Published to commemorate the John Dinkeloo

Memorial Lecture given by Will Bruder at the

Chrysler Auditorium on April19, 1999.

Editor: Annette W. LeCuyer

Design: Christian Unverzagt

Typeset in Int erstate

Printed and bound in the United States

ISBN: 1-891197-09-6

© Copyright 1999

The A. Alfred Taubman College

of Architecture + Urban Planning & William P. Bruder · Architect, Ltd., New River, AZ

The University of Michigan

A. Alfred Taubman College

of Architecture + Urban Planning

2000 Bonisteel Boulevard

Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-2069

USA

734 7641300

734 763 2322 fax

www.caup.umich.edu

WILL BRUDER · THREE TIMES TWO

5

John Dinkeloo was born in

Michigan and is one of our most distinguished

alumni. In 1950 he began working with

Eero Saarinen in an office of international

significance where he was to play a central

role in the design of numerous important

buildings. When Saarinen was asked about

the design of the General Motors Technical

Center, he spoke of Dinkeloo as the person

who "really thought it through" and of how

" the technical developments that John

Dinkeloo was working on related very

strongly to the design that myself and Kevin

Roche were working on." This commitment

to the integration of idea and detail were to

distinguish not only the work of Eero Saarinen

but the subsequent buildings designed by

John Dinkeloo and Kevin Roche.

The Ford Foundation

Headquarters in New York, the offices

for John Deere and the Oakland Museum

are outstanding buildings which bear the

imprint of John Dinkeloo's fervent interest

in detail, his invention of materials and his

commitment to architecture.

That same inspiring fusion

of idea and detail characterizes the work of

the 1999 John Dinkeloo Memorial Lecturer.

Although Will Bruder studied fine arts at

the University of Wisconsin, he chose to

pursue his interests in design by working

with architects. One was a close colleague

of Eero Saarinen and John Dinkeloo as

well as a former professor at this College -

the distinguished architect Gunnar Birkerts.

Will Bruder has continued to pursue

architecture through unconventional routes.

He has cult ivated his interests in the fine

arts while designing compelling buildings.

He has designed one of the most important

new civic buildings and urban landmarks in

America from a tiny studio in the Arizona

desert. He is fanatical about materials and

the architectural detail, as anyone who

has seen the Phoenix Central Library

will appreciate.

John Dinkeloo was an

architect who invented materials and

focussed on the artistry of their assembly.

Following in this tradition, Will Bruder is

an artist who relishes design and the

exuberance of construction.

Brian Carter

Professor & Chair of Architecture

6

JOHN OINKELOO ATOP THE ST. LOUIS GATEWAY ARCH

9

John Dinkeloo was an

outstanding architect. Although he is often

characterized as an architect preoccupied

by detail, materials and the nature of

construction, he was first and foremost a

man of ideas. Since the start of my career,

I have admired his work which has contributed

so greatly to the architecture of our time

and am especially honored to be invited to

give this lecture in his memory. In recognition

of the inspiration that is vested in the work of

John Dinkeloo, I would like to talk about ideas

which are embodied in six words - curiosity,

community, context, choreography, crafts­

manship and collaboration. For me, these

words are key to the essence of architecture.

CURIOSITY As architects,

we accept a responsibility which embraces

both the smallest unseen things and the

macro-scale of global systems. It is a

responsibility that demands active curiosity,

observation and a sense of awe in the face

of discovery. Instead of being comfortable

with the familiar, we must bring to each

project a curious •Y• and a good ear.

As we become Intellectually and sensually

more curious, w• ar• llk•ly to achieve

a greater understanding of the complex

relationships between nature and art.

detail and building which will produce

architectural solutions of tougher

pragmatism and fi ner poetry.

COMMUNITY The l ife of

communities Is precarious and subject to

many factors outside the direct control of

the architect. In this context, architecture

becomes the most lragile of art forms. In

the summer of t996, I w•nt to Death Valley.

In the glory days of mining, there was a city

of 4,000 p•opl• at th• edge of the valley.

But now a few shards or rusty cans and a

random foundation are all that is left - the

only evidence or a community that has

vanished. An archaeologist might be able

10

to find more evidence, but on the surface

there is almost nothing. Yet at the same time,

Manhattan is thriving and life t here is getting

better. Architecture celebrates places of

living, work. play and cultur•; it is one small

part of what shapes the life of a community.

CONTEXT The natural and

historic •nvlronment ol a place is influenced

by many things - It Is about light, color,

patterns of weather and geology. Context

is about history. II Is possible to learn from

history without being trapped in nostalgia.

Whether it Is embodied In a basic wooden

11

structure, in an abandoned drive-in theater

or a simple Shaker house, history can help

us put together the puzzle of architecture.

Context inspires building form. A haystack

crowned with snow generates a new office

building in Wyoming just as the Wailing Wall

in Jerusalem becomes the prompt for an

inexpensive synagogue in the desert.

The context in which

we live blurs the distinction between art

and architecture. The Army Corps of

Engineers laid a rusty steel rip-rap flood

control structure across the Rio Grande

River in New Mexico to serve a pragmatic

need. Yet this work also has extraordinary

poetic power when seen through the eyes

of the artist. When art is intentional, it has

supreme power to enrich our lives - whether

through the dynamic marriage of sea, sky

and shore accomplished by the collaboration

of the sculptor Eduardo Chillida and the

architect Luis Pefia Ganchegui or in the

great, temporal landworks of Christo and

Jean Claude which reach out beyond ideas

to help us see the world from a different

perspective. While I think few architects

have the ability to match the vision of these

artists, we can all learn important lessons

about the placemaking which their work

fosters. Respecting context in the community

is about the sculptural quality of placemaking,

about the search for a solution which seems

inevitable for a particular place.

CHOREOGRAPHY Architecture

should orchestrate the movement of people

as well as the path of light through space.

Light defines place like no other material.

CRAnSMANSHIP As a

pragmatic professional In search of the

12

poetry of architecture, I am interested in

materials and making. for me, a t rip to a brick

yard is exciting and the remnant pile has as

much potential as the basis for experiment

and invention as the kiln. Whether it is t he

brick yard. the lumber yard, the cabinet shop

or Home Depot, the architect should seek out

the sources of the materials which must be

mastered to further the art of architecture.

In the block yard one morning, I was walking

between canyons of pallets. At the time, I

had a client, a Jewish congregation who had

very little money but wanted to build a small

synagogue and some classrooms. In the sun,

the stacked blocks which hovered above the

path cast uneven shadows. In that moment of

observation, the Idea of a wall emerged that

seemed simple and Innocent. an idea based

on randomn@ss.

for the synagogue wall,

I asked the masons to lay the blocks with

a variation of between 1/2 and 3/4 of an inch

from the vertical. I was seeking a random

order of surface and shadow - a kind of

natural order of life In an unpredictable

pattern. However, the masons were trained

to lay each block perfectly plumb and true.

What they produced the next day In the sample

13

panel was an intellectual exercise instead of

a physical one. They let their minds control

the actions of their bodies. It was almost like

a musical score: 1, 3, 5, 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 7, 8.

I asked them to try again.

The foreman helped by setting up a string and

telling the masons to aim almost blindly for

the string. If they were within the tolerance

of the string, he suggested that they just set

the block plumb and keep moving. A number

of masons walked off the site. Those who

stayed had the rigor to follow through. For

these simple gray block walls, the masonry

contractor received the highest honor in the

state for his craft and when we met at the

presentation of his gold trowel, he was still

puzzled by the proposition as well as proud.

Craftsmanship is very much alive in America.

The myth that there are no craftsmen is a

cheap excuse not to capture the architectural

spirit of our time and our technology.

COLLABORATION My studios

are in the desert of the American southwest.

There are 5-10 of us who work in these

modest workshops which have occupied this

setting now for almost a quarter of a century.

Yet, we do not work in isolation. Architecture

is a collaborative art form and the studio

environment is the focus of our common

creativity and research. Clients are key

collaborators. They are the brave risk-takers

in the design process; architects are merely

the agents who help to make their dreams

and visions real. In addition to clients,

CONCRETE MASONRY WALLS EMERGE LIKE GEOLOGICAL

GESTURES FROM THE SITE TO DEFINE THE MAIN ENTRY.

LIVING, CIRCULATION AND GALLERY SPACES OF THE

HOUSE. THE ANGULAR GEOMETRY OF THE PLAN GROWS

FROM THE ASYMMETRICAL, TAPERING ALIGNMENTS OF

THESE BUILT CANYON WALLS AND EXTENDS OUT INTO THE

DESERT TO CREATE A SERIES OF OUTDOOR LIVING SPACES

AND COURTYARDS.

THE HOUSE IS INTEGRATED INTO THE NATURAl SLOPE OF

15

there are engineers, manufacturers, city

officials, contractors, craftsmen and many

others who have to work together to develop

the ideas and solve the problems of each

new commission. A critical and questioning

atmosphere is essential if we are to do

really good work.

The most important tool

in our studio is not the computer, but the

wastebasket . It is a far harder tool to learn

how to use but when mastered, makes the

computer a more valuable asset. All too often,

we are guilty of not reaching far enough to

find a solution. In searching through the many

ways of solving a problem, the wastebasket

becomes the valuable repository of tough

editing. The wastebasket represents critical

practice - the ability to abandon one idea

for another which is better, the ability to

remove what is superfluous, to reduce an

idea to its essence.

Carol and Bill Byrne moved

to the desert eight years ago from a 17th

century colonial house in New Jersey.

Carol is a colorist working in the fabric

industry and Bill is a wood framing contractor

who is now vice president of a construction

company. Their new house in the desert was

conceived as a geological artifact on a site

where the land has been lifted and shifted

by time, wind and cataclysmic events. The

architecture seeks to explore those realities.

The simple forms emerge

stealth-like from the landscape. Raked concrete

16 THE LAND. THE LOWER FLOOR IS DUG INTO THE GROUND AT

THE NORTHEAST END OF THE HOUSE AND OPENS TO PRI-

MARY VIEWS TO THE SOUTHWEST. THE ORIENTATION OF

THE STRUCTURE PARALLEL TO THE CONTOURS ENHANCES

THE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE GROUND WHILE OPTIMIZING

DISTANT VIEWS FROM THE MAJOR LIVING SPACES ON THE

UPPER FLOOR. THE LEANING MASONRY CANYON WALLS

DRAMATICALLY FRAME CHANGING DESERT VISTAS AS ONE

MOVES THROUGH THE HOUSE. THE MAIN ROOF IS HELD

FREE OF ITS MASONRY SUPPORTING WALLS BY SCULPTUR-

AL STEEL BRACKETS WHICH FORM A CONTINUOUS FOUR

INCH GAP THAT ALLOWS THE SUN TO LIGHT THE INTERIOR.

\

THE BUFF-COLORED CONCRETE BLOCK WALLS. LAID AT A

THREE-DEGREE SLOPE FROM THE HORIZONTAL AND AT

VARYING ANGLES FROM VERTICAL. ARE EVER-CHANGING IN

THE DESERT SUN. THE DAILY AND SEASONAL VARIATIONS

OF SHADOWS PLAY ON THE SUBTLE COURSING OFFSETS

AND THE ANGULAR ALIGNMENTS OF THE PLAN GEOMETRY.

TO COMPLEMENT THE CONCRETE MASONRY WALLS. FAS-

CIAS ARE CLAD IN BLUE-BLACKENED COPPER AND ACID-

ETCHED GALVANIZED METAL

A 1970s PSEUDO-SPANISH TRACT HOUSE ON A SPECTACU·

LAR DESERT MOUNTAINSIDE SITE IN PARADISE VALLEY.

ARIZONA WAS REMODELED TO CREATE A BACKDROP FOR

THE OWNER'S COLLECTION OF MODERN FURNITURE. PAINT

INGS AND SCULPTURE

A NEW COURTYARD AND ENTRANCE ARE CONTAINED IN A

CANYON-LIKE SPACE BETWEEN THE NATURAL MOUNTAIN

FACE AND A CURVED CONCRETE MASONRY SCREEN WALL

TO THE NORTH WHICH BLOCKS UNPLEASANT VIEWS. A

NEWLY CREATED DESERT GARDEN OASIS SERVES AS A

FORECOURT TO THE RESIDENCE. A CURVED TRANSLUCENT

FIBERGLASS ROLLING GATE SCREENS THE CAR PARKING

19

block masonry walls, a long outdoor terrace,

blue-black etched copper, and the poetry of

the meeting of building and landscape speak

about simplicity. The entry, a passage into

a 'canyon; begins the choreography of

movement and light. The slope of the land

is embodied in the energy of the raking walls.

In the course of building the house, we came

to site one day after the crew had poured

the concrete floor slabs to find Bill down

on all fours with golf balls. He was sure the

floors were not level but could not get the

balls to roll. The way that light dances across

the walls and the floor is discovered through

movement from dawn to dusk. The house

amplifies nature's subtlety.

Ann and Jim Townsend

came to Arizona to see the horizon. In their

original letter, they asked if I would consider

a modest commission to add windows to the

master bedroom of an existing house which

they had acquired on Mummy Mountain.

During our first meeting, it became clear

that these people had a bigger dream.

We talked and dined among a collection of

fine contemporary art and sculpture together

with seven cats and three dogs. Ann and

Jim Townsend have a great fondness for

the fifties and sixties and a very good

collection of furniture from that period.

As a result , an interest in the juxtaposition

of form, textures and materials developed

in the design for the house.

The house became part

AREA AND MASKS VIEWS OF THE GARAGE WHILE DIRECTING 21

VISITORS TO THE GLASS ENTRY DOOR. A SERIES OF

CURVED WALLS AND NATURALLY LIT SPACES DEFINE THE

GALLERY-LIKE INTERIORS. THE FREE-FLOWING GEOMETRY

OF THE PLAN COMPLEMENTS THE FORMS OF THE FURNI·

TURE COLLECTION. WALL AND CEILING SURFACES ARE FIN·

ISHED WITH REFLECTIVE PLASTER OR TRANSLUCENT AND

TRANSPARENT GLASS, CREATING A NEUTRAL BACKDROP

FOR THE VIVIDLY COLORED ART AND FURNITURE. THE

NORTH FACE OF THE HOUSE IS GLAZED TO CAPTