Sabbatical at Thirst (3st) is drawing to a close—a final report

A Thirst staff meeting and group portrait, starting left, clockwise: Rick Valicenti, founder and design director, John Pobojewski, Cameron Brand, Romain Andre, Bud Rodecker, Baozhen Li, and Robyn Paprocki. Barbara Valicenti, Rick’s sister, is present via Skype. Photograph by versluis, 23 April 2012.

Three months ago Rick Valicenti asked me what my objective was for being at Thirst—what did I hope to accomplish while at the studio? At the time I had no specific agenda, although I was hoping to observe, absorb, and contribute collaboratively in the design process at Thirst. Mainly I was seeking the experience of being a part of a world-class design practice to help better inform my teaching practice.

It seemed that the best way to remain current in the changing field of graphic design was to be away from the classroom responsibilities and to actually be present with a dedicated and energetic design team.

As my time here comes to a close, I feel that most of what I was hoping to experience at Thirst has come to pass, mainly in the form of many interesting projects (several have been highlighted earlier). The most recent project I’ve been working on, during the last several weeks, has been organizing Thirst’s fall 2012 exhibition at Bowling Green State University (Valicenti is a graduate of BGSU). I’ve curated the most recent body of Thirst’s work in order to develop scale floor plans and elevation views for the exhibition.

Since my last report I have met some very interesting people who have either passed through the studio or have connections to Rick. One such person was Ed Schweitzer, Incognito Design. I also was introduced to Chicago design legend, Gene Bellini who with his wife, Kathy was attending an art auction at Wright. Gene is credited for designing the iconic Bullseye mark and symbol for Target. I had a particularly interesting conversation with the smart and inquisitive Rob Giampietro who was in Chicago as a featured speaker for AIGA Chicago’s initial Design Thinking series. Rob came to visit Thirst and was hosted and given a studio tour by his friend John Pobojewski.

On 18 April I presented a talk to the art department faculty (John Bakker, Ellen Browning, and Dr. Lou Systma) and about 20-25 interested students at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Illinois. It was a wonderful time. The event promoted me as being the “founder of Trinity’s Design Office and Design Program,” which I considered an honor and greatly appreciated. A portion of my talk reinforced the essential need for students to know typography and grid structure by showing Thirst’s Contract magazine redesign as a case study.

For an extra-curricular event I attended the melodic, yet Dada-like concert by Matt Carlson who performed with full control of his modular synth—amazing. The event was hosted by Lampo at the Graham Foundation.

On 27 April I’ll head to the Smart Museum of Art on the University of Chicago’s campus
for the official launch party of Graze magazine. Graze was art directed and designed by Dordt alumna Sarah Franken and the first issue will be available at the event. Congratulations Sarah—we’re proud of you!

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Fisher Studio Houses (1936), Chicago — Andrew Nicholas Rebori, Architect

Andrew Rebori’s Fisher Building was inspired by the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair Moderne style and twentieth century Moderne was influenced primarily by French Art Deco style modernism. The Fisher building has been restored to its 1936 period.

The Building has been designated as a Chicago landmark; the marker states:

This rare Art Moderne-style design is also one of the city’s best examples of pre-World War II modernism. Further distinguishing the building is its handcrafted ornamentation by prominent artist Edgar Miller. The 12 residential units front on a common courtyard, and they are laid out on an extremely narrow site that runs perpendicular to the street. The building was commissioned by Frank Fisher, Jr., an executive of Marshall Field & Co.

Pictured starting at the top is an east elevation view. Followed by the north side courtyard and next to it is The Etude Music Magazine cover design, January 1933, which is an example of graphic design influenced by the twentieth century Moderne style. The magazine cover uses rounded geometric forms as indicated in the 1933 typography and the scroll-like banner that correlates nicely with the rounded geometric forms of Rebori’s architectural design of the Fisher Building. Lastly is a photographic isometric view indicating the building and site. Here are a couple of links (here / here) to current information about the building.

Above is Edgar Miller’s mythological goddess Diana which is an example of his sculptural tiles. This ornamental piece is located on the front façade near the street and courtyard entry of the Fisher Building.

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AIGA Chicago’s 2012 Design Thinking Series I — Rob Giampietro: designer, writer, critic, curator, and educator.

Rob Giampietro’s fast-paced presentation at AIGA Chicago’s Design Thinking Series took place last Thursday night in the classy glass auditorium at Morningstar, Inc. AIGA Chicago’s biennial Design Thinking Series promotes the idea that “Design is always changing. It continually transforms how we engage with each other and our world in new and exciting ways. New processes, strategies and technologies are invented. Historical precedents are reevaluated and critiqued. Innovative storytelling and narrative techniques are formed.”

The April 12 event was first in the 2012 series. The summary and essence of Giampietro’s thesis is how writing informs graphic design practice—specifically, how the cooperative of writing, criticism, and graphic design articulate metaphorical ideas as messages to audiences. For Giampietro “metaphorical systems” are directly correlated to the design process and linked to form making. As a graphic designer and educator Rob Giampietro’s research and writing helps him, as he says, “reflect on ideas more deeply.”

Concerning criticism and metaphor here are some excerpts from Rob’s presentation slides:

Criticism at its core is merely the act of revealing links between objects. —Rachel Rosenfelt, Editor-in-Chief, “The New Inquiry” 

In addition:  

The essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one thing in terms of another. —George Lakoff & Mark Johnson, “Metaphors we Live By”

1. Metaphors are conceptual; they’re not just a matter of words. 
2. Concepts are not always literal; many ontological concepts are highly metaphorical.…

Rob Giampietro, a principal at Project Projects, helped to design the SALT identity system in 2011. Above is a photo of the SALT identity installation (centered) as it appeared at Walker Art Center’s, Graphic Design: Now in Production show earlier this year. The identity is comprised of the “suggestive” (allusive) typeface Kraliçe, designed by Timo Gaessner. According to Ellen Lupton, in the exhibition catalog, “The graphic identity for SALT, a cultural institution in Istanbul, avoids the idea of a logo altogether.” photographs by versluis.

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Quotations on creativity — Morton Goldsholl

“Bad Design is Useless and a Sham.” —Morton Goldsholl

The image shown above is a page spread from Rick Valicenti’s sketchbook (photographed with permission). In this case each page of Valicenti’s sketchbook measures about 3 x 5 inches. Interestingly, the size relates to Goldsholl’s preferred sketching and note-taking material… a 3 x 5 index card.

Here are links (here and here) to video interviews with Morton on the Chicago Design Archive.

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Sam Jacob and Damon Rich: designing public spaces in an era of “no do-overs”

An interesting Graham Foundation event occurred on Thursday evening, March 29, 2012. The event was a two-person presentation titled “No Do-Overs: Compromise and Complicity in Architecture.” Pictured right to left are Sarah Herda, director, Graham Foundation; Sam Jacob and Damon Rich.

Sam Jacob is a director of London-based architecture office, FAT. With Charles Jencks, Sean Griffiths, and Charles Holland, Jacob co-edited the recent Architectural Design issue, “Radical Post Modernism.” Jacob also writes and edits strangeharvest.

Damon Rich currently serves as urban designer for the City of Newark, New Jersey, where he leads design efforts with public and private players to improve the city’s public spaces. Sam Jacob and Damon Rich revealed their own complicities and compromises, and discussed how these conditions can become grounds for creative and engaged forms of architecture and urban planning. The title of their presentation plays on Robert Venturi’s important book, Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture in which he advocates for an amalgamation of traditional and modern architectural idioms.

Regarding the presentation topic this is what the Graham Foundation promotional information states:

While grand visions are often considered the currency of contemporary architecture, the truth is that compromise—rather, the uncomfortable sensation of being compromised—is the natural state of the architect, and the condition under which architecture is made. For architecture, context is never pure or abstract; it is a site physically, economically, and socially inscribed by competing interests. These compromised positions and scoured surfaces are where architecture’s political and ideological subtexts are revealed. Yet from these cloudy waters, the most innovative, relevant, and unexpected forms can emerge. 

In the design process both designers seem to ask the same question: “who does architecture respond to?” Both Damon and Sam take seriously all contextual aspects into account (postmodernism). As they explain it, “we are weaving our work into the social fabric that’s already there.” This is design based on understanding the context.

Working with all the participants and constituents in a project requires that these designers develop a compromise or negotiation strategy, which involves “working the system” to some extent. In this way compromise as a smart strategy then becomes a synergy as a combined design and problem-solving effort—something all designers can learn from.

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fresh with energy: sabbatical status at Thirst (3st) weeks 6-9

I’m being re-energized at Thirst…. Much of my time in the last couple of weeks has been spent developing layouts for Rick Valicenti and Thirst’s 2012 fall exhibition at Bowling Green State University. Pictured above are elevation views of the proposed poster wall installation for the show. The show will represent Thirst’s work from the past as well as the most current production.

For over two decades Valicenti and Thirst (3st) have garnered the most prestigious awards that can be attained by a graphic design studio. Consequently, similar to the attitude of most student interns, I’m grateful just to be in the room at Thirst. As the adage says, “by being present you take on the honor of the individual.”

One of Thirst’s recent projects has been the redesign of Contract magazine. Accordingly, I’ve been studying the guidelines a designer will use when assembling subsequent issues of Contract magazine. The design guidelines are impressively detailed and have much pedagogical value as a case study for students. Actually, understanding the grid system and fine typography is very important at Thirst.

During the last few weeks the sabbatical work at Thirst has been steady and satisfying. I’ve helped contribute to a logo modification. I’ve also completed the design and implementation of the 24 Hale tearsheets for furniture designer Jonathan Nesci from whom I received a very nice thank you when he expressed appreciation for the work Thirst did for Hale. As Jonathan mentioned to Rick (referring in part to me), “your studio is always fresh with energy.” It was certainly nice of Jonathan to notice and mention it to Rick.

Here are some of the contacts and introductions I’ve had in the last few weeks:

Romain André, graphic designer. Rick and I reviewed some of his recent work.
Dana Arnett (VSA) who stopped by one afternoon.
Johnathon Strube, Firebelly University
Tom Vack, photographer

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Wrightian elements in the Charnley-Persky House

Louis H. Sullivan, co-principal of the firm Adler and Sullivan, in 1891 designed the Charnley-Persky House in Chicago. At the same time, twenty-four-year-old Frank Lloyd Wright was the firm’s chief draftsman and for the Charnley House project he designed many of the details (with Sullivan’s approval) including the decorative ornamentation. Indeed the decoration in the Charnley House was a design objective.

One of the first details upon entering the house on the inside of the vestibule door is the beautifully stylized representation of oak leaf flora that is constrained within triangular frames. The triangular pattern is echoed in the main staircase. As one ascends the staircase the elongated vertical canes suggest the forms of Wright’s weed holders that are associated with his Oak Park period. On the stair post is the natural oak leaf motif within the patterns of a circular frame that’s framed by the square. This frame within a frame emblem would be associated with Wright’s Prairie style.

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Michael Graves and the 2012 Driehaus Prize

This is a rather atmospheric photograph of Michael Graves on the platform of the John B. Murphy Auditorium Chicago during the 2012 Driehaus Prize presentation colloquium. photo by versluis

Last Saturday, March 24, architect and product designer Michael Graves was in Chicago to receive the annual 2012 Driehaus Prize for sustaining the principles of traditional and classical architecture. The award is presented through the auspices of University of Notre Dame School of Architecture and the ceremony took place at the John B. Murphy Auditorium. In addition, Elizabeth Barlow Rogers was there to receive the Henry Hope Reed Award for promoting the values of traditional city design, architecture and art through writing and advocacy. Graves is Founding Principal of the firm Michael Graves & Associates (MGA) and the Robert Schirmer Professor of Architecture, Emeritus at Princeton University.

Chicago is a city of grand architecture that definitely has soul so I was a bit surprised by a comment Graves made while accepting his award, regarding the Art Institute of Chicago’s new modern art wing. He remarked that the modern wing was a perfect building but it “lacked soul.” His statement was meant to make the point that being a classicist architect provides a precedent — a background, a compositional language, which confers meaning on place.

