douglas36601's Comments
Discussion Post: Politics and Religion at 11/4/2015 12:19 PM CST
Donald Trump, was here in the area where I live about 20 years ago; recently when he was here in his campaign for President he drew a crowd of 40,000 people. His proposal to build a wall along the TX/Mex border may relate to the KYMAK concept. I have been developing this concept since 1977; continuing to work out the details since I moved here in 1984, over 30 years ago with the full knowledge and assistance of the dominant city's Planning staff as well as the Mayor who showed Trump around town during his visit.You can see from the map - http://www.geocities.ws/douglas36601/westernstates.jpg - one of the twelve Gateways is adjacent to Laredo, TX where Trump went to promote this grand idea early in his Campaign. We see that Donald Trump has been a boon to Architecture and I think will be the best Candidate for President Architects could ever have hoped for in the Cause of Architecture. Will this mix of politics and religion be a hindrance?
Comment on: Frank Lloyd Wright, High and Low - Architectural Record at 10/30/2015 12:20 PM CDT
BROADACRES is a linear city 2 miles wide either or both sides of the 528 ft. R/W. The pattern shown is the urban core at the County Seat.
ThIs general pattern is used as it extends along the Freeway.
Development beyond, in the surrounding landscape, follows Thomas Jefferson's 6 mile-square Township scheme with an urban core one mile square leaving open space around each core for agriculture and manufacturing.
Tall buildings, "concentration in openness" is advocated by most architects is not just an "obsession" of Wright.
https://douglas36601.wordpress.com/2012/10/08/cause-and-effect/
Comment on: Frank Lloyd Wright, High and Low - Architectural Record at 10/23/2015 12:21 PM CDT
BROADACRES is a linear city 2 miles wide either or both sides of the 528 ft. R/W. The pattern shown in the is the urban core at the County Seat. The pattern as it extends along the Freeway. Beyond, in the surrounding landscape, followed Thomas Jefferson's 6 mile-square Township scheme with an urban core one mile square leaving open space around each core for agriculture and manufacturing. Tall building, "concentration in openness" is advocated by most architects not just an "obsession" of Wright.
https://douglas36601.wordpress.com/2012/10/08/cause-and-effect/
Discussion Post: County Architect/Planning Code/Design of Cities at 3/16/2015 10:06 AM CDT
The planning code has to do with building cities see - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3ASite_selection - for example, see - http://www.geocities.ws/douglas36601/memo.html - .I would like to discuss this at length with architects who are concerned with the problem of site selection, urban design and regional planning. One point that demands immediate attention is public funding of urban sprawl; this problem was greatly accelerated about 1965 in the rush to get federal funding with the formation of the Department of Housing and Urban Development while ignoring principles of good design and planning specified in the Law, i.e., the "Planning Code" - http://www.geocities.ws/douglas36601/KYMAKsiteselection.html -.Several States had Municipal and Regional Planning Codes from about 1931 but these were ignored for lack of a concept which only Architects could have done. However in that it was thus a legal matter (I observe that) Lawyers have come to dominate the planning profession with no idea of what constitutes good design and planning from an architects point of view; so they are defending the fake master plan many architects were impelled to draw. This can be undone if architects will only admit it. That is my plea here.That was Frank Lloyd Wright's plea, I am sure, when he said, "we have to tell them... the big boys who make the money" - http://www.aia.org/practicing/akr/AIAB090272 - .And, to be sure he did have a concept, although misundsrstood. Frank Lloyd Wright ... Excerpt from 1949 AIA Gold Medal acceptance speech (Listen) . Note:I would say it is not the wealth makers but the wealth takers, namely our beloved politicians who take it from us and distribute it to the politicians in our counties and cities to fund this problem, who by the way are our learned lawyers. AIA Gold Medal recipient, Thomas Jefferson said if more than 20% of our Congress were lawyers they would destroy us as a Nation. That is probably at the very root of the problem; it is they whom FLW might have said we need to tell the truth.
Comment on: Taliesin Regains Accreditation | News | Architectural Record at 2/2/2015 10:15 AM CST
I had occasion to meet and talk to Dean Sidy on the phone recently and am prompted to say here that what he is doing probably makes a good and proper transition or reconciliation to the "real world" of architecture in America and I see how it can bring about a broader understanding and appreciation for FLW.
I found Victor to be open and attentive to my thoughts on this matter as well as to the KYMAK concept which I discovered by virtue of my own experience at Taliesin as an apprentice to FLW in 1958.
Douglas Boyd...
Comment on: When More Is Less - Architectural Record at 12/9/2014 10:16 AM CST
Quoting from the editorial:
�It also would mean the destruction of an exquisite small viewing garden, created by the great British landscape architect Russell Page, which Charles Birnbaum of the Cultural Landscape Foundation has called �a master class in restrained minimalism.� Too often in the fight for architectural preservation, significant landscapes are overlooked (the highly lauded redesign of the public spaces of Lincoln Center in New York, for example, included ruining the beautifully serene North Plaza by Dan Kiley that was integral to the original architecture).�
Remembering Wright quoting Lao tzu:
�As the reality of a building is the space within, so the reality of a city is the space between the buildings�.
Discussion Post: Architects versus Urban Planners at 11/17/2014 10:09 AM CST
Only architects know how to plan for the building process - yet for lack of a regional concept for building cities, architects have largely abandoned that power to urban planners who know little or nothing about the principles of building. Architects have excused themselves by pretending that urban planners are the experts. It reminds me of an article, "Architects Urged to Seize Power" May 16, 2007 By Charles Rosenblum.Architects will be able to regain the power of planning and designing cities once they understand a concept that satisfies State and Federal planning codes, i.e., a concept that is compatible with our unique system of government, "American Democracy" - which I have come to see to be a nationwide comprehensive plan to coordinate the process of building cities - Jefferson and Wright gave us a clue. An office of County Architect is needed to enforce the Planning Code.You may know if you have seen the legend to Broadacre City that Frank LLoyd Wright listed an office of "County Architect" in order to carry out his concept for democratic cities. I did not see that until I had developed and championed the KYMAK concept for many years - I finally saw it only after I also came to understand the BAC concept. Then - that was about five years ago - I felt so bold as to announce that I was acting pro bono as "County Architect" to County Commissioners where I live and attend every public meeting, sitting with the County Engineers up front. In Alabama where Dillon's Rule applies but because it is virtually ignored the Commissioners have assumed absolute power; however, where Counties have Home Rule as in another State (at the POB) I find the County is more open to consider the Concept. Dillon's rule will work but only if the State Legislature will assure that other elected officials of the County, especially the County Treasurer are fiscally or financially independent of the Commissioners. Absolute power causes the corruption that Thomas Jefferson saw to rest with County Commissioners in his day, hence to prevent this, Dillon's Rule became the order of the day and remains so in Alabama's State Constitution. So far, I am being practically or inadvertently or blissfully ignored because of probably unintentional if not willful ignorance (the "power of darkness") while everyone who knows what I am doing and can understand it with "rat-like perspicacity" goes around with their tail tucked between their legs, just as FLW noticed and rebuked Architects for in his Gold Medal acceptance speech - http://www.aia.org/practicing/akr/AIAB090272 - . However surprisingly, I have found an ally in the Banking Industry who know a regional or nationwide comprehensive plan is needed; they are willing to trade stock with me if I can find just one County Commissioner or Mayor who can understand and agree to it (or maybe trust those who do). My stock will pay for an office of County Architect in every County Nationwide as well as essential buildings to get things started at the point of beginning (POB). As an alternative, the Bank can introduce the concept directly to developers when they borrow money. Developers are eager; this is in the works. Be prepared.The KYMAK concept of a comprehensive plan is applicable Nationwide. Excerpts from State and Federal Planning Codes are on my Site Selection page. Details and samples of implementation projects are on my Implementation page as followe:Planning Code -http://www.geocities.ws/douglas36601/KYMAKsiteselection.html Implementation -http://www.geocities.ws/douglas36601/implementation.htmlCompute Coordinates -http://www.geocities.ws/douglas36601/Formulas.html Sample coordinates -http://www.geocities.ws/douglas36601/projects.html Architects and Civil Engineers once worked together as master city builders. Beginning early in the 20th Century, Urban Planning specialists have competed with architects. However, Urban Planners are only engaging in damage control. Without the architect's knowledge of good design and the principles of building, the urban planner can only repair the damage caused by the helter-skelter haphazard growth of cities that grow continuously without good design or defined limits. Politicians holding power and control have assumed the role of the architect and take for granted that continuous growth around a central core is the best way to go. City Planners have turned a blind eye to master architect Frank Lloyd Wright's innovative machine-age linear Broadacre City concept.While admitting their own inability, this is what Planners, with an air of superiority, said of Wright,"Technically speaking, Broadacres cannot be taken too seriously, certainly not as a replacement for the core of big cities. Mr. Wright's vision is oriented more toward suburban life, ... But planners should not expect too much of architectural city designs. The architects who fancy themselves planners have never evinced an equal concern with all elements of the big city. ... It will take a really creative planner not an architect to someday give us a complete and dynamic design for the future city." - Book Reviews, Journal of the American Institute of Planners, vol. 25 (1958) p. 163-164.On the contrary the modern linear streamlined Broadacre City, conceived about 1918 was and still is a genuine solution to the problems of planning for orderly development. Following parallel to the old land grant railroad corridors it eliminates dangerous and noisy railroad grade crossings. It has all the elements of urbanity to be found in the big centralized city except for the criminal element, the slums, the crowded conditions, the congested traffic, and the unreasonable noise. It expresses the highest ideals of American Democracy as defined by law (the will of the people). Only architects are educated to have the foresight needed to plan and design cities if they have not been co-opted by Urban Planners who are educated as specialist in damage control.
