Project // Pre Final

Teaser image for the final presentation. Complete with AMA color scheme...

Project // Progress from Concept

End of the semester is approaching fast...the pile of work in front of me seems insurmountable, so I need all the encouragement I can get (hint hint...). Here is a current image of the (complete) reworking of the previous scheme. The courtyard becomes a more public space, though I imagine I will need to add a series of layered walls to improve security but not detract from the sense of elongation. It is quite different than the previous scheme, but I'm more pleased with this version. It's definitely riskier.

Also in the works is a research paper on the patterns of development on Atlanta's west side. Do any of you NBA readers have any info I might be able to use about the Howard School? (Phasing, site conditions, etc.) It's an interesting topic that I think needs to be viewed wholistically in its analysis, instead of focusing on places like Atlantic Station as isolated urban entities. Any other tips on sites I can use as case studies? Right now I have AS, Howard, White Provisions / Brady, King Plow / Marietta St.

Theory // Concept as the Generator

I did some writing for studio the other day, not to fulfill a prescribed exercise but as a means of disengaging from the design process for a little while. I needed to clear my head of the building. Instead, I chose to address my weaknesses as a student of architecture - namely, understanding the building as a result of ideas and a basic conceptual ethos that is personal to each individual. The following writings and quotes, I feel, begin to offer support in terms of my own fundamental attitudes towards architecture that sometimes get lost in the process of creating technically-proficient buildings.

I am undertaking this process of exploration to better understand the ways in which architecture is generated. To this point, a narrow focus on program efficiency has constricted, rather than liberated, the effort to create architecture that is both functional and beautiful and which fully represents my aspirations as a student of design. Unfortunately, the circularity of a repetitive and continuous reworking of program, with no comprehensive formal result, has unearthed a deep, inner frustration that I am now seeking to purge through transcribed self-reflection. To state the matter simply, I need to breathe. I need to let the design breathe. The building needs space, time, light, and air, just as I do at this moment.

To engage this process, I must first accept that my aspirations are not wholly encompassed in the project’s final physical manifestation, and that there are ways to integrate these as-of-yet peripheral interests into my current project. I have, for example, a strong interest in the social qualities of contemporary architecture that begin to shape communities – specifically, those in and around American cities. To me, buildings establish, in any particular environment, a definitive visual character. To that end, they are real, tangible elements of place that evoke a sense of spatial identity. This character can be expressed through material, structure, color, shape, profile, type, use, or scale; it can consciously and conspicuously break away from the existing context to challenge long-held and/or misguided preconceptions, traditions, or habits, or it can blend in to maintain a successful, functioning status quo. It can be figural, interpretive or abstract. It can explore new technologies, improve on time-honored methods or defer to economy. There is an almost unlimited and ever-changing variety of choices that affect visual character.

The only consistent underlying element of this character, however, is the collection of people who absorb it. I do not mean consistent in terms of ethnicity, class, gender, age, etc., but rather in the faculties of perception and experience, and the possession of basic values. The users, who, in the case of our project, are indeed inclusive of every realm and strata of society, from the students to the teachers to the general public, define why the building exists. The why, in essence, precedes the how. As a result, it is critical to formulate a consistent conceptual framework that explains a project’s reasons for being in relation to the ways in which people will interact with it. Only with this guide can one begin to understand how the complex dynamic relationship between the building [the architecture] and the community, and to ensure that this relationship is symbiotic and self-perpetuating. I know, unfortunately, that this guide has been missing from my work up to this point, at least in a form that is cohesive and useful; I guess I have to ask, is it beneficial to reevaluate and even reform the conceptual basis for any of the decisions I have made thus far?

I believe so. My attitude has revolved almost exclusively around the idea of making a building. Make a good building, that is all the matters. But it’s about making a place, isn’t it? And if I’m not making a good place, I’m not making a good building. Bob Harris said – “If the rooms aren’t any good, then to hell with it.” I don’t think he was referring to the shape of the room, the placement, etc., but to its character. Does it serve the people well? Does it contribute to a sense of community? It’s clear to me that this attitude needs to change to accommodate the aspiration of community- and place-making I’ve outlined above.

TYPES OF GENERATORS

Having read through a number of various monographs and texts, each reflecting the process of an established designer or design firm, I have consolidated the most fundamental principles of their strategies into the following six categories. These principles are not isolated as polemical rhetoric, but directly encourage the changes in attitude I hope to undertake in my own design process.

Project // Rhino Class Fun

Rhino class provides a nice little diversion from studio - often the modeling process is best learned through forms that have nothing to do with architecture. I had some fun designing a little add-on for a tennis racket model I made, it's a clip-on scorekeeper...simple, but fun. A chance to de-stress; actually, I think I like this better than my building.

P.S. Disregard the crappiness of the the renderings, Rhino has an internal render engine that is extremely limited compared to Vray / Maxwell, but we were directed to use it for this exercise

Project // Midterms

Here are the results of the midterm crunch...I had to completely revamp my design strategy a week before the review, so it's really quite unresolved. I'll hold my personal feelings about it until I've received some external feedback.

The good news is now I can relax and take my mind off of it for awhile.

Discussion // Mode & Motives

Here's a little long-delayed hotlist of items that have been occupying my thoughts lately....

1. I have a problem. My confidence in my design talent is evaporating like sweat on 115F Los Angeles days (can you believe that was the actual temperature? I felt like I was swimming in a convection oven). All I want to do is make buildings that are beautiful, sculptural, creatively functional and innovative, but I struggle. I'm asking: is this a problem you also deal with? If so, how did you get over it? And, is it so wrong to struggle in the process of learning? Is it even worth going through this pain if I'm not the best, or even close to it? Some people find the completion of the work rewarding in itself regardless of the outcome, but I destroy myself no matter the process because the result never lives up to my own expectations. I get too caught up in the details. Oh well, you can't change who you are, can you?

2. I've noticed that attitudes about design within the United States aren't simply a function of local popular culture or stylistic preference (though each have plenty of influence), but also of real-life problems that emerge from conditions of geography, politics, and history. Many of these issues are expressed in the technical details most people take for granted (myself included) wherever they live because those are most familiar. Sloped roofs, enclosed 2-hr rated fire stairs, double-loaded corridors (or for that matter, interior enclosed circulation), neoclassicism, stacked masonry, grassy lawns, oak and pine trees, porticoes, horizontal shades, shutters, downspouts, snow cleats are unnecessary or non-existent in LA. On the flip side, I've learned more about earthquake design in just a couple of months than I have in years of east coast training. Architectural language is as different as the weather, terrain, and vegetation, as well as the people - just as it should be. No wonder all those Kieran Timberlake precedent studies I love so much aren't translating so well over here....

[Sorry, KT, I'm not in Kansas anymore...I sure do miss those red & yellow trees though.]

3. What's wrong with designing a box and treating the surface as the vessel for your artistry? The "jewel box" as it were. I know I said attitudes don't deal strictly with style, but the academic types here in LA abhor the decorated shed. Vast numbers of European architects, of course, are exceptional at accentuating simple forms, but folks like Rem, Zaha, and Bjarke rule the roost as far as formal (shape making) design process is concerned. The unfortunate aspect of this phenomenon as that their formal investigations as they relate to urban conditions, which are often quite ingenious, are not correlated. This sort of pedagogy, where form, urbanism, and tectonics are treated as separate and ordered steps, leads to exuberant, almost over-developed formal explorations without much concern for program or urban condition and without much systematic relevance. The formal diagram is too isolated, devaluing the weeks spent on site analysis.

This leads to another question - does LA need more modern object buildings in a city where most of the buildings are objects anyway? Is that a crucial component of the LA identity, this architectural melange of formal recklessness that is, in fact, mysterious, fascinating, and utterly unique? The New Urbanists - the dastardly denouncers of daring design - believe object buildings can only stand out in a sea of consistency that must be pre-established. That is the European condition, and it works for them, but we don't have the luxury of density here in America (and ESPECIALLY not in LA), at least in the same sense. So we have to manufacture it from nothing - which is why Seaside makes me wanna barf. So what do we do? What do I do?

One reason I'm a little conflicted is I'm working on an elementary school on a site that demands an urban response. The building is driven by program and there isn't much liberty for wasteful / unused space. I've taken this on as a design direction but my project feels boring compared to the more fanciful efforts of my classmates, though theirs probably aren't as rational. Alas! My sobriety is bringing me down again...

4. LA is a terrible place to go out at night. Sure, there's great food everywhere, and people of all cultures embrace American life and vice versa, but damn everything is so spread out and if you're not a native (like me), trying to find a beer bar at 12:30 am when you're stuck in Arcadia (I still don't know where that is) is like a blind man trying to find Spanish gold on a beach without a metal detector. Developing a "going-out" routine takes incredible effort that I don't have time to put in. In which case, ass = on couch / in studio chair. Blech.

5. But on the bright side, I did find a good place to watch movies in LA. Vista Theater. Check it.

Found: Authentic LA movie place. Cantonese-style grub. Taco stands. Karaoke Bars. Museums.

Not found: Decent beer bar. Dance club. Cheap places to shop. Dumpling house. Good pizza. Companionship. Tennis partner. Parking.

Case Study // Inner City Arts

Inner City Arts School

Los Angeles, CA (map) (website)

Architect: Michael Maltzan Architects (website)

[Phase I started 1989 / Phase III completed 2008]

Through a fortunate connection between USC and the design architects I, along with my studio, had a chance to take a private tour of this local campus as research for our K-5 school project.  Our guides - two designers from local firm Michael Maltzan Architects and two school representatives - gave valuable insight into the program needs and design strategies steering the project. I'm really beginning to admire the work of Maltzan's office; it ranges from high-end residential to low-income housing to non-profit, and engages cost-effective realized projects to innovative theory.

The school operates in conjunction with the Los Angeles Unified School District, providing non-discriminatory art education to K-12 students from around the city who have may not have daily access to similar programs in their own schools as a result of severe budget cuts. Students attend 1.5 sessions in various disciplines, from ceramics to performing arts, painting, animation, or graphic design, two days per week for seven weeks. The school hosts plays and musical performances from professional outfits, and also serves as a civic meeting place in one of the most under-privileged neighborhoods in Los Angeles.

The scale of the building is very intimate which facilitates interactive learning. The relatively small spaces cater to children, whose needs are the clear priority of the design strategy; the scale also differentiates the project from many of the more recent and extravagant LAUSD projects that have come under intense public scrutiny. Each individual space is flexible and can easily be converted for multiple uses through the implementation of garage doors, movable partitions and mobile furniture. Walls are left bare as a "canvas" for the work of students. Natural light enters each space through the addition of skylights and light wells; skylights were also added in the Phase I construction, which converted an old 1920's body shop to offices, a painting and dance studio and music room. Windows/glazing are not placed arbitrarily, as one might read them, but rather according to function (for example, ground-level "inverted" clerestories to give working potters a connection to the outside earth, a subtle but profound inclusion) and to provide maximum security from the street.

Really an excellent case study and one that restores some of my lost faith in the architectural profession as an agent of positive change.

[Street View. Much of what is seen here is a former Hudson Auto Dealership.]

[Pottery studio atrium & covered kiln yard.]

[Ceramics tower.]

[Courtyard and giant palm tree.]

[Rooftop parking with a great view of downtown.]

[Phase I construction. Roof trusses & decking from old body shop preserved.]

[New theater reception.]

[Inside of pottery/ceramics tower. Orange to symbolize optimism.]

[Library & one of our studio instructors.]

["Inverted clerestories."]

[Dance studio. Construction intentionally left unfinished as an educational tool.]

Project // School (Updated)

Goin with this scheme...a lot more curvaceous than what I usually do ;) If anyone knows how to get rid of those artifacts in V-ray for the last image, holler.

Video // Colosseum on Fire

Performative architecture of the classical order? Cool.

Discussion // Mode & Motives

Strikingly similar quotes:

The vision is an answer to the fundamental question: what shall we build in any given place, where a project is to be undertaken. This question does not ask how it is organized, how it is designed, what character the architecture has…but simply the most fundamental question of all: what is it? What is going to be there?

In today’s development, this question is asked, and answered, almost exclusively in economic terms. What can pay for itself there? What can make money there?

Of course the projects which are built, in answer to this question, and after the necessary consumer surveys, are machine-like, abstract, lifeless. They are uninteresting, not vivid. They are incapable of exciting us, or moving us, because they are not human in their quality. 

-Christopher Alexander, A New Theory of Urban Design (1987)

The discovery of building as a new paradigm in our work happened at the same time as a change in the situation of the western city, which involved the extensive reformulation of conditions affecting contemporary architecture as a whole : the gradual privatization of the public space of the city. Faced with a complete lack of public funds, cities and local authorities found themselves increasingly unable to play an active role in urban planning developments, and instead sold out to investors, who helped themselves to the biggest and best pieces of the city. It was a game whose end could be predicted: architecture would end up as infrastructure built to maximize the profits of a global economy.

-Wolf D. Prix, Coop Himmelblau - Philosophy

Both of these statements address the following phenomenon: the end of the era of master planning and a renewed interest in the piecemeal / naturally evolving urbanism that preceded the Modern Movement. Just through observation, one can recognize the the traces of corporate interest inhabit nearly every piece of American architecture [which encompasses all building construction] over the last fifty years, save a few exceptional examples. It will be fascinating to see how the relationship between economics and architecture - which at the moment is strained to the breaking point - changes over the next few years.

[Even existing innovative / experimental / controversial buildings like this (Buckhead Library, Scogin Elam & Bray, 1989) are under threat of demolition for economic concerns. Is there room for a shift in values for exceptional cases?]

Discussion // Complexity & Contradiction

(This will an evolving post, so don't be alarmed by the length. I will continue to update it as I notice further relationships.)

The rhetoric over theory vs. practice in architecture is tired and worn out, and if you've ever worked in an office you don't need to be told the differences. But for my generation, there are some new wrinkles in this complicated - and often criticized - relationship that are starting to affect the discipline as a whole. In the traditional model of architectural education and practice, the conflict could be modeled simply as a push and pull between design (form, art, sculpture, independence) and reality (economy, gravity, dependence).

Design < >  Reality

[Sant Elia - Futurist, but still with pen, paper, and straight edge. The forms are recognizable as buildings.]

Now I believe there is a third element to this conflict: technology. More specifically, computers and visualization software. For centuries, since the days when Brunelleschi doodled the famous structure of the dome, the methods of architectural representation remained relatively constant: drawing tool, straight edge, and paper. The use of such devices limited our ability to conceive of form beyond what was structurally possible or referential to some previous typology. Computers, on the other hand, have allowed our imaginative powers to far outrun our ability to practically create, because they not only translate what we think but also generate based on complicated sets of parameters or algorithms. As a result, a new style, or field of research (I don't really know what to call it) of "virtual architecture" has emerged, championed by the likes of Zaha Hadid / Patrik Schumacher, Roland Snooks and others, whose bearing on real architecture has yet to be fully explored or even explained clearly by those who profess it.
 

[Diaz Alonso - what in the world is this without context? How was it made?]

What all this leads to, at least with me since I feel like I'm not brilliant enough to decipher it all, is an incredible confusion as to what architecture - especially in this country - actually is and where I should focus myself in school. Should I look into parametric design simply because it's new and innovative, to broaden my horizons? Should I avoid it if I think it's irrelevant to my own interests? Should I even bother looking at history if the tools of the trade have evolved so much? These are questions I have to deal with even as I'm forced to struggle to catch up with learning new software (I've found out so far I'm very much behind). So now the conflicts in architecture look like this:

Design (Practical) < > Design (Virtual) < > Technology < > Reality < > Generational

Sometimes it's all a bit too much to handle, I'll admit. Now with the conflicts mapped out, I'm going to start keeping a list of contradictions in architectural practice vs. education, the purpose of which is not to completely discount what I learn, but simply to refer it to my ultimate goal of becoming an architect who builds buildings. Sure it's been done before many times, but I think it's healthy for every student of architecture to develop his or her own. I'll start off with a few, feel free to add, contribute, suggest, refute, etc.

1. The Role of the Architect in the Realization of Projects

This one is obvious. In school, you are taught ways of making cities better one building or project at a time, as if you are the spontaneous generator of the need.

Project // K-5 School, South LA

Very preliminary image for a school in South LA. Also, a first attempt at Rhino modeling...not great but it's a start.

[First iteration]

[Second Iteration]

Photo // More Mobile Munchies

Where else is one supposed to eat at 2:30am after having an unnamed quantity of beverages at the local establishment? A Mexican taco truck, that's where. Restaurant on wheels = awesome. I mentioned before that food trucks, a form of "mobile architecture," were introduced in Atlanta but they are all the rage in Los Angeles. Here, food trucks are also cultural institutions, dishing out a taste of home for immigrants and providing a place where people of different ethnic backgrounds can gather and find togetherness through food.

And the bounty...mmmmmmmmm...

...and now, indigestion. I'm not used to eating Mexican food intended for Mexicans...can a white boy get some watered down chilies, please? Also, 3am Food coma / spice stupor is not good for writing, so apologies for the quality of the post ;)

School updates and other fun stuff to come soon once I have a bit more mental capacity, so stay tuned.

Lifestyle // Traffic Jam Theater

Stumbled across this story on NPR about Los Angeles artist Joel Kyack, who stages puppet shows from the back of his truck amidst the city's worst traffic snarls.

[All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances.]

 This article is fascinating for a few reasons; firstly, it touches again on the topic of mobile, or dynamic, architecture in which the paradigm of certain traditional cultural institutions - in this case, theater - has evolved to include transiency, improvisation and whimsy [see the previous post about food trucks]. Additionally, Kyack's ideas about the nature of performance, the choreography of movement and patterns of behavior are strikingly architectural. A few of my favorite quotes:

"I like chaos," Kyack observes. "I like things that are moving in and out of control, like negotiations of agency and resignation. And for me, the traffic jam is that."  

Wow, that sounds like it came straight out of architecture school. It nearly refers to "swarm intelligence," a trendy topic in many futurist / avant garde design programs about uncontrolled systems and one that I've mentioned before on this blog.

"How you navigate, how you make the world that you want around you, and how you compromise with what the world's giving you," Kyack explains. "And I think that formally, the traffic jam is sort of the perfect metaphor to explore that."

Compromise is an important facet of architecture that is often ignored in theory but appears again and again in practice; it sometimes leads so much frustration during the design process that it leads one to question the viability or usefulness of the architectural profession. But what Kyack says here, quite optimistically, is that compromise is an opportunity. It is a means by which we can explore the constraints of life, add to them, and freely enrich ourselves. The constraint of traffic, for example, could lend to compelling studies about the various layers of architecture contained within (the car environment, the road as a form of architecture that contains "inhabitants" and performs living functions, or, as shown here, the traffic jam as a staging area, etc.). After all, we spend so much time in automotive purgatory, yet traffic is very underutilized in a practical sense. Radio shows and the like are sufficient entertainment but lack context - there's no element of "now" or "here."

Lastly, my absolute favorite snippet:

He doesn't get in trouble. But then again, the cops don't quite buy his academic theories about offering a space of engagement for drivers to reflect on the chaotic structures of their daily routine.

Is this the author taking a little potshot at dullard cops? Could be...but there it is again, the conflict between academia and real life that often gets smarty types in trouble. More compromising is in order!

Update // Photos

The Flickr Album has finally been updated...click on the link on the right side of page and enjoy! If you like/dislike any of the photos, go ahead a leave a little comment - it's always appreciated. 

Lots of stuff from LA and Palm Springs. Gehry, Coop Himmelblau, Rafael Moneo, Morphosis, Richard Neutra all represented. One of my favorite projects is a little gas station in southwest LA (near the airport) with a rad swooping roof - another contemporary homage to googieness.

Update // About

I had a few minutes of free time this evening so I've updated the "about" section, click the link at the top of the page to check it out.

Photo // Architecture School

[It's not what it used to be....]

Place // Santa Monica, CA

Posts may be sporadic as I get into the thick of the semester, but I'll try to get on here as often as possible. I mean, I accept the fact that my readers love me and demand more, but I'm a tease and that's just the way it's gonna be. I think you like it that way. Mmhm.

Moving on...not much to report about Santa Monica except that it's a gorgeous beach community with sky-high property values and high-rollers on every corner. It was there I also had my first celebrity sighting (Nick Cannon). Not high on the list, I'll admit, but it's a start. I'm just waiting for the day I meet Tom Cruise. Mr. Tommy C. I wonder, if I shake his hand, does the universe implode? Because you know, the same matter can't occupy the same space at the same time. [If you don't understand what I'm talking about, that's okay - just watch Timecop.] So far that makes for a celebrity sighting, a party at which I was asked if I was in the porn biz, an exclusive Hollywood club outing, a trip to the Getty, a Dodgers game, a few tours, my first kind of exposure to the entertainment industry...pretty crazy first few weeks amongst the sheer wackiness of Los Angeles.

Eventually I'll get all these pics on the Flickr album...I've just got to wait until those (nice people) give me more storage space.

[Parking Deck. I always forget the architect...]

[Store. Pugh + Scarpa I believe?]

[Yes, it always looks like this here.]

[Excellent 80's mod!]

[Getty. Of course.]

Discussion // "Lucky" Buildings

Just a little link here as I wind down for the weekend...I'll start posting some LA experiences here pretty soon.

I wonder what is it about a particular building that makes it lucky for tech businesses. Sure, there's the old adage of "location, location, location," but that applies more to marketability of real estate relative to local amenities and proximity to potential customers. Software companies, who themselves deal in the "virtual architecture" of computer programming, need neither retail nor on-site storage space to market their products. 

When successful tech companies, like Google and Pixar, do commission real architecture, the typical model of commercial construction, where businesses stay close to exposed and accessible city centers, seems not to apply. This is partly a result of the evolution of commodity to include transactable goods that are imaginary, i.e. data-only, and which impose no logistical demands of any kind, save bandwidth. [Hmm, that's an idea for a study of the economic geography of virtual infrastructure. Is that already a field of interest? I don't know.] Hence, many campuses of tech companies tend to first focus on catering to the health and welfare of the corporate employee (gasp!) to foster innovation. Yet, in doing so, they have already done something innovative  by shaking up the paradigm of corporate architecture. Some examples are even whimsical or theme-parkish in the ways they differ from or reject traditional American corporatism. Check out "Ebay Park" and "Googleplex" and "Pixar Headquarters," the last of which I've already posted a little bit about.

[eBay Park: the tech-bubble era funland]

I would say the one critique of "corporate utopianism" [to coin a new term] is that it is too suburban; it doesn't engage the city, as some might suggest architecture must for the benefit of our posterity. Though both Google's and Pixar's HQs are constructed "sustainably" using similar methods, and house suitably happy employees, there is a question over whether their isolation is an irresponsible rejection of urbanity. Maybe, maybe not. There is not enough information about the  long-term influence of the variable in the future equation: the substance-less commodity. As it is I'm in the process of learning a bit more of the philosophy behind urban design so I might be able to tell you in the near future. Until then, it's up for discussion.

I also can't tell you why that one building is so good at producing business blockbusters. The landlord did start his career selling Persian rugs, maybe there's a magic lamp hidden in the attic, who knows.

Project // Street Mapping

We were assigned a project on due on the first real day of studio (!!!) which required that we walk a street, in this case Hoover Street north of campus, and abstractly document the nature of the urban geography through our own individual perceptions. I chose to focus on graffiti, which plays a large role as a means of communication in urban subculture in Los Angeles. The graphics are themed to that effect. I assigned single words to images based on the intent or construct of the graffiti, and posed questions seeking additional insight.

The major critique of this sort of diagram, whose focus is primarily artistic, personal, and social, is that it doesn't convey in useful statistical or demographic data. Granted. I didn't put in the effort to truly "map" each occurrence, but in a sense my professor was right in another comment that he made, that each project is highly autobiographical. I am more interested in the personal. What are the people like? What is the "vibe" of the space? That's more the focus of this blog and my work. So I'll take the criticism.

I could write a lot about the neighborhood but I'll save that for another time. I can say that Hoover Street from USC to Wilshere Blvd consists primarily of low-income immigrant communities from Korea and Central America above the 110 and USC housing/buildings below. The northern section is also notorious for its high incidence of crime. Here's the location if you're curious.

View Larger Map

Place // Palm Springs, CA

I was more excited about visiting Palm Springs than any other city on our tour because it contains the greatest concentration of mid-century modern buildings in the country. The town's development as an isolated resort community paralleled the growth of nearby metropolises Los Angeles and San Diego and provided architects with a playground to test new design and construction techniques. The rise of Hollywood in the 1930's attracted tourists and illustrious clients to the Coachella Valley, including Frank Sinatra and Elvis, and made life in Palm Springs a lucrative and fashionable venture. Revised zoning laws, meanwhile, along with the support and foresight of ambitious developers like the Alexander Construction Company, accommodated the rapid expansion in concordance with the influx of new residents. The result is a regional architectural vernacular that is uniquely American and at the same time, uniquely Californian, and which functions like a dynamic exhibit, where the city itself is a museum, and the buildings works of art. Visiting this place is like stepping into a decades-old lab experiment whose instigators have long since passed but whose tubes and cauldrons are still bubbling with purpose. It is tangible history that is not so foreign to our perception of everyday life that we're unable to understand it. Palm Springs is glamorous, beautiful, and I love it...if only it wasn't 115 degrees when I was there, I may have stayed.

Some of the architects who practiced in Palm Springs are some of the most well-known American modernists: RM Schindler, Richard Neutra, Albert Frey, E. Stewart Williams, Palmer & Krisel, John Lautner and more. I will be posting all my images on Flickr soon, but bear in mind that many of the most famous buildings are private residences and thus inaccessible. So you'll have to live with just a taste. 

Also, check out this website dedicated to the preservation of Palm Springs Modern for more information.

[House, Albert Frey]

["House of Tomorrow" for Elvis Presley, Palmer + Krisel]

[Tramway Station / Visitors Center, Albert Frey]

[Palm Springs City Hall, Albert Frey]

[Kauffman House, Richard Neutra]

[Palm Springs Art Museum, E. Stewart Williams]

[Retail/Office Building, E. Stewart Williams]

[Bank, E. Stewart Williams]

[Tramway Hub, Base, E. Stewart Williams]