To introduce the 2012 Driehaus Laureate, Graves asked architect Andrés Duany, a previous Driehaus award recipient to do the honors. Duany gave some interesting insights into Graves as a teacher. He lauded Graves as an open-minded and persistent teacher who’s always most interested in learning. Graves does this best by pointing students to others rather than to himself.

John B. Murphy Auditorium

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Carl Regehr: “Make Right Decisions — FAST.”

Carl Regehr, Untitled, Type Collage in Mixed Media, 4.25" x 5.625", 1982. Out of friendship and appreciation, this piece was given to Rick Valicenti by Robert Vogle (VSA).

Starting in the early 1970s Carl was a professor at the University of Illinois, after a very distinguished career as a graphic designer in Chicago.

Thirst design director, Rick Valicenti tells this story about the late Carl Regehr (1919-1983): “Early on when I was making the move to my own practice I had the occasion to ask Carl what advice he could give me about the graphic design business. Regehr replied: ‘Make Right Decisions — FAST.’ What struck me, [Rick adds] was Carl’s initial statement and pause followed by emphasizing the word ‘fast’ that expressed Carl’s personality and thoughtfulness.”

Carl Regehr’s quote and sketch by Valicenti hangs on Thirst’s refrigerator.

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The Ozinga Ready Mix Concrete Identity

A Chicagoland based Ozinga Ready Mix Concrete Truck delivering to a building site on Clark Street and Grand Avenue in Chicago. According the the Company’s website, “Ozinga Ready Mix Concrete, a family-owned business is believed to be the first concrete company in the country to convert fourteen of its mixing trucks to run on natural gas.”

Logotype and truck icon was designed and drawn by David Versluis in 1983.

Nearly thirty years ago I worked with Martin Ozinga III to design an Ozinga logotype, graphic identity and stationery system. For the stationery and business cards the logo was a combination mark with a carefully rendered and reproducible icon of their highly recognizable red and white striped trucks juxtaposed with the logotype illustrated above. The truck itself was the graphic identity and there was never any reason to change it. As part of the graphic program I indicated where the logo should be placed on the truck doors.

The logotype was used for a while but eventually was replaced by a script-style logotype. Recently, however, I was surprised to see new Ozinga trucks around Chicago carrying the sans serif logo, very similar to the one I designed in 1983.

An interesting connection is that the annual Hilda Ozinga Art Scholarship offered by Dordt College is funded through the generosity of the Ozinga family. Hilda’s husband, Norman was a partner when the company was known as Ozinga Bros. Inc. Norm was an uncle to Martin Ozinga III, the company’s president.

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Renée Fleming and Yo-Yo Ma: a Chicago “pop-up” concert (03.19.2012)

Above is a photograph of soprano Renée Fleming and cellist Yo-Yo Ma performing “Vocalise” by Rachmaninoff. The keyboardist is Matthew Piatt from the Lyric Opera of Chicago. The photo was taken with a regular lens and available light. Obviously, I was incredibly close to the performers—the sound and clarity was absolutely stunning. photo by versluis.

This morning at Thirst we all received a fantastic invitation from the great folks at the Lyric Opera of Chicago to come and hear a short program by Renée Fleming and Yo-Yo Ma. Rick Valicenti, design director at Thirst has had a long and very fine association with the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

The lunchtime performance was held at the James R. Thompson Center Chicago. This so-called “pop-up event” was a collaboration of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the purpose as the program sheet stated was, “to help celebrate the value of music in our daily lives.” Also part of the program were choruses from Lake View High School, Chicago High School for the Arts, and Merit School of Music as well as members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

The program sheet further explains:

This concert is part of ongoing initiatives [CSO’s Citizen Musician and the Lyric’s Renée Fleming Initiative] by both the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Renée Fleming is the Creative Consultant for the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Yo-Yo Ma is the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant.

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Adler and Sullivan’s Charnley House, Chicago

Chicago architect Louis H. Sullivan (1856-1924) is remembered for orchestrating lush architectural ornament that integrated organic forms with an underlying geometric structure. The iron oak leaf garland on the front door window grille of the Charnley House in Chicago is indicative of Sullivan’s ingenuity. He also seems to contrast the ornament of his buildings with the geometric forms of the structure itself. For Sullivan this “geometry” was architecture that expressed the idea of democracy.

