ROEPER SCHOOL, BLOOMFIELD HILLS MICHIGAN, GLEN PAULSEN AND ASSOCIATES ARCHITECTS 1965
CONSTRUCTION OF DOME, ONE OF MANY ( THIS WAS THE PROCESS TO BUILD, NOT POSITIVE THIS IS THE SCHOOL)
I VISITED THE ROEPER SCHOOL UNDER CONSTRUCTION, THAT HE DESIGNED AT THE TIME I WAS THERE. IT WAS BUILT WITH A BOOM THAT MELTED LONG FOAM BEAMS TOGETHER. WINDOWS AND DOORS CUT AFTER DOMES BUILT. A REAL STRETCH WITH TECHNOLOGY AND FORM AT THE TIME. Continue reading
ometepe nicaragua, an island in lake nicaragua, constant eruption Continue reading
BB BUILDING MACHINE 1972
I DESIGN WITH SYSTEMS, YOU NEED THE INTEGRATE WHOLE TO MAKE IT ALL WORK. IT IS OBVIOUS TO ME. NATURE UNDERSTANDS THAT.
THE OVERLAYING SYSTEMS OF THE HUMAN HAND FROM BONES TO SKIN. THE TECHNIQUE I USED ON THE BIOMORPHIC WERE SIMILAR, STARTING OUT WITH THE STRUCTURE OVERLAID WITH VARIOUS FUNCTION INCLUDING THE SKIN. Continue reading
LETTERHEAD 1971
THE BIOMORPHIC BIOSPHERE WAS FOR LA, BUT MEANT AS A PROTOTYPE TO TRANSFORM OTHER CITIES. CITIES ARE THE HIGH DENSITY POINTS WHERE THE MAJORITY OF THE PEOPLE LIVE, AND FOR SOME STANGE REASON EVERYBODY WANTS TO BE. THE HAPPENING PLACE, CITIES. BUT ALSO THE POLLUTION MONSTERS THAT SUCK HUGE AREAS AROUND THEM FOR SUPPORT. LA DRAWING WATER FROM THE COLORADO RIVER, GRABBING THE WATER FROM THE EASTERN SIDE OF THE SIERRAS AND WATER FROM NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. THE IMPACT OF HAVING A HUGE CITY IN AN AREA WHERE IT CAN NOT BE SUPPORTED BY IT’S LOCAL NATURAL SYSTEM IS GREEDY, BUT CONSIDERED INVENTIVE. Continue reading
THE VERTICAL CITY WAS DORMANT BUT NOT DEAD, IN 1969 I HAD AN OFFICE IN VENICE CALIFORNIA, WHERE I WAS DESIGNING APARTMENTS. VENICE CALIFORNIA WAS THE DREAM OF ABBOT KINNEY, A TOBACCO TYCOON THAT CAME WEST. HE BUILT HIS 1900 – 1920 RENAISSANCE ON LOW MARSH LAND NEXT TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN TEN MILES FROM DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES AT THE END OF A RAPID TRANSIT RED CAR LINE. VENICE WITH CANALS COMPLETE WITH GONDOLAS WAS A DREAM COMMUNITY WITH BEACH COTTAGES AND AN OPERA HOUSE. Continue reading
reinventing the world with confusion.
there is a contemporary architect that produces some designs that i respect, she is zaha hadid. i first met her at a rick mather party in london around 1980. peter cook of archigram fame pointing at us and commenting that the two of us represented a huge amount of talent. Continue reading
VERTICAL CITY DETROIT RISING OUT OF THE RESTORED LANDSCAPE, THE CULMINATION OF THE VERTICAL CITY STUDY. WHAT I SAW AS THE OBVIOUS ANSWER OTHERS IGNORED OR PROJECTED AS FANTASY. NOW MORE THAN EVER I FEEL CONNECTED TO THIS VISION. THE HARMONIOUS WHOLE THAT IS SELF SUFFICIENT AND A PART OF THE NATURAL PROCESS. THE TECHNOLOGY IS IN PLACE, BUT SOCIETY’S MINDSET IS EONS AWAY. Continue reading
John Johansen bites the dust, another famous professional that backed my work. 1916-2012 96 years young.
like every architect that is creative and thinking, he was constantly experimenting with different approaches and thought processes. he went from a glass house to, womb curved spaces, to brutalism, to clash and bang to megastructures, finally settling in the last 20 years of his life to designing futuristic proposals made from exotic natural systems. Continue reading
ELEVATION OF THE VERTICAL CITY. TO ME THIS IS SO BEAUTIFUL AND INSPIRING. THE ULTIMATE , THE BACK SIDE OF THE SIERRAS ON A MOON LITE NIGHT IN WINTER WHERE THE SNOW COVERS THE MOUNTAIN RANGE COMES CLOSE, BUT THIS IS AN ALIVE MOUNTAIN CITY DETROIT WITH LITES BECKONING. CITIES LOOK BEST FROM THE AIR LOOKING DOWN AT ALL THE LIGHTS, BUT THIS IS LOOKING IN ELEVATION IN A THREE DIMENSIONAL FLOWING FORM. I WANT THIS IMAGE ON MY COFFIN. IT SAYS IT ALL FOR ME. Continue reading
PEERING OVER THE TRIANGULAR VERTICAL CITY MODEL AT THE RIPE AGE OF 29 IN MY STUDIO AT CRANBROOK ACADEMY OF ART
MAKING A FLUID FOLLOWING SHAPES LIKE I WAS PROPOSING IN VERTICAL CITY 2, STARTS TO HAVE RAMIFICATION OF GETTING SERIOUS ABOUT HOW SOMETHING OF THIS SIZE OF 5,000 FT HIGH WILL STAND UP. I LIKED NERVI , CANDELLA AND GAUDI STRUCTURES, BUT WAS NOT EQUIPPED STRUCTURALLY ENOUGH TO UNDERSTAND HOW THEY WENT TOGETHER. I SORT OF GOT INTO STRUCTURES THROUGH THE BACK DOOR. Continue reading