Norman Foster's keynote address at this year's Bentley International User Conference in Philadelphia on Tuesday reminded me again why he is considered one of the most intelligent architects practicing today.
In a wide-ranging talk that tied together themes found in his work for over 30 years, Foster stressed the importance of melding the technological with human experience, or the "digital with the analog," as he called it.
LOUIS SULLIVAN'S BRADLEY HOUSE
Though perhaps best known for his public buildings in late 19th century Chicago, Louis Sullivan was also a superb residential architect, master of the style later developed further by Frank Lloyd Wright. One of Sullivan's finest examples is the Bradley House, 1910. A comparison of the completed house to its preliminary design drawings reveals much about the master's thought processes.
MOCKBEE SOUTHERN GENIUS
Earlier this summer, Alabama architect Samuel Mockbee picked up the phone and found out he was a genius. Not just a genius, mind you. But one of only three in the entire profession.
A MASTER ARCHITECT OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
Editor's note: Roland Terry has been one of Seattle, Washington's most beloved architects for nearly 50 years. He was a practitioner of the "Northwest Style," along with Pietro Belluschi and John Yeon. The following is an excerpt from a recently published retrospective of his work, based on interviews with Terry's contemporaries.
KOOLHAAS WINS PRITZKER PRIZE
In April, Rem Koolhaas, a 56-year-old architect from the Netherlands, was named the Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate for the year 2000. The controversial yet critically acclaimed architect will receive the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in architecture in a ceremony in Jeruselem on May 29. At that time, Koolhaas will be presented with a $100,000 grant and a bronze medallion. He is the 23rd Pritzker Laureate to be honored and the first from the Netherlands.
GENSLER WINS AIA FIRM AWARD
Gensler has won the American Institute of Architects' Year 2000 Architecture Firm Award. In announcing the award, AIA President Michael J. Stanton, FAIA, stated, "Gensler is America's foremost collaborative practice. The firm exemplifies how the creative mix of disciplines, all with 'place' as their focus, adds richness and value to buildings and their settings. Gensler has led our profession in bringing sustainability into mainstream corporate practice."
IN MEMORY OF JOHN HEJDUK, 1929-2000
John Hejduk, one of the most original architects in the United States, succumbed to cancer on July 3. Until June he was dean of the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York. He was known more for his visionary works of architecture on paper and his influence on graduates of Cooper Unionsuch architects as Daniel Libeskind and Elizabeth Dillerthan his built worksuch as the interior of Cooper's building at Astor Square in New York City.
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