Additionally, the motif reveals the elegant interior ornamental system and pattern found inside this residential building. As one enters the entry hall of the Charnley House from the foyer, you’re immediately face-to-face with the warmth of the hearth and tiled mosaic pattern as illustrated above. From this vantage point the dining room is to the left and the front parlor and upstairs stairway to the right.

The website for the Society of Architectural Historians states: “Adler and Sullivan’s most renowned residential design was the commission for James Charnley on Astor Street in Chicago, completed in 1892. On commissions that the firm received between 1887 and 1893, his highly talented draftsman and fellow designer, Frank Lloyd Wright, assisted Sullivan.”

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Sabbatical status after a month at Thirst (3st) weeks 3-5

Above is an example of a product sheet for Hale’s Tidal Shelf (wall shelf), one of 22 product tearsheets that Thirst has developed for industrial designer, Jonathan Nesci. 

Rick Valicenti, design director; Bud Rodecker template design; David Versluis, production designer. Thirst is a design collaborative / 3st.com.

Things are going well and I'm making the most of my time here in Chicago by cultivating connections and taking advantage of educational opportunities. Since I document almost everything, you can always check the status on this blog.

At the moment I'm helping to produce product sheets for high-end furniture designer, Jonathan Nesci. Jonathan’s furniture is produced for Hale, an industrial design company which he founded in 2006, based in Chicago and Scottsburg, Indiana. My role in the process is to retouch, crop, size, and place the product photography in each tearsheet, as well as clean up and size the line drawings for each product in order to achieve a consistent line thickness.

Nesci’s furniture designs for Hale look deceptively simple and chic. Intrinsic in the production process is quality craft in the form of precision machining and fabricating methods, necessary in producing furniture that’s so elegantly minimal.

Last week I was included in a very informative meeting at Thirst with Classic Color company executives to discuss and get feedback on some unique website concepts for Classic. Rick Valicenti and John Pobojewski held the conversation.

I also enjoyed a visit with former student and Dordt College alumnus, Sarah Franken on Monday afternoon, 27 February. Sarah happened to be in town and contacted me, asking if she could stop by and see Thirst’s office; she was graciously received by everyone in the office and seemed to enjoy her time. I have had a few other Dordt alumni inquire about visits as well.

As a very pleasant surprise, veteran Chicago graphic designer Jack Weiss from Evanston came to Thirst one afternoon to meet with Rick about an upcoming book on one of Chicago’s graphic design pioneers, Carl Regehr (1919–1983). The book will feature Regehr’s “Mail Art.” Rick introduced me to Jack and we had a great time conversing about Chicago’s rich graphic design history.

As a follow-up to an earlier blog piece — the article on Team !melk got some national buzz (Thirst is one of the team members). Last Friday Thirst received this e-mail from !melk in New York City:

Subject: good press — our great pier: Hello team !melk, I thought I'd share with you just some of the blogs that our Chicago Navy Pier project has been posted in this week! Great work gets around :)

AECCafe.com, Archdaily, DC AIGA, E-ARCHITECT, PLUS MOOD, ARCHISCENE  

As Rick Valicenti said, “David, you’re in good company!” Good company indeed.

A Valicenti sketch to this author for the Hale project on Rick’s yellow paper.

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Thomas Ankersmit: an avant-garde music performance at the Graham Foundation/Chicago

A phone photo of Thomas Ankersmit using his computer in performance at the Graham Foundation/Chicago. Photo is courtesy of Lampo via Twitter.

On Saturday night (02.25.12) under the auspices of Lampo and the Graham Foundation I attended a hour-long, solo improvisational auditory art composition performed by Thomas Ankersmit of the Netherlands. The new performance piece could be characterized as an assemblage of painting and dance in electronic sound that’s orchestrated with precision. The compositional impact of Ankersmit’s musical sounds seem to range from whimsical to rowdy and is highly organized chaos. Additionally, the performance had emotional intensity and energy—indicative of experimentation.

Lampo is an organization based in Chicago, “that promotes and supports artists working in electronic and electro acoustic music, free improvisation, sound art and other new forms.” Here’s information taken from Lampo’s website:

Lampo and the Graham Foundation are pleased to welcome Thomas Ankersmit as he performs new work for the Serge analogue modular synthesizer, an instrument originally developed by Serge Tcherepnin at CalArts in the 1970s.

Ankersmit has been artist in residence at CalArts since December, where the historic synthesizers were restored for him to work with. …[At the Graham Foundation], he’ll play his own Serge modular live, paired with sampled material from the old Serge synths, processed in real-time, all in quad.

Thomas Ankersmit (b. 1979, Leiden, the Netherlands) is a musician and installation artist based in Berlin and Amsterdam. His main instruments are the Serge analogue modular synthesizer, computer and alto saxophone. He works frequently with New York minimalist Phill Niblock. Other collaborators include electroacoustic artists Valerio Tricoli (spin their acclaimed “Forma II” on Pan) and Kevin Drumm. Ankersmit performed at Lampo in September 2008.

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New work: The 2012 Sioux County Oratorio Chorus Poster

Graphic designer: David Versluis 

This year the Sioux County Oratorio Chorus is scheduled to perform Mendelssohn’s Elijah at Northwestern College’s Christ Chapel on Saturday, April 28, 2012. The concert starts at 7:30 p.m.

The visual impact of this year’s poster is the typographic boldness of Elijah’s name along with the fire image. These design elements were inspired by the Elijah story (1 Kings 18: 38-39) where the water-saturated altar and sacrifice is instantaneously consumed by fire. The event is a powerful testament to the power of the Yahweh.

The poster was designed by David Versluis and printed by Demco Printing Company in Boyden, Iowa.

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George Nakashima and George Nelson: consummate designers

While on Sabbatical, this semester, working at Thirst (3st) in Chicago during the day “beautiful and practical things” surround me. Pictured here are just a couple of examples. Pictured above: George Nakashima’s (1905-1990) “Conoid Table” with a “‘New’ Chair” and below is the “Home Office Desk” designed by George Nelson for Herman Miller.

According to the George Nakashima website, “The sculptural lines of the conoid base suit a more free-form tabletop….” In this example, the tabletop is one piece of beautifully figured wood. Along with the table is a single “New” Chair made of American cherry with hickory spindles, 1955-1984, 18.5" w x 17.5" d x 35" h.

Here’s a brief Nakashima biography taken from his website:

George Nakashima (1905-1990) was born in Spokane, Washington in 1905 and grew up in the forests of the Olympic Peninsula. He received a Bachelor’s Degree in architecture at the University of Washington and a Master’s from MIT in 1930, as well as the Prix Fontainebleau from L’Ecole Americaine des Beaux Arts in France in 1928. After spending some time in Paris, he traveled around the world and secured a job at the Antonin Raymond office in Tokyo which sent him to Pondicherry, India, where he was the onsite architect for the first reinforced concrete building in that country and became one of the first disciples of Sri Aurobindo. 

“There are no formulas, no guidelines, but only experience, instinct and a contact with the divine.” — George Nakashima

George Nelson (1908-1986) was one of the founders of American modernism. In addition to being a very fine designer he was also an exceptional writer about design and published several books and numerous articles.

Pictured above is the “Home Office Desk” for Herman Miller designed in c.1946. The materials list for the piece is walnut, leather, chrome-plated steel, perforated aluminum and the dimensions are, 54.5" w x 28" d x 40.75" h. The desk features two drawers, two doors concealing two drawers and five shelves and one flip-top compartment.

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The John Wellborn Root House (1888)

The John W. Root House (1888) is located in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood, across the street and down the block from the Charnley House. The following text about Root is taken from the Chicago Tribute – Markers of Distinction:

John Wellborn Root (1850–1891), Architect 

John Wellborn Root’s architectural designs helped to establish Chicago as the birthplace of modern architecture. After the Great Fire of 1871, Root came here from New York City to take part in the rebuilding of Chicago. He met Daniel H. Burnham and they formed a partnership considered one of the most important in architectural history. During their 18 years together, Burnham and Root designed more than 300 buildings, many in Chicago’s Loop. 

The firm began with residential commissions, but soon was asked to design commercial buildings. Their first important downtown building was the Montauk Building, where Root used a technologically innovative grillage of iron rails that distributed the building's weight over the entire ground area. 

Root’s designs often showed an honest expression of a building’s structure and deemphasized exterior ornament. His work includes two of the finest examples of the Chicago school of design: the Rookery Building and the Monadnock Block. The sparsely adorned Monadnock remains the world’s tallest office building with load-bearing walls. 

Root, who lived at 1310 North Astor Street, died of pneumonia at the age of 41. At the time, Burnham and Root were working on the site planning and architectural themes for the World's Columbian Exposition.

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Marie J. Aquilino: “Beyond Shelter: A Call to Action.”

The book cover: “Beyond Shelter: Architecture and Human Dignity” that was edited by Marie J. Aquilino. On the right: Professor Aquilino is pictured with collaborator Professor Sergio Palleroni (Portland State University’s Department of Architecture). Photograph is courtesy of Portland State University. 

In Sunday’s worship service, during the Litany of Confession the minister spoke these words: [God, forgive us] “From being satisfied with things as they are, in the church or in the world; from failing to share your indignation about injustice.” 

I was reminded of this on Wednesday evening (2.22.12) when the Graham Foundation featured Marie Aquilino who came to discuss her book, Beyond Shelter. University of Illinois Chicago, School of Architecture Professor Roberta Feldman introduced Professor Aquilino to a full-house audience. Feldman was representing The National Public Housing Museum.

Aquilino is motivated by a humanitarian intensity and her talk, like her book, was a compendium of ways designers can not only express indignation in the face of injustice but also take responsibility together to promote justice in the world, especially in places affected by disaster or extreme poverty. 

Here’s a brief biography about Aquilino, from her book:

Marie Aquilino is a professor of architectural history at the École Spéciale de l’Architecture in Paris and a specialist in contemporary urban redevelopment. At the ESA she is creating a program to train architecture students to work in contexts of extreme need and crisis in the developing world. In addition, she serves as associate program director of BaSiC [Building Sustainable Communities] Initiative; is collaborating with the International Federation of the Red Cross to set up a working group on the reconstruction of Haiti.

Repurposing materials: a picture from Palleroni’s essay found in Part 5:“Teaching as Strategic Action and titled Cultivating Resistance: The BaSiC Initiative.” This photograph illustrates the Peace Pavilion, which is made from military parachutes, Ladakh, India, 2010. 

In the preface of Beyond Shelter Aquilino writes, “This book is about the architects who are helping save lives. Innovative, fascinating work is being done by small teams of outstanding professionals in Asia, Latin America, Africa, and in the United States, who are proving to be critical, relevant partners helping communities recover from disaster and rebuild.” [1]

1. Aquilino, Marie J., ed. Beyond Shelter: Architecture and Human Dignity. New York: Bellerophon Publications Inc. / Metropolis Books, 2011. 7-8. Print.

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Chicago Pierscape Project: notes from team !melk’s public conversation at AIA Chicago—Monday 20 February 2012

Pictured above are artist’s views of team !melk’s Great Pier Project.

Jerry van Eyck was the principal presenter of team !melk’s proposal at the AIA Chicago last Monday evening. The presentation was an informal encore gathering.

In essence design team !melk’s proposal reiterates the City of Chicago’s motto: Urbs in Horto (“City in a Garden”) that correlates nicely to a cleaner, greener, sustainable city environment.

Principal designer Jerry van Eyck, co-founder of !melk flew in from New York City on Monday afternoon to discuss and synthesize the Chicago Pierscape Project proposal. Around 100 people came out for the event. Jerry, who is the point person for team !melk, opened the meeting at AIA Chicago by asking the question, “What is authentic architecture in Chicago?” For van Eyck a primary focus for the New Navy Pier was expressing the exceptional geology and iconic relationship of Lake Michigan to the city of Chicago. Team !melk members attending the meeting gave brief summaries of their ideas and their specific contributions to the project. They all seemed to view the New Pier as a grand gesture to developing inclusive art and an authentic public space in Chicago.

Water is the main feature of the proposal and the objective is to utilize the water approach in a visible and artistic way. The design is based on the analogies of the flow of water or watery surfaces and enlivening public space by “getting down to the water.” Van Eyck and other team members expressed emotional responses to water with such words and phrases as “rhythmical movement in waves,” “rippled concentric patterns,” “undulations,” “surges of activity,” “bursts of feeling,” and “oscillations of energy.”

Van Eyck emphasized that team !melk’s design was influenced by the principles of Charles Jencks, architectural theorist, landscape architect and designer of “Garden of Cosmic Speculation.” According to his website, Jencks is “known for his books questioning Modern architecture and defining its successors—Late, Neo and Post-Modern architecture.”

Charles Jencks writes:

To see the world in a Grain of Sand, the poetic insight of William Blake, is to find relationships between the big and small, science and spirituality, the universe and the landscape. This cosmic setting provides the narrative for my content-driven work, the writing and design. I explore metaphors that underlie both growing nature and the laws of nature, parallels that root us personally in the cosmos as firmly as a plant, even while our mind escapes this home. 

The Pier is where the primordial elements of land and water meet with the built environment. The complete proposal could be thought about as a garden design based on natural and scientific processes to achieve a celebration of nature and life. In many ways the team !melk proposal reflects van Eyck’s Dutch sensibility of reclaiming land from the sea—just like a celebration of the polderlands and water in the Netherlands.

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Mies’s Apartment House in Chicago

Pictured above is the Chicago apartment house of the great twentieth century modern architect, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886–1969). Apparently Mies occupied the third floor. When he died in 1969 the New York Times ran this obituary which describes Mies’s place: 

For a man so modern in his conceptions, he had more than a touch of old-fashionedness. It showed up in such things as the gold chain across his waistcoat, to which was attached his pocket timepiece. Rather than live in a contemporary building or one of his own houses—he briefly contemplated moving to a Mies apartment but feared fellow tenants might badger him—he made his home in a high-ceilinged, five-room suite on the third floor of an old-fashioned apartment house on Chicago’s North Side. The thick-walled rooms were large and they included, predictably, a full kitchen with an ancient gas range for his cook.

The apartment contained armless chairs and furniture of his own designs as well as sofas and wing chairs—in which he preferred to sit. The walls were stark white; but the apartment had a glowing warmth, given off by the Klees, Braques and Schwitterses that dotted its walls. Paul Klee was a close friend, and Mies’s collection of Klees was among the finest in private hands.

Mies’s chairs were almost as well known as his buildings, and they were just as spare. He designed his first chair, known as the MR chair in 1926. It had a caned seat and back and its frame was tubular steel. There followed the Barcelona chair, an elegant armless leather and steel design of which the legs formed an X; the Tugendhat chair, an armless affair of leather and steel that resembled a square S; and the Brno chair, with a steel frame and leather upholstery that looked like a curved S. [1]

In addition, the Chicago Tribute Marker of Distinction (pictured above and located near the entry door) summarizes:

The master of Modern architecture and one of the greatest architects of the 20th Century, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe reshaped the skylines of America’s major cities in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. 

In 1937, Mies came to Chicago from Berlin to be director of the Department of Architecture at the Armour Institute, now the Illinois Institute of Technology. In Germany, he had directed the Bauhaus School of Design from 1930 to 1933, closing it after Nazi threats. Though he had built only 19 buildings, he was internationally famous when he came to Chicago. At IIT through 1958, he designed the institute’s master plan and a number of campus buildings (Crown Hall model shown above). 

Mies celebrated contemporary technology and materials; under his influence, skyscraper construction switched from masonry to metal and glass. Following his credo, “less is more,” his buildings were characterized by refined designs devoid of applied ornament. Mies also applied his aesthetic to such furniture designs as the Barcelona chair.

Barcelona® Chair (1929). Designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. The Barcelona Chair is a registered trademark of Knoll®, Inc. and manufactured by Knoll®; according to the original specifications of the designer. Images are courtesy of Design Within Reach.

1. Whitman, Alden. “Mies van der Rohe Dies at 83; Leader of Modern Architecture.” On this Day. The New York Times on the web Learning Network, 19 Aug. 1969. Web. 19 Feb. 2012.

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