A few weeks ago, I had the unexpected pleasure of getting to know Minoru Yamasaki - affectionately known by his colleagues as Yama -personally.  Now, you may say that this is not possible. Yet, through the lively stories of his long term partner and friend, Henry Guthard, it was possible.  Henry hosted a tour of Yamasaki's Detroit buildings as part of the Society of Architectural Historians annual conference.  For four hours, as we toured five buildings, Henry regaled us with stories that brought Yama to life.

Venice, California, the coastal community west of downtown Los Angeles and south of pricey Santa Monica, is a visual delight at a point of sensory overload. Experiencing a recent visit to the community, I went from Muscle Beach on a blustery cold day, to the civic (traffic) circle and quiet lunch in an ethnic Italian restaurant, to leisurely strolling through the actual canals for which the city is named. Unexpected contrasts in the span of 4 hours and great visual images have embedded the experience in my memory to last a long time after the actual visit.

After some forty years as one of the world’s foremost architects, Frank Lloyd Wright walked into the Arizona desert seeking a warm spot to spend his winters. For the remainder of his long life, Wright cultivated both a unique academic community and an amazing architectural work at Taliesin.

Spending two days there afforded me the opportunity to know Wright’s achievement more deeply. Wright certainly didn’t shy away from a design idea. He responded with extreme sensitivity to his surroundings. He built with complete conviction using the resources at hand.

I have been thinking a lot about the three legged stool lately - you know the one. Old school was that there are three components of executing a project: better, faster and cheaper. The old adage was that any two of the three were achievable but all three weren't. I never really understood this metaphor, as a two-legged stool has very little utility. Fast forward twenty-five years (yes, it has been that long) and that paradigm no longer cuts it. Our clients are asking us to do our work better, faster and more economically (saying cheaper sounds so, well, cheap).

I recently finished reading an interesting book by Wendall Berry, titled "Another Turn of the Crank". Published in 1994, Berry writes presciently and with conviction about sustainability and stewardship, which he feels go hand in hand. For instance, saving farmland without saving farmers or saving forests without the community that depends upon the forest doesn't make sense. He emphasizes the link between people, in whose best interest it is to sustain the place. Can you imagine a hive without bees or bees without flowers?

In this regard he notes:

What is the difference between a Geek and a Nerd? (Drum roll....) A Nerd is a Geek with earning potential. (Cymbal crash!) Therefore, as an Architect, I would fall into the Geek category. As a member of our corporate IT Committee, not only do I get to solve software questions, printer problems, and server issues, I get to play with and develop new tools for the office. The last six months has been the use of the iPad as a new corporate tool. While it does not replace your laptop, it is a great mobile tool to use to have information at your fingertips.

“Newt’s Lunar Peeptopia – It's 2021, Newt Gingrich's lunar colony has been a roaring success. The proud native population faithfully serves their leader in the diamond mines discovered below the surface. It is the ideal peeptopia. . . or is it?”

Oh, so you work on old buildings." This is often the response I get when people ask me what I do. While we preservation architects do work on "old buildings", our methods for working on these structures are anything but traditional. Actually, probably more than "new" architecture, we implement a variety of new and cutting edge technologies to help us work on these "old buildings." Since we aren't starting with a blank slate we begin our work by investigating and analyzing the existing structures and context before we start our designs. There is much more at stake for us.

I'm on my way back out to Denver tomorrow to see the progress on the work to restore the Colorado State Capitol Dome. They started working on it in October and since then I have only made one trip. As we go forward I or Mike Quinn will be making the trip once a month for the next 29 months.

For the next time you are on Jeopardy: 

A: Buckland 

Q: A town in Virginia named after an architect

How many of you can think of another town named after an architect? If you don't know who William Buckland is, then here is your chance to learn a bit about him as well as a little architectural history.