came on the scene and had a sound that was unique and non-formulaic and most important for me, had within it some significant modicum of the artfully expressed mystery that is the South, all without being Molly Hatchett.  (Not that there’s anything wrong with that, as they used to say on Seinfeld.) And please play “Wendell Gee” at my funeral, seriously.

In addition, it would be just as impossible to get around the fact that yes,  before I became so predisposed to artfulness, I was just as bent on other sounds that were just a little bit more ….aggressive and ok, maybe juvenile.  It’s hard to think of these modern day octogenarians as being capable of seriously powerful musical antics (in light of being lampooned hilariously on SNL as blathering drunken imbeciles), but there was a time when the Rolling Stones just ruled my musical universe.  Although I consider them a WEE bit before my time, since most of their albums had been out for years (by the time I was fifteen they had already produced about 27 records). I discovered them from friends, and it was just in the wheelhouse of a young angst-y teenager, the soul wrangling guitar licks and in-your-face lyrics plus , I mean it’s not even fair- they had Mick Jagger, who, to use a teenage phrase, should really have been “quarterback for both teams” to make the game even close.  We all felt kind of MORE cool being out of step, and instead of DuranDuran, we were listening to the STONES as fifteen year olds.

We had rediscovered what most of our generation had stepped right over…  Like not being able to see the mayonnaise jar in the fridge when it’s right in front of you.  We stumbled onto Emotional Rescue (1980) and thought it was kinda disco music, but digging deeper found Some Girls (1978). It was all over after that.  I could still stare at that album cover and read all the tiny text, ads for wigs and the faces of the ugliest English dudes ever,  on the catalog in lieu of women.  Then we just fell into a rabbit hole of old music: Exile on Main Street/ Sticky Fingers and Beggars Banquet (1967). Beggars Banquetwas, ironically, probably my favorite, yet I was only three years old when it was released. With song titles like “Street Fighting Man,” “Prodigal Son” and “Stray Cat Blues”- I was hooked.  Yet it certainly wasn’t the marketing or the cool titles but the raw and bluesy sounds, even country music that they experimented with and Mick’s swaggering storytelling with the spot-on twangy guitar of Keith Richards- even decades later it was so much better than the cerebral and syrupy synthesizer music that was happening on the radio at this time in my life.  It was better because it was more visceral and REAL – hitting more in my heart than intellect. It was just authentic.  Only later did I understand the Stones were fascinated by the blues music of the bayou and Howlin Wolf, Muddy Waters, and it all made sense.  Even their name originated from a Muddy Waters song called “Rollin’ Stone Blues”-  so actually in many ways these Brits had repositioned what Ronnie Van Zant called the black man’s blues and reintroduced it to an entirely new audience.  Well done my wrinkled friends….

Of course there are many others of the late 70′s to the mid 80′s that really impacted me, but a short list might include The Beatles, The Who, Judas Priest, Rush, Queen, Bruce Springsteen, The Police, Husker Du, The Smiths, and U2.  Of those I would say The Police and The Smiths and Husker Du would be standouts amongst the stars.

When I sought out to do this particular blog entry, I intended on looking closely at three bands that really influenced me and then put a pretty little bow on it. Turned out to not be so easy.  So I am going to leave things open ended because I think it’s better to be ambiguous sometimes. Otherwise, one risks being pigeon-holed as artsy or cerebral or radio driven.  Or even being intentionally weird (which to me is just as sickening as only listening to radio programming). I will leave you, gentle readers, with a playlist of about ten songs from the formative years.  I hope you will enjoy them in the spirit they are given and be inspired by some of it, or reconnect with some of your own truth- or music- same thing.  What does this have to do with architecture, you may have asked yourself (if you made it this far) and the answer is this; I don’t separate music from what we do creatively they are just branches on the same tree-  in the words of Dan Reeder, “I’m a painter who plays music; because there are some things you cannot paint.”

note the slightly lower slope on the shed to the right of main barn

flared eaves on a slavic church

One of my favorite clients recently sent me an email where he related his discovery of rich architectural details on some travels in Germany.  What he discovered amazed me- especially since he is an engineer; will miracles never cease?  I was doubly encouraged that, A) someone not being an architect had stumbled across such an epiphany and B) that he had been able also to study it enough to elucidate me with a succinct description.  Oh, and C) this person was indeed, an engineer. Here is an excerpt from his email-  ”The interesting roof observation relates to the little curve you do with the copper ridge cap.  The roofs that look the best are the ones that are slightly failing.  The roofs are non-planar, and the end walls usually hold up the ends of the ridges, where the center lines tend to sag because there is no end wall underneath.  I think your copper detail is mimicking this look.  You could really exaggerate it by adding some intentional non planar bends in the roof between the end walls.  This fractal look approaches nature most closely (cedar shakes, uneven, mottled, etc).  This is why I also hate flat shingles, modern architecture, etc.  How about that for an engineer’s observation of an architectural topic”.  

Engineers are a necessary evil in our lives since little would actually get built or STAY built without their efforts.  Some of them are actually helpful and even TRY to understand the crazy ramblings of architects, arms waving and wild eyes spiraling- to chart a course to achieve said vision, instead of sitting there, arms crossed mumbling it will never work…  So here was a subject matter I thought best kept to myself; for fear of futile ramblings to glazed over eyes- yet here my friend had so convincingly and completely understood one secret agenda- that now I am confessing ever more or the mysterious production of an architecture not exactly SQUARE or PLUMB (heretical I know) and the belief that it is better (in certain intentional instances) to be so non-coplanar.

Canal houses with battered (sloped walls at base) Bruges, Belgium

Just love the wonky-ness of this little baby- its dancing

Euclid was an ancient Greek mathematician who perhaps was the father of geometry and until the last two hundred years he was really the only game in town in terms of geometry and still most of what we understand and use daily to describe lines and planes is based on his textbook called “the Elements”.  One of the basic tenets of his Elements is the 90 degree angle, as its basic unit, and its use to describe orthogonal networks and systems in architecture as being “square and plumb” has been widely used and subscribed to.  It also helps in construction to build things straight, “corners are expensive” is one of the first things I learned as I came into the “real world” from architecture school.  And let me tell you, if corners are expensive, curves are out of the conversation!  But who wants to hang out with a “square”?  Not me.  I quickly realized that there was something wrong with my architecture as my eyes flitted along the rooflines and down the walls of the silhouette of the building.  It was square, and straight and…  dead as a mackerel.

…more examples of walls being wider at base

What I found in nature was missing in what man was doing.  Softness. Sublety that comes from lines that are not all parallel or perpendicular.  So the search was on for other ways of doing this.  Why is a tree not really straight?  They get bigger as they come nearer to the ground and taper ever so elegantly as they vault skyward.  Hills and mountains, same idea, just bigger.  Maybe growing up on a farm had influenced my mind’s eye towards the organic and the geometry of nature.  But doesn’t everyone like the huge oak tree better than the building next to it?  So in spots we soften by widening out the walls at the bottom and flaring slightly the eaves at the bottom of the roof’s trajectory to give a more gentle and graceful appearance.  Its not playing it straight, but it is a bit more play-ful-  and to some of us, softer and more natural or natural.  It’s a subtle whisper -but as they say, He who has ears, let him hear.

a house we did in WaterSound Florida, note walls at base

rooflines on house we did at lake- with lower slopes at bottom and flared ridge

I want to start this new year talking about what is so critical to doing anything great or thoughtful or poetic- and it is inspiration.  I think a mind tuned correctly can discover it almost anywhere, but at times it behooves us to seek it out most intentionally. Last October, a series of conversations between my partner Louis and I landed 12 people in…  now if you are thinking negatively right now you may assume what comes next is “hot water” or “a terrible situation”, but actually its… Barcelona.  Spain.  For no reason other than to experience a great city and culture -in hopes that some of that greatness and culture would rub off- in other words to be inspired.  …And to have fun, and to share together some of the best and simplest food ever, see great and ancient buildings winding through crooked and skinny- (sometimes 9 feet from building face to face) streets… and especially for me, the works of one Antonio Gaudi.  I have to apologize for the quality of some of the images that follow because I normally am hell bent to find the absolute perfect and most gorgeous images I can find no matter how long it takes me but in this case-  the photographer is me and thus the lack of quality but for the sake of the telling the story I put myself on the horrible and dangerous front lines of the trip- to illustrate the tale.

We had a great time wandering around with no particular place to go most of the time (more joy) -no schedule to meet, no meeting to attend …other than breakfast, lunch and dinner of course.  The Barcelonians were overall friendly and happy people (how could they not be?) and their English was way better than my Spanish so we were able to communicate without much trouble.  One of the favorite places is the Ramblas which is a long pedestrian street running from the port on the Mediterranean up to las Catalunya square.  It borders the old part of the city and is full of mimes and flower shops and artists and very old sycamore trees.  I particularly love that fact that the people are put first and the automobile is shoved off to either side and not only that but its ONE WAY for the cars on both sides leaving us little people to run the joint on a cobblestoned boulevard about 2 miles long without fear of being smashed by a Volvo truck.

las Ramblas at dusk, note the absence of das auto from center stage

The first time I went to Barcelona years ago I went to Sagrada Familia (designed by Antonio Gaudi) on 4 of the 5 days I was there-  it’s just that big, and that amazing and that complex and layered that it defies easy understanding.  Years later I am still equally and totally baffled by it, and the talent and creative genius it took to concieve it, but much more than that the mad scientist to actually pull it off.  The construction has been ongoing for 130 years- and even with modern technology and cranes, and lasers and gizmos- it is estimated to take another 20 years to complete the design.  The sanctuary was consecrated about two years ago, so there are actual services inside even with all the seige works of construction wrapped around the exterior.  I would try to tell you all about the place but really no words of mine could express it fully- or even partially.  I have tried to describe it at parties or to friends and it is very frustrating to wave your hands around so much-  so I will invoke the “pictures are better than words” mantra for this exercise, in hopes I can be delivered from more frustration and deliver you from too many words.

Entry side with four spires of 150 feet- a yet unbuilt spire where the crane is will rise 500 feet

central nave of Sagrada Familia

the altar

Goethe is quoted as saying, “Never let a day pass without looking at some perfect work of art, hearing some great piece of music and reading, in part- some great book“.   While the “more is more” present in the work of Gaudi may not please every taste-  it is awe inspiring and bold and daring and risked greatly but still did not escape his reach, even though its trajectory did eclipse his life span.  Great things are always conceptually much bigger than us.  When asked for his view- and source of his luminous inspiration Gaudi said, “the tree outside my studio tells me all I need to know“.  What a simple statement for such a person who created places so rich and complex, and over one hundred years ago.

My only wish would be that I too, could have a conversation with such a tree…

I have no idea why but lately have been quite enamored with and surprised that I have never done a post on them before- one of the unique and central denizens of good architecture- the chimney.  Or as some masons and carpenters of southern dialect also call the chim-bly-  and yes, I will one day do a post on the mispronounced nomenclature of southern country construction parlance.   But I digress, the chimney has much power in a great design, it can hold a house together acting as a bookend, or inspire us as it streaks up through the rooflines and snorts smoke like a machine or to a child a fire breathing monster.  I love the old houses before modern day forced air when that was the only heating method, there would be just a multiple multitude of chimneys fighting for superiority.  No matter how pedestrian or how elegant and fancy they stand up straight and say, ahem, excuse me- but did you notice?  I’m running the joint…

Stacked stone chimneys- Scotland

Very ornate Turned Chimney shafts- Albury Village in Surrey, England

Beaumanor Hall near Loughborough

Besancon, France has thousands of chimneys with this or a related type of chimney cap or top

The thing about chimneys for me is two-fold, they are sculpture plain and simple…  But only sculpture they most definitely are not.   They can feel like a huge bookend such as these ones below-in Bath, a multistory building with lots of fireplaces, thus the need for so many chimney pots and in a simple, yet powerful alignment.  Still its great that all the pots are juxtaposed different colors and slightly differing heights as well creates a richness.  Just as easily a chimney can stand alone like a sentinel- guarding its inhabitants and keeping a lone lookout in the cold.  The other thing about chimneys is that for all their celebrative pomp and circumstance; they really are the companion and by product of that highly essential and famous mother of invention, the fireplace.  When I see a chimney I always think of the fireplace it is attached to and there is something soulful and homey about it.  It just innately feels like a warm and safe place.

Chimney Pots- Bath, England

I have wondered if it is nature that gave us the inspiration for chimneys,  since there are many varietals of verticality to choose from- trees are a great source of inspiration of course and rocky cliffs and the vertical form of mountains.  In fact there are many places called “chimney rock”- even in parts of the country as different as North Carolina and Nebraska we identify certain land forms as chimney-esque.  Still when the first chimneys were being built I have to believe that the mason’s creative nature intuitively seized upon the opportunity to show off their skills and build their own version of the Cliffs of Mohr.  Speaking of virtuosic masons,  I won’t even go into the intricate technical aspects of design, physics and the laws of thermodynamics that actually make a chimney WORK.  Or as we say that fireplace doesn’t “draw” well if it is not built to fairly finicky and exact proportions of the firebox width height and depth to the size of the flue (pipe inside the chimney) and as well the height of the chimney it will not function well, or even at all.  But it is a marvel of engineering and construction that would be easily missed if I didn’t at least mention it.  It is at least as inspiring to watch a custom chimney go up as these natural possible inspirations for them.

“Chimney Rock”, Western Nebraska

“Chimney Rock”- in the Blue Ridge Mountains, North Carolina

“Chimney Rock” in southwestern Colorado

Of all the virtues of chimneys, such as sculptural aspects of form and beauty or craftsmanship- as well as the historic and undeniably life giving properties of warmth; I have one last and absolute truth.  That the chimney stays at his post and becomes a visible marker that once a proud, or humble structure stood and we enjoyed shelter and slept and ate and worked and lived.  So firm is the commitment of the chimney, that even after the useful life of the structure has passed it by, it stands in testament to the souls that have passed through its protective gaze and we honor it back by leaving it, right where it has been for perhaps hundreds of years, alone in sublime memory.

On style, it’s hard or difficult to pin down why a certain direction is taken- or how that direction got charted in the first place.  I don’t think it is a totally conscious decision it feels more intuitive and subconscious- why one material is luminous and another is loathsome, or lackluster.  Just as an example- I love stone, don’t LOVE brick- why?  I have no idea.  It even sounds blasphemous to say “i don’t love brick” …seriously? Aren’t you an architect?  But compared to stone, well to me- there is no comparison.  When I do use brick, typically its covered in stucco or mortar- or painted.  I want to see a WALL, not a bunch of little b-b’s jockeying for position.  Just saying…  Now I will get letters from the Brick Institute.  Again, this is merely an example of the inexplicable.  A process of predilections and leanings which form, along the way- a style.  We call that- “our version of the truth“.   I use brick all the time, please don’t send me nasty comments (humor added).  Just one more thing about stone, its not a stone if you can pick it up with ONE hand.  That, is a rock.  You throw those…  away, hopefully.

I think more than anything there is what Sir Isaac Newton termed, “standing on the shoulders of giants”.   I became more the student of history after I left college, in part because I realized my own attempts to scare the world with a new resplendent architectural style all my own were actually quite scary to, me.  Perhaps had I actually paid attention in all those architectural history classes I would have found some ideas worth keeping.  But when you are 18 years old, you can’t be told a whole lot.  I had my own ideas about how things should work, no matter if it looked like concrete waves or UFO landing sites, and could never be built.  After some time I began to discover the old masters like Lutyens, Mackintosh and Voysey.  Those were the English (and Scottish) heroes who championed a style we today call Arts and Crafts.  There were lots of other famous thinkers of that age, but those were the ones who still today I hear whispering through my pencil as I draw, erase, edit and create-  of course, now they speak with a slightly more southern accent.  Their work was clean almost modern and timeless.  In a word it was elegant, and for me and others- still inspirational even today, 100 to 125 years later.

In the middle of the last century there came a great shift in architecture away from traditional and familiar design towards a new expression and philosophy.  In a large way our work is more akin to the designs of the 18th century- which perhaps in some ways is again new.  I have been inspired and borrowed from the ideas of many of the leaders of this revolutionary group- such as Wright, Kahn, Corbusier and Scarpa- whose works I have discussed and portrayed on this blog previously but in this post more specifically.

Modern day heroes also abound, even though it may be difficult to demonstrate in most of the work we do, it is inspirational to marvel at the technological innovation and creativity of others.  Those in this still living group (impossible to list them all) would be- Gehry, Calatrava, Liagre, Foster as well as Herzog and de Meuron.  Is a theme nascent?  If it is I can’t see it, maybe it is too close to see…  I know to me, it is of the utmost import to be inspired, in hopes I may somehow, inspire others.  Inspiration is my goal for our work- as well as the fuel necessary to create it.  Einstein is quoted as saying, “creativity is knowing how to hide your resources“, which is amazingly humorous- coming from one who surely had few resources to pull such a unique thing as the theory of relativity out of his hat.  From the creations and inspirations born from the lives and work of these masters and mentors,  I am happy to share a few of mine.

Louis Kahn

Sir Edwin Lutyens

Charles Rennie Mackintosh

CFA Voysey

Carlo Scarpa

Appropriate takes no prisoners is a no bullsh#%*t guy (its the John Wayne of my design philosophy), appropriate just works- is reasonable, unquestionable, intuitively correct.  Now I am also positive that appropriate could possibly be an excuse for boring, but that is why we have other words like delight, or my personal favorite- the zinger.  Amongst all this thinking and design work I have also enjoyed immensely the prescribed exercise to demonstrate the idea- which is even better than words, and transforms and transcends words which is namely, to draw.  I became an architect based mostly on my hearts desire to draw.  I believe something magical and potentially spiritual- takes place inside a person when they pick up a pencil and whats inside them comes out in a drawing, no matter how crude or how elegant, something deep of ourselves is revealed.  The whisper of a sketch is almost like a secret; by which we see what was hidden inside.

Cave Paintings- Lascaux, France

Like these cave paintings, some from (if you believe in carbon dating) as far back as 35,000 years ago, but to say the very least from pre-historic times, even before we had pencils we had the desire to draw to create imagery to communicate our ideas through visual means.  I still doodle strange shapes that aren’t readily understandable while I talk on the phone, What? YES- I was listening to what you said!  The love to draw is seminal and obviously primal and apparently innate rather than learned, maybe like running a 4.4 second 40 yard dash, or being 7 feet tall, some people have it and some don’t.  As they say in sports, “you can’t coach speed”, height either for that matter.  I think unfortunately people miss out on the enjoyment of sketching for fear of what?  So try doodling when you are on the phone, (at your desk not in the car) or in a cave- and see what happens.

The subjects of my own latest efforts are not animals and not drawn on cave walls but still, I have noticed what comes out frequently has a life of its own.  Though there are a variety of factors and influences like say, (topography/views/solar orientation/ light/ clients/ style/ budget) ok can we leave the last one off- that must be considered in the creation of a thoughtful place I find that also that some things just resonate.   One of these is a sense of scale.  Since most people are about 5 or 6 feet tall and as such, have a certain feeling relative to the size and breadth of a building, that it is way bigger than they are, it can be sometimes a little intimidating.  In terms of making it more approachable and hopefully inviting, I believe the thing should be broken down into smaller pieces.  So, in these cases where it could be just fine to put everything under one singular roofline and have the footprint be one “big box” -I prefer instead to make it a series of boxes each with its own smaller, more bite size “hat” of its own.

Napa Residence

Hill House (San Antonio)

So what to do with these little casinos.  Exploding apart a building; besides making for interesting possibilities and experiences creates two additional important virtues. One, it enables LIGHT and air to move in and around the interior rooms over the period of a day which is life giving to the inhabitants. Two, these smaller boxes can be arranged to create wonderful OUTDOOR rooms in which to smell the roses.  Like sit outside, get some fresh air, feel the warm sun in the early spring, plant something you can eat, or just enjoy the color and scent of,  do some al fresco dining.  Porches and pergolas are great for this but don’t have to be the end of the trip, more to be a transition INTO the true out of doors space- the courtyard; Websters defines as an area wholly or partly surrounded by walls or buildings- (aka the plaza, piazza or my favorite the cloister).

Cloudrock- Moab, Utah

I suppose the deeper issues of why these kinds of places resonate to us would be fascinating to understand and worth the effort to unearth all the reasons.  I will leave it to the psychologists to nail it all down.  I think making places with more possible experiences creates a richness of life, of living.  I think it has to do with Bill Gwin’s statement that good design should “provide for opportunities and not to limit“.  Leonardo da Vinci is quoted as saying, “where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art“.  I know that like my pre-historic and famous friends, armed with my pencil I am still figuring it all out.

Da Vinci wing sketches

It’s been a while since my last post (umm, in October) and although I wanted to find some time I could devote to writing, there is a very exciting reason why.  Over the last two months besides the normal workaday plateful (plus the holidays) there has been a special project I have devoted much time to, and that would be the new offices for Dungan Nequette in the English Village of Mountain Brook.  On Wednesday, November the 30th, 2011 at about 10:30am I walked out of my office in downtown Birmingham, after darkening that doorway almost everyday for 12 years, (about four thousand days) to call a new office “home“.  It was at once, very exciting and still admittedly a tiny lonely twinge leaving the place where were made all those memories of people patrons and projects- but time continues its headlong rush into the future, and our future is at 1906 Cahaba Road. I have thought and pondered for a while about how to describe this process and the place that has been created, there are many aspects I wish to convey, but almost so much I don’t know where to start.  There is the unbelievable job the contractor (Francis Bryant and Sons) did, and the fun we had together in an easy working relationship that was just a beautiful thing.  There is the part of being the architect, interior designer and the client all in one and how much fun that was.  There is the stretching creatively and taking chances that would not safely be taken with a client for risk of it all blowing up in your face.  Then there is the final (well almost final) product of the building- and a space that comes so much farther in making a statement of what you find interesting, what you believe in- and experience of how it elevates your daily work and your feeling of well-being.  Gandhi said “happiness is when what you believe and what you do and say are all in alignment“.  In a design way of  understanding this is much closer to what we hold dear than our former environment ever was or could be.

The exterior was a brick facade with some little parapeted entry with the Gotham city Batman look, but overall was underwhelming while simultaneously not horrible.  It had potential but it needed a little love.  The lipstick came in the form of a new slate roof from leftover pieces of past projects that the builder had, along with a new limestone entrance and a small drafting room that looks as if a porch was taken in, we call the sunroom.  When we were at the building just thinking about the design, it was obvious we would need more space in Louis and my office space.  We saw that the footprint would allow us to come forward to the street and I remember saying to Louis that the little extra space would be like our first office, which was the sunroom of his then apartment in Forest Park.  How fitting that after all the years it has come full circle.  The final design of the street facade to me is of an English ancestry, as it should be if it is to take its place as a happy addition to English Village, but also its quite admittedly Flemish (see below).  Which I like also, because a strict adherent to tradition I am not.  Of course the detailing is critical for all the exterior pieces, and plenty of thought was given to copper roofs and rafter tails and wood paneling and so forth, when you only have a palatte of roughly 50 feet in width and its in a denser village area, you have to sweat the details, to hold the added attention and scrutiny that the exterior will receive.  Lots of people will drive by and not give it a second glance, but others pay attention and appreciate the details- this is for them.

I would say we have designed at least 3 but perhaps 5 offices for ourselves- over the last 7 years, which for one reason or another- never materialized.  Maybe all those other layouts prepared us and helped us think through how we would like to live and what kind of a space would help us live that way better.  At any rate a building became available owned by a friend in the real estate business, and it was perfect location but the building was not quite the cats meow architecturally or from an interior layout at all what we needed.  So we decided to give it facelift on the exterior as well as fairly well GUT the interior (except for bathrooms).  We did some sketches over the summer of a face lifted version and began sketching layouts of the inside.  After hitting on an open plan where everyone could see across the space, yet have their own slightly more cozy work-space, and open as well as closed conference rooms plus a basement where we can also have meetings but moreover is really going to be like a cozy den- complete with 65 inch tv and small kitchen.

There are of course all the other spaces you would assume like reception, foyer, storage but really, as I have said before in posts its not those amenities as much as it is THE FEEL.  The emotional response is the desired culmination of a thousand decisions.  Its hard to say exactly, and only time will tell how other people react and use their own words to describe, but to me it feels cozy with a pinch of mystery.  So much so in fact that it is noticable people talk lower in the space, not quite in a hushed library way but noticeably  is a little respectful of the space and that also because it is quite open.  While the openness of the space does emote a little demure sense, its finishes and materials are anything but formal and not in the least way fancy.  All the materials are reclaimed, not because its green (though for some that is ample reason) but because they are beautiful, have character, and connect us to the past in an elegant way.  We used 4 different kinds of pine flooring of differing widths and colors and textures and refused to let the very diligent installers sand them at all, for love of the randomness and the more you sand them, the more they all look the same.  As the French say, vive la difference.  Understand that this leaves you with a floor that is not totally flat and in spots a little uneven- just be more aware of your steps.  It reminds me of Hundertwasser House in Vienna, Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser actually laid uneven tile floors and planted trees (all over the building) to create a sense of walking through the woods,  so this design doesn’t get quite that adventurous, but I figured if Fred could get away with it surely a little unevenness is ok.  But perhaps my favorite space in the place is the little drafting room, which has arguably the best view in all of English village.  Also makes it hard to hide from clients but I’m just saying…

Friedensreich Hundertwasser

Surely this design is a culmination of years of looking and borrowing and trying different things, from travels and from standing on the shoulders of giants.  Louis Kahn, Charlie Mackintosh, CFA Voysey and many other giants still exert their influence and it seeps through the boards into the work.  Many people also played a role in getting it all complete in a fashion that is also very well done including our staff as well we are very thankful to the welders, the carpenters, Clay Klinner (reclaimed wood), Randy Burnham’s Fine Cabinets, Mike White, Grant Trick, and Eric Brandino. Lastly the uber talented team at Francis Bryant & Sons, who were just as easy and friendly to work with as is humanly possible- they did the entire project in 3 months, and never publicly at least without a smile, in a word with aplomb.  Its good that it is during this season of Thanksgiving and Christmas when we are thankful for life and freedom and the light coming into the world that we find ourselves in such a place.  It is particularly appropriate at this time that we are given a great gift on top of all the others to treasure and enjoy.

I would further the discussion of Maslow’s pyramid of needs beyond the first level through the second level and would make the simple statement that great design- of a level rarely seen in everyday life; is attainable which even enables us to more easily have the rare feelings of self esteem, confidence and respect- even creativity and problem solving… all because of this environment and its ability to embue inspirational and educational properties.  In terms of this conversation, regarding the “human factors” and how they are used in design to our benefit, I would break them down into my own hierarchy of need. First let me say I understand the word “design” to be the following; a specific response to a certain set of criteria- also can be described as the “problem“.  I dont use the word problem in this case as a deragatory or a negative situation, but rather more like an algebra test- where you are presented with problems to solve. Using the correct theorems or expressions and equations and then working the math and executing fundamentals will yeild the “correct” answer. Any mistake in selection of the equations OR even if the right strategy is chosen, but the execution of it is not perfect, will create an incorrect solution or answer.  Do we get partial credit?  Sometimes, but that is small encouragement to the gentle designer- or as Coldplay said “you didn’t get to heaven, but you made it close“. So luck is not on our side in design, actually as the old country song said “if it werent for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all“.  In design, I have found this to totally and thoroughly be the case.  So it is a fickle thing, and why would it not be- attempting as a mere individual to create meaningful sustainable places for the highest and most complex organisms on the planet. Even our needs are not at all static but ever changing, even as the seasons change- so do our desires and environmental reactions evolve and change on a yearly basis, so the equation becomes more complex, even though a simple answer is usually the best.

I have been fortunate to design in places as diverse as Nova Scotia and Utah, Guatemala and Philadelphia- and as the cultures and climates change so do the needs and desires; sometimes significantly. For example, the basic human desire or need for sunlight.  In places as close together as even North Carolina and northern Florida, separated by only one US state- have significantly differing factors which cause the designs to respond quite differently as well.  In the mountains of North Carolina light is much more difficult to come by on the interior spaces, therefore glass is used liberally and on almost any exposure, be it north south east or west.  Also the climate is quite termperate and cooler therefore the warmth from the sun is more desirable over a large part of the year.  All in an effort to promote natural lighting, warmth -and the feeling of well being that comes as a result of it. Whereas in areas like Seaside, Florida because of the OTHER effect of sunlight, eg excessive HEAT- every effort is made to minimize the sunlight from proceeding too far into the structure.  By use of effective overhangs, calculated by the solar orientation and the solar angles at different times of the year, (higher in summer and lower in winter) also by creative and effective and skillful use of that great invention, THE PORCH- the thoughtful designer can keep the sun at bay. At least enough to give the tanned and glistening inhabitants some modicum of relief from its rays.

Let me review what I think are the main factors inherent if a sustainable and enduring design is to be created. First I start with the earth, its hard to ignore terra firma, or better to say only ignored at our own risk.  The site is so important because if you listen closely, the site will tell you exactly what to do in order to have a structure which appears to have either grown out of the ground, or been there since the beginning of time- either one is desirable.  In addition to the topographic conditions to be designed to, the site also creates an orientation towards the best view and just as importantly, the poor view. There are usually views to be eschewed just as much as there are views desirable to be captured.  Lastly, the solar orientation touched on earlier very rarely is in a copacetic relationship with these views and topographic constraints.  Therefore these DIVERGENT needs must have thier way with the design and exert their influence upon the very first notions and considerations of the intelligent designers mind.  Finding the place in the world to make the most of all these important considerations leads towards the success of any sustainable design.

Second but no less important is the arrangement of spaces. From Christopher Alexander’s thoughts on privacy and public spaces; even those within a home- it is apparent that a happy “family of rooms” and spaces is imperative to creating a place where people can feel comfortable and also more easily live their lives.  From the site diagrams of orientation to the earths movements and suns pattern come a general direction and a SHAPE that fits these lines like a hand in glove.  During that analysis the designer must also simultaneously be considering how a human would move through this building and how groceries get in and garbage gets out, how guests could easily find thier way to the powder room at a cocktail party, and what would be the most impressive way to see the sunset from the rear pergola terrace.

In these considerations the form of the house or building begin to have much greater detail than the site diagram, becoming much like arteries and veins form a system that feeds nutrients and oxygen to the rest of the body- these circulatory components need to have a simple and thorough path that serves the needs of the building.  In a magnificent example Carlo Scarpa designed in an existing 1000 year old castle one of the finest museums, which so intuitively the patron may explore its chambers of artwork there is no need for a map or guide. Through what would have been a laberynthine experience, is gleaned the delight of discovering this piece and that sculpture, over 4 stories of history, with ease the viewer discovers his way as effortlessly as hansel and gretel following the bread crumbs.  That is what my clients call “flow” in layman’s terms.  I don’t believe I recall any one of them in an initial meeting not requesting their desire for flow and for their house to have a sense of ease of movement and simplicity of space.

I think from here things get more interesting, and complex and rich. It would be hard to imagine any intelligent person arguing against sustainability of designing to the earth, the sun, light, and human needs. I feel I am stating the obvious, hopefully persuasively- yet “preaching to the choir”, what is inarguable, yet not always fully obvious. The interesting things in life to me, are those truths which are counter-intuitive.  These mysteries are the best parts of life.   I would love to additionally discuss at a later time, more of beauty and its role and subjective nature in our lives and in design as one example of mystery and the power of it. The great variable of my experience in design is and are the fundamental differences in human beings in their personas and personalities and egos- and the influence these psychological factors have on their desires and the resultant designs to serve them. When these factors are cross-referenced and interlaced with the previous and aforementioned factors the resulting design paramaters are as myriad as what Sir Herbert Read called “the infinate permutations of heredity“. And it is that which makes each design as totally individual as a snowflake, and brings my life’s work the most fulfillment and variety. In more detailed words, persons who are more formal, or more relaxed will want VERY different environments. Maslows hierarchy of needs is a elementary roadmap that is a cartoon in light of these types of psycholgical considerations. Not that it is without usefulness and notwithstanding its declaration of the obvious baseline of human desires and needs. It is my hope that these are the very beginning of an intelligent conversation, about how we live best and what we really need and want- but it is like a first date and not as intimate as we need to be; if we are to create places of the higher order- full of mystery and intrigue, and deep fulfillment.