Test your Design IQ
MANILA, Philippines - What is the name of the American architect known for innovative buildings in the modernist style and for urban planning that pioneered the use of greenbelts and green design? A clue is that his name is similar to that of a well-known musician.
He was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1913, and spent his growing years in Southern California and Seattle. When he enrolled in the University of Washington program in architecture, where he graduated in 1936, he was particularly influenced by faculty member Lionel Pries.
After marrying Ruth Schneider, a fellow architecture student, he returned to Los Angeles and worked with modernist architects Douglas Honnold and Geroge Vernon Russel from 1936 to 1937, Burton A. Schutt from 1937 to 1939, and the renowned Paul R. Williams from 1939 to 1940.
While working for Allied Engineers from 1940 to 1942, he met the architect Frederick Emmons, with whom he would later partner. During this time, he was responsible for the development and layout of the Roosevelt Base in San Pedro and the Naval Reserve Base in Los Alamitos.
The years after the War — he had served in the Navy — saw him partnering with Paul R. Williams on several projects in the Palm Springs area. These include the Palm Springs Country Club in 1947, the Town and Country Restaurant in 1948, and the restaurant Romanoffs on the Rocks in 1950. He also participated in John Entenza’s Case Study House program.
The December 1950 issue of the magazine Architectural Forum featured a Builder’s House of the Year, which he designed, as well as the Subdivision of the Year citation awarded to Palo Alto building magnate Joseph Eichler. This prompted Eichler to invite him to form a dream team that continued until Eichler’s death in 1974. It was through this relationship with Eichler that he was provided both the venue and freedom to implement his concepts of incorporating park-like common areas in tract housing developments. His were some of the first greenbelts incorporated into moderate-income housing in the US.
In these projects, he raised the tract house in California from the simple stucco box to a logically designed structure integrated into the landscape and surrounded by greenbelts. He introduced new materials as well as a new way of living within the built environment and popularized an informal outdoor-oriented open plan, More than just abstractions of the suburban ranch house, most of his designs incorporated a visible atrium, high ceilings, post-and-beam construction, and walls of glass. For the postwar moderate-income family, his work bridged the gap between custom built and developer built homes.
He often took advantage of industrial prefabricated units to provide affordable yet refined architecture. His larger buildings brought innovations to the integration of mechanical systems, improving their efficiency, and maximizing retrievable space.
His aesthetic style, precise detailing, and siting made his buildings quintessential embodiments of mid century American architecture.
In 1960, he was hired by William Pereira as a planning partner in the development of the city of Irvine, California, which has since become a model of integration of greenbelts into urban development. He was also a professor and later dean of architecture at the University of Southern California’s School of Architecture from 1951 through 1967.
By the 1960s, he was designing a number of university campus buildings and larger office buildings including the 1963 IBM Aerospace Headquarters in California. In 1966, he designed Sunnylands, the 650-acre estate and 32,000-square-foot home of Annenberg in Racho Mirage, California. He passed away in 1979.
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Last week’s question: Who is the Australian celebrity chef who is coordinator for Qantas Flight Catering and has a food brand sold under his name at Woolworth Supermarkets?
Answer: Neil Perry
Winner: Danilo Santos of Project 6, QC
Text your answer to 0926-3508061 with your name and address. One winner will be chosen through a raffle of texts with the correct answer. The winner will receive P2,000 worth of SM gift certificates for use at Our Home, SM Department Store, or SM Supermarket. They can claim their prize at Our Home in SM Megamall. Bring photocopies of two valid IDs and a clipping of the Design Quiz issue in which you appear as winner.