Forum Post: Re: Emerging architects who leave the profession. at 7/17/2014 9:59 AM CDT
I would urge architects who need a job to consider being a small town code enforcer. Small towns in America have often grown and sprawled helter-skelter haphazard into big cities full of crime and confustion before they were able to afford an architect - this has been due to a lack of a concept for a comprehensive plan. With KYMAK to guide this can be done anywhere; but only architects can understand and develop and coordinate the process of building on these guidelines. I have encountered a problem in my location due to a lack of an architect, to wit: http://www.geocities.ws/douglas36601/MayorBPittman.htm Enforcement is to be by power of reason as only architects have the knowledge base for - rather than by intimidation as is the case with the uniformed. There should be a smooth transition, in a leisurely manner with safety first. I think if we (architects) were to wake up and take a good look at ourselves, as ourselves without trying to pass the buck without trying to blame other people for what really is our own shortcoming and our own lack of character we would be an example to the world that the world needs now. ...It's because of cowardice and political chicanery, because of the degradation to which we have fallen - as men". Frank Lloyd Wright - excerpt from 1949 AIA Gold Medal acceptance speech - http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0851393527/qid=1121956116/sr=8-2/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i2_xgl14/102-3720574-6771318?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
Discussion Post: Taliesin School of Architecture at 1/2/2014 10:32 AM CST
Re: Learning to be an architect http://archrecord.construction.com/news/daily/archives/070711wright.asp?plckFindCommentKey=CommentKey:a5996a44-d767-4032-b949-b4bc0a3f67cbFrank Lloyd Wright saw the academic method as a hindrance and advised us to, "unlearn it and learn to think for yourself." While he sought - with the founders: Jefferson et al - to avoid European influences in order to create a new Nation and an indigenous American Architecture compatible to our unique system of government, the Novue ordo secloum rather than continue to copy the Doric, Greek and Roman as in Europe, Olgivanna, his surviving ambitious European wife, thought otherwise and so we have this dilemma.
Comment on: Taliesin Regains Accreditation | News | Architectural Record at 12/18/2013 11:29 AM CST
In response to John A. Hewlett I would say, exactly! You are absolutely correct.
However, it is well that the legacy of FLW is being promoted - as they say in marketing lingo, "there is no such thing as bad publicity". I reckon the honest inquirer will somehow find out what Wright was all about just by reading or listening to what he said and what he did, apart from what is said about him.
"The Sidy phiosophy is in direct opposition to the Frank Lloyd Wright principle. Those new designs bordering on the 'Bauhaus' would not be acceptable to Mr. Wright. He would have already dismissed the present faculty and students for following this approach, which will eventually take down Taliesin as originally conceived. Mr Wright might have preferred to close the place. He certainly would never have allowed any Miesian form of building on the grounds of Taliesin."John A. Hewlett
5/31/2009 9:42 AM CDT
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douglas36601's Comments
Comment on: Change Agent - Architectural Record at 10/30/2013 12:31 PM CDT
That is the bottom line, of course.
..."finding a way for cities to embrace the future while remaining truly democratic, open, and accessible to all."
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Nature and Democracy
"American Democracy, in its myriad personalities, in factories, work-shops, stores, offices through the dense streets and houses of cities, and all their manifold sophisticated life must either be fibred, vitalized, by regular contact with out-door light and air and growths, farm-scenes, animals, fields, trees, birds, sun-warmth and free skies, or it will certainly dwindle and pale."
Speciman Days
Whitman http://www.bartleby.com/229/1248.html
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"And hail, to the man whose abode is
Where in a town the country pursuits with the city are blended.
On him lies not the pressure that painfully hampers the farmer,
Nor is he carried away by the greedy ambition of cities".
Goethe http://www.bartleby.com/19/4/ Polyhymnia line 30-34
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Song of the Universal
And thou, America!
Thou too surroundest all
Embracing, carrying, welcoming all, Thou too, by pathways broad and new,
Approach the Ideal
The measured faiths of other lands the grandeurs of the past,
Are not for Thee, but grandeurs of Thine own;
Deific faiths and amplitudes, absorbing, comprehending all, All in all to all.
Give me, give him or her, I love this quenchless faith in thee,
Whatever else withheld, withhold not from us belief in plan of thee enclosed in time and space.
Transcribed by FLW
from Walt Whitman (1819�1892). Leaves of Grass. 1900 254.
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A song of the rolling earth
"When the materials are all prepared, the architects shall appear.
I swear to you the architects shall appear without fail! I announce them and lead them;
I swear to you they will understand you, and justify you;
I swear to you the greatest among them shall be he who best knows you, and encloses all, and is faithful to all;
I swear to you, he and the rest shall not forget you they shall perceive that you are not an iota less than they;
I swear to you, you shall be glorified in them."
Carol of Words
Walt Whitman (1819-1892). Leaves of Grass. 1900.
http://www.bartleby.com/142/97.html
Forum Post: Re: What City Tops Your "Best Architecture" List? at 6/19/2013 11:42 AM CDT
In Response to Re: What City Tops Your "Best Architecture" List? : If it fits into this scheme you will have a winner - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dab295.jpeg#.7B.7Bint:filedesc.7D.7D Try thinking along these lines, if you please. Also see: http://smartgrowthusa.wordpress.com/kymak-frank-lloyd-wright-talesin-landscape-urbanism-charles-waldheim-mohsen-mostafavi/ � http://environment.harvard.edu/landscape-architecture �The idea of treating landscape as a medium for understanding and designing cities intrigued Charles Waldheim, the Irving professor of landscape architecture and chair of the department of Landscape Architecture at Harvard�s Graduate School of Design. � Most of our models in the field and most of our theories in the literature assumed that you get a city by piling up buildings next to each other ,� he says. But Waldheim found this building-first mindset to be no longer culturally relevant, and instead concluded that landscape considerations should be given more prominence in city-building.� - http://environment.harvard.edu/landscape-architecture
Comment on: National Civic Art Society Responds | Letters to the Editor | Architectural Record at 8/24/2012 11:37 AM CDT
Justin Shubow said: ...�the classical city envisioned by Pierre L�Enfant and our nation�s Founders"...
What our Nation's Founders acutally said is in the concluding paragraph of Federalist Paper #11, �Let the � States, bound together in a strict and indissoluble Union, concur in erecting one great American system, superior to the control of all transatlantic force or influence��
More:
http://construction.com/community/forums.aspx?plckForumPage=ForumDiscussion&plckDiscussionId=Cat%3a36f7e928-3bec-42cc-aec8-010265c63f4aForum%3a60782df0-ab4a-4eaa-9bab-73a925d477baDiscussion%3a053dae7d-a634-4c03-b23d-baf04c26f848
Discussion Post: An American Architecture at 7/24/2012 12:11 PM CDT
http://archrecord.construction.com/community/editorial/2012/1207.asp My comment follows these pertinent quotes from the article:",,,Finding the delicate balance between tradition and innovation.,,," ",,,problems of housing China�s exploding urban population are on a scale never seen in human history. Architects are at the epicenter of these dilemmas and, at their best, try to navigate between respecting the past and embracing the future. Yet tensions over how to strike such a delicate balance keep cropping up.,,," "... an organization called the National Civic Art Society wants to derail the design entirely. According to its website, 'the Society will continue to seek the restoration of the classical tradition to its rightful primacy in our nation�s capital.' The memorial as planned, says the site, 'would be an uncivil, brutal insult to the classical city envisioned by Pierre L�Enfant and our nation�s Founders.' ..." ",,,the greatest architecture conveys an aura of timelessness, it also reflects the authenticity of its own time and place...." My comment: Thomas Jefferson as architect did not like the L�Enfant design for the District of Columbia. Jefferson sought for an American Architecture beginning with City Planning as demonstrated by the Township concept of land subdivision. As for an American Architecture, that is what Wright gave us rather than follow Greco-Roman European influences to the corruption of our Novus Ordo Seclorum. City Planning in the United States has been confused and complicated by adverse European City Planning influences that are incompatible with our American system of government; the Founders of our Federal Republic in writing the United States Constitution foresaw that danger as noted in the concluding paragraph of Federalist Paper #11, �Let the � States, bound together in a strict and indissoluble Union, concur in erecting one great American system, superior to the control of all transatlantic force or influence��http://kymak.110mb.com/introduction.html Jefferson saw that an American architecture begins with the design of the city. The six-mile square township subdivision of Counties gave limits that most big cities could fit into easily enough and it would be well if they could be so limited. I heard Frank Lloyd Wright often say at his Sunday morning breakfast lecture to Apprentices at Taliesin, "the artists' limitations are their best friend". Within those limits I eventually discovered in the course of my own 20 year search for how to design a city, viz., Joseph Smith received divine revelation in 1833 that a one mile square divided by seven each way would make a city with ten acre blocks and 132 ft. wide street rights of ways. What the Mormons missed in Salt Lake City was that urban core was meant to fit within each and every township leaving the surrounding land for farming and manufacturing industry (see - http://kymak.110mb.com/modelcity.html ).This is also what FLW envisioned in his Broadacre city concept, although his emphasis was in development along major transportation corridors to accommodate the privacy and sense of freedom and independence afforded by the automobile. City Planners under European influences having to please the politicians who have assumed the role of the architect by default, especially since early in the 20th Century, derided Wright and have so far, defeated his and Jefferson's concept of an American Architecture. I have high hopes that the KYMAK concept will enable Architects to recover their role in the design of cities by boldly asserting what is the designers' prerogative in site selection. It is now possible for Architects to coordinate the process of building cities according to a rational plan just as they now do in the buildings alone. To neglect this is contrary to State and Federal Planning Codes, due to the uncoordinated and disorderly manner in which cities grow, helter-skelter without fixed city limits.Via the KYMAK concept the social role of registered architects as coordinators of the building process can now at long last be applied to building cities. While the statutory role does not specify good design of cities, it is a matter that concerns architects in planning and coordinating the building process - and as a matter of Professional responsibility In the Cause of Architecture.
Comment on: Design in the Present Tense | Editorial | Architectural Record at 7/24/2012 12:02 PM CDT
My comment follows these pertinent quotes from the article:
",,,Finding the delicate balance between tradition and innovation.,,,"
",,,problems of housing China�s exploding urban population are on a scale never seen in human history. Architects are at the epicenter of these dilemmas and, at their best, try to navigate between respecting the past and embracing the future. Yet tensions over how to strike such a delicate balance keep cropping up.,,,"
"... the �Society will continue to seek the restoration of the classical tradition to its rightful primacy in our nation�s capital �Society will continue to seek the restoration of the classical tradition to its rightful primacy in our nation�s capital.� The memorial as planned, says the site, �would be an uncivil, brutal insult to the classical city envisioned by Pierre L�Enfant and our nation�s Founders.�..."
",,,the greatest architecture conveys an aura of timelessness, it also reflects the authenticity of its own time and place...."
My comment:
Thomas Jefferson as architect did not like the L�Enfant design for the District of Columbia. Jefferson sought for an American Architecture beginning with City Planning as demonstrated by the Township concept of land subdivision. As for an American Architecture, that is what Wright gave us rather than follow Greco-Roman European influences to the corruption our Novus Ordo Seclorum.
Forum Post: Re: U.S. Dept. of Architecture / HUDD at 5/4/2012 10:38 AM CDT
Housing and Urban Development (and Design) Related Links: HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan Interview | News | Architectural Record Architects + Public Housing: Yes,You Can douglas36601 wrote: This is interesting... "BR: How do you factor effective planning into allocation of HUD dollars? SD: What the budget will accomplish beyond just an investment in more sustainable housing is an investment in planning itself... $100 million of which is going to a competition for regional planning efforts; and $40 million, combined with about $35 million in Department of Transportation funds, will be put toward local planning efforts." The role of the architect is to coordinate the building process . I think we should hope this expenditure will serve to put into effect forgotten State and Federal planning codes as noted previously: 42USCode - http://uscode.house.gov/search/criteria.shtml Urban Policy Section 4501 It is the policy of Congress to encourage the rational and orderly development of our cities, towns and rural areas ... Section 4502 (b) Existing and future programs must be inter-related and coordinated within a system of orderly development... (d)The Congress further declares that the national urban policy should - (6) Encourage planned communities. (8) increase coordination among Federal programs... _________________________________________ Community Development Section 5301 (b) The Congress further finds and declares that the future welfare of the Nation and the well being of citizens depend on the establishment and maintenance of viable urban communities, and require (1) � new centers of population ... (c) The primary objective is ... (5) ...a better arrangement of residential, commercial, industrial, ...and other needed activity centers. Note this; continuous growth of cities sprawling horizontally beyond orderly and geometrically designed limits is against the law! The law has been ignored for lack of a concept. See http://kymak.110mb.com/memo.html ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Related Links: Affordable Housing Goes Green in the Bronx douglas36601 wrote: What about " the huddled masses yearning to be free " Let us consider what American Democracy could really offer. The architects here have certainly made the best of an impossible situation: for a townhouse in the big city, Via Verde multifamily project in the South Bronx designed by Grimshaw Architects and Dattner Architects is excellent; however, I would say, most of the people living there would chose a small house on a quiet neighborhood street or a vine covered cottage in the country, if they were free. 5/1/2012 1:20 PM CDT
Comment on: HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan Interview | News | Architectural Record at 5/1/2012 1:36 PM CDT
This is interesting...
"BR: How do you factor effective planning into allocation of HUD dollars?
SD: What the budget will accomplish beyond just an investment in more sustainable housing is an investment in planning itself... $100 million of which is going to a competition for regional planning efforts; and $40 million, combined with about $35 million in Department of Transportation funds, will be put toward local planning efforts."
...we should hope this expenditure will serve to put into effect forgotten State and Federal planning codes: See http://kymak.110mb.com/memo.html
Comment on: Affordable Housing Goes Green in the Bronx | News | Architectural Record at 5/1/2012 1:20 PM CDT
What about "the huddled masses yearning to be free" Let us consider what American Democracy should really offer. The architects have certainly made the best of an impossible situation: for a townhouse in the big city, Via Verde multifamily project in the South Bronx designed by Grimshaw Architects and Dattner Architects is excellent; however, I should say, most of the people living there would chose a small house on a neighborhood street or a vine covered cottage in the country, if they were free.
Forum Post: Re: Introduce Yourself at 2/24/2012 11:29 AM CST
In Response to Introduce Yourself : FYI there is also a place for creating your profile on your Home page on this website. Just click on the link below your image. Here is a sample of what is on my profile page. Taliesin Fellow, 1958-59 I'm 4th from the left in photo on page 7, Architectural Record Book, IN THE CAUSE OF ARCHITECTURE, c.1975, McGraw-Hill, publ. Texas A&M / Architecture, 1951 ~ 57 Areas of Professional Expertise/Focus: Research: Architectural Site Selection / Problems of City and Regional Planning My Personal Interests: Law / Ethics Website: http://kymak.110mb.com/background.html
Forum Post: Re:Frank Lloyd Wright at 2/1/2012 2:05 PM CST
In Response to James: I clearly recall in his autobiography FLW said he completed 3 1/2 years staying until near the end of the 4th year, dropping out then because he said he did not want the degree, since he was home-schooled by his school teacher mother to be an Architect. FLW thought acacemic education tends to stiffle creativity; he wanted to avoid that himself as much as possible and advised us, as apprentices at Taliesin, to unlearn it. His use of the cantilever, e.g., in his building designs: from the Robie House http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robie_House to the Imperial Hotel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Hotel,_Tokyo to the Kaufman House http://www.rsapc.com/projects/detail.php?id=135 and the Mile High Illinois http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Illinois show evidence of bridge design techniques learned by Civil Engineers. Unlike the curriculum in Architectural Building Design where only courses in Physics are required, Civil Engineers have courses in Chemistry which may have enabled his keen perception of the Nature of Materials. Studying the details of his Broadacre City concept http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Broadacre_City , one will see that it was largely influenced by his education in Civil Engineering. There are too many traces of CE influence to ignore because of historical revisionism http://www.jstor.org/pss/988447 . Wright was a highly motivated genius who could have finished the curriculum in short time; I suggest he entered the University of Wisconsin at about age 14 since he said he witnessed when in 1883 the South Wing of the Capitol collapsed , http://www.angelfire.com/wi/lakemendota/history.html . Architects are engineers if they understand the priciciples of the science but engineers are not architects unless they understand the principles or the art.
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douglas36601's Comments
Forum Post: Re: Pro Bono Work at 8/30/2011 12:37 PM CDT
In Response to Re: Pro Bono Work : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro_bono "Pro bono publico (usually shortened to pro bono) is a phrase derived from Latin meaning "for the public good". The term is generally used to describe professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment as a public service. It is common in the legal profession and is increasingly seen in marketing, technology, and strategy consulting firms. Pro bono service, unlike traditional volunteerism, uses the specific skills of professionals to provide services to those who are unable to afford them." ... I would add, the application of the specific skills of professionals to provide services for the public good to those who are unaware that they need them . I did not exactly intend it, but my entire career has been one of pro bono public service. It is a matter of, " getting your pleasure out of your work ". The creative worker does not need to be recreated; so much of the time and expense of recreational and entertainment activities is eliminated. It is simply learning, " to be content with food and clothing " It is having a " profound sense of professional responsibility" . Introduction - http://kymak.110mb.com/introduction.html
Forum Post: Re: What does Architecture mean to you? at 8/18/2011 11:41 AM CDT
In Response to What does Architecture mean to you? : Ethics - http://kymak.110mb.com/ethics.jpg As a learned profession, architecture must be practiced with the highest degree of honesty and integrity and with fortitude in the matter of social responsibility. Due regard must be given to the urban and regional landscape as much or more than the design of buildings.
Forum Post: County Architect at 10/22/2010 10:50 AM CDT
Re: Site Plannning and Design - http://www.rri.wvu.edu/WebBook/McBride/section3.html In Response to Revised Proposal : I have made a few changes to simplify or clarify it for the investor under http://www.sec.gov/answers/rule506.htm viz.: Regulation D Offerings - The SEC . this would serve to establish an office of County Architect without having to rely entirely on how well the County Commissioners understand it. I have volunteered to act as County Architect of the County where I live as a means to that end on the premise that the duty and function of the County Architect is to enforce the Planning Code - which is a problem that has baffled most architects (not to mention everyone else) from the beginning of our Republic (not to mention the rest of the World). However, I find that it can be understood by Architects involved in City Planning as well as Civil Engineers. Note: I am in the process of writing a book about it which is a work in progress on my website for whoever wants to know more - this is to be read intuitively i.e., skip around as you may feel inclined rather than plod through it page by page. Here is the clarified proposal: I have proposed a Business Trust where the County would be the beneficiary. Here is the essence of the contract I have proposed: Job description: Site Selection (for orderly development via KYMAK agency) Location: Mobile County, Alabama Amount: $10M/10 years/200K population (SARPC (regional) = 300K = $15M) Estimated value = 0.1%/cost of construction or $50/person, or $50/acre or 50% or more of Savings and/or Benefits derived = $100/person estimate Distribution: Fixed Costs 34%=$340/yr/10/years 10% Tithes + 10% KYMAK agent + 5% Benefits + 9% Contingency Variable Costs 66%=$660K/yr/10 years 10% Architect One + Architect Two + Architect Three + 10% Legal and Accounting + 6% contingency + other expenses + Reserve 20% Notes: Savings & Benefits: (Present and Future) 1. Costs of Construction, in Time + Materials + Machinery 2. Condemnation procedures eliminated or reduced. 3. Social: Aesthetics reduce crime and mental illness: a. Public Health & Safety (Savings and Benefits) b. Outdoor built environment (Benefits) Suggestions: In exchange for KYMAK stock, County Commission pays into the KYMAK/AIA Business Trust (TBA) a reasonable or the full amount of money until arrangements for disbursal are made. No payment of funds by Trustees can be made without the consent of KYMAK agent, Douglas Boyd� Interested AIA members arrange meetings with KYMAK agent for discussion and critique, if not already done. County Commission arranges to meet with interested AIA members to discuss the matter and to select an Architect residing in the same District as the Commissioner. Payment of fixed costs of 34% of total funding is made to KYMAK agent from the AIA Business Trust if not already paid. Payment of retainer is made to chosen Architect & to Legal and Accounting by Trustees only after fixed cost are paid. Remainder is held in the Business Trust for other expenses & reserve. Retainers for other Consultants can be paid from this fund. KYMAK agent Box 534 Mobile, Alabama 36601 Website: http://kymak.110mb.com/KYMAK.html Site Planning: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=site+planning&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=site+planning&gs_rfai=&emsg=NCSR&noj=1&ei=qkfQTNfFDcSblgewoJj9BQ
Comment on: Volkert & Associates | South Central Construction | McGraw-Hill Construction at 10/18/2010 10:21 AM CDT
FYI: Mobile County and beyond
Architectural Site Selection/Comprehensive Regional Master Plan
Forum Post: Re: Emerging architects who leave the profession. at 5/4/2010 1:38 PM CDT
In Response to Emerging architects who leave the profession. : Women do seem to be well suited to the profession; the nature of art has a feminine quality. " The humane heart aware of the grace and significance of beauty " which FLW thought should have control of the machines of construction. He had that quality as all architects should. What has changed is a sense of ethical and professional responsibility. If you really love the profession you will live by the ethics that your father and FLW had to follow. Stay in the profession as a shining example of that even if you only have enough for food and clothing. Having a roof over your head is a luxury but that should not be a problem for an architect, anyway. I hope that women in architecture would be like the women Ayn Rand portrayed or as Wisdom - personified as a woman - in Proverbs 8 where she (Wisdom) is the primal architect "as one brought up" ( Hebrew = 'amown). - http://scripturetext.com/proverbs/8-30.htm - . The future of America and the World depends on Architects doing what Architects are supposed to do.
Comment on: Emerald City - Editorial - Architectural Record at 4/21/2010 1:20 PM CDT
BTW the name is David Owen...
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/bios/david_owen/search?contributorName=david%20owen
http://dirt.asla.org/2010/01/15/interview-with-david-owen-author-of-green-metropolis-how-living-smaller-living-closer-and-driving-less-are-the-keys-to-sustainability/
Comment on: Emerald City - Editorial - Architectural Record at 4/6/2010 9:41 AM CDT
Dear Editor,
I would like to edit my comment here dated 3/10/2010 12:16 PM CST as follows - with a few words of wisdom from Ralph Waldo Emerson and inspiration from Walt Whitman for architects to consider in the design of cities in America. to wit:
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Self Reliance
"The soul created the arts wherever they have flourished. It was in his own mind that the artist sought his mo del. It was an application of his own thought to the thing to be done and the conditions to be observed. And why need we copy the Doric or the Gothic mo del. Beauty, convenience, grandeur of thought, and quaint expression are as near to us as to any, and if the American artist will study with hope and love the precise thing to be done by him, considering the climate, the soil, the length of the day, the wants of the people, the habit and form of the government, he will create a house in which all these will find themselves fitted, and taste and sentiment will be satisfied also."
Emerson
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A song of the rolling earth
"When the materials are all prepared, the architects shall appear.
I swear to you the architects shall appear without fail! I announce them and lead them;
I swear to you they will understand you, and justify you;
I swear to you the greatest among them shall be he who best knows you, and encloses all, and is faithful to all;
I swear to you, he and the rest shall not forget you they shall perceive that you are not an iota less than they;
I swear to you, you shall be glorified in them."
Walt Whitman (1819-1892). Leaves of Grass. 1900.
Carol of Words
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And thou, America!
And thou, America!
Thou too surroundest all
Embracing, carrying, welcoming all, Thou too, by pathways broad and new,
Approach the Ideal
The measured faiths of other lands the grandeurs of the past,
Are not for Thee, but grandeurs of Thine own;
Deific faiths and amplitudes, absorbing, comprehending all, All in all to all.
Transcribed from Walt Whitman by FLW.
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Spell correction:
"cities which I call by the acronym KYMAK"
Typing error
" not like the bleak, now defunct high rise government projects "
Forum Post: Re: Emerging architects who leave the profession. at 4/2/2010 10:00 AM CDT
Why did FLW say, " Don't go into architecture to get a living ..."? As with all learned professions one must not work for money but for the public good - for love; it is a matter of Ethics , if not Law. Kevin Lynch in the book Site Planning - amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0262121069/qid=999785734/sr=2-2/104-4559576-0326349 " which is required reading for architects seeking registration for license to practice said, (we) "must be prepared to advise a client that his chosen site is (mistaken or) inadequate for his purpose and that he must seek a new one... While advice of this kind may terminate the designer's employment still it is his responsibility." For us to dismiss that responsibility just to make a living is like prostituting one's self, which is to " die pretending to be an architect " even with a government stamp of approval. But it is possible to attain this virtue even for one of limited personal resources or who is impoverished - as artists often are as a matter of conscience. I had to learn to " be content with food and clothing "; nevertheless, I was free to use my brain and I enjoyed the process. Find: " Ethics " - on my background page: kymak.110mb.com/background.html ...or copy and paste this link: kymak.110mb.com/ethics.jpg ...this link is enough said, at least as far as I was concerned. I have not yet been compensated for my work but I have enjoyed the process in solving the most complex and difficult problem architects have: how to design a city . I am not discouraged but the response has been both encouraging and disappointing. Architects ignore it because it is a bewildering problem. It boggled my mind when I was first made aware of it as a senior in College. The KYMAK site selection concept makes it easy for architects who will try it. " The mind of this country, taught to aim at low objects, eats upon itself. There is no work for any but the decorous and the complaisant. Young men of the fairest promise, who begin life upon our shores, inflated by the mountain winds, shined upon by all the stars of God, find the earth below not in unison with these, � but are hindered from action by the disgust which the principles on which business is managed inspire, and turn drudges, or die of disgust, � some of them suicides. What is the remedy? They did not yet see, and thousands of young men as hopeful now crowding to the barriers for the career, do not yet see, that, if the single man plant himself indomitably on his instincts, and there abide, the huge world will come round to him. Patience, � patience; � with the shades of all the good and great for company; and for solace, the perspective of your own infinite life; and for work, the study and the communication of principles"... Emerson - emersoncentral.com/amscholar.htm
Comment on: Emerald City - Editorial - Architectural Record at 3/10/2010 12:16 PM CST
Isn�t this about Economic sustainability versus Social and Cultural sustainability? Which is more important and can they be reconciled? I think so but Owens apparently does not. Should we even care about preserving, protecting and defending our system of government? He advocates maintaining big city feudalism. I, as did Thomas Jefferson in his capacity as an architect, saw that big cities will destroy us as a Nation. My concept of designing cities which I call by the acronymn KYMAK explains how to achieve both of these goals of sustainability.
The thought of designing a city compatible with our American way of life tends to get lost in the shuffle of activities that merely control the damage done by city building politicians as they blindly assume the role of the architect. We have yet to build a city that enables the freedom and independence necessary for the sovereignty of the individual. Unless we do, we cannot survive as a Nation.
Architects have long advocated a concept of, �concentration in openness� in city planning. I maintain that general idea but only if the open space is used productively by farmers to grow food and fiber - not like the bleak, now defunct high rise government projests of the past. The KYMAK concept which I have tried to explain in all of my posts to the Forums is the quintessence of urban design; a blending the city and country to create the �ne plus ultra� of our �E pluribus Unum� which was envisioned, ordained and established to begin with when our politicians were as bright and honest as could be over 200 years ago. KYMAK gives compact urban design with a desirable and efficient density as well as the openness needed to satisfy the desire for freedom and independence though access to the means of individual survival during economic recessions or depressions or total collapse � it gives us all the ready opportunity as well as peace of mind in the comfort and assurance of self sustainability whenever we please - of if ever the politicians fail to provide for our every need. However, until architects are ready to seriously consider KYMAK and vouch for my credibility, then who will? I understand your reticence is not as much cowardice, as Frank Lloyd Wright once said, as it is a matter of prudence, if not bewilderment. It may be of some consolation and encouragement for you to know that by reading my website you can gain continuing education credits if you will ask your board of architectural examiners for it. I will be here and there to answer your questions or comments as time permits.
Forum Post: Re: Chicago - at 7/6/2009 1:09 PM CDT
A gridiron pattern is better than nothing, however Burnham had his head and heart in the �cole des Beaux-Arts in Paris to follow the traditional feudalistic old world European model hit or miss "cities of confusion". Sullivan's and Wright's idea of a more aesthetically planned city specifically for indigenous American Democracy got lost in the shuffle. Therefore architects have all but forgotten that there is more to Architecture than building design - good design begins with site selection to properly coordinate the building process of an orderly and systematic city plan. Wright and Sullivan thought the Chicago Plan set the cause of Architecture in America back 50 years; but it has been a hundred now and what for? Don't forget the reputation for crime and corruption that Chicago has - there is no doubt a connection to how it has grown far beyond the limits of an optimum size city which is about 100K ~ 120K population; beyond that crime and poverty increases due to the economic law of diminishing returns. That is why our big overgrown now feudalistic cities depend on and ( for the luxuries they provide ) get Federal subsidies to avoid bankruptcy. As for gridiron patterns, Salt Lake City although now also overgrown was a beauty with its 132 ft wide streets with well watered gutter irrigation system and ample ten acre blocks. New York City's gridiron pattern in Manhattan by someone's ingenuity by way of Gov. Dewitt Clinton may be its best asset. Clinton served as Mayor in 1803-1807, 1808-1810, and 1811-1815. http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0geuyvh5FRKBgQAf_9XNyoA?p=New+York+City%27s+gridiron+pattern&y=Search&fr=yfp-t-501&fr2=sb-top&sao=1 It occurs to me that as Wright quoting Laotze said, "The reality of a building is not in the roof and the walls but in the space within to be lived in " so the reality of a city is not in the buildings but in the space between the buildings. Wright's Broadacre City concept for example compared to cramped and crime ridden cities that would have no merit if not for a few well designed and beautiful buildings which probably tends to blind us to the reality of the big city.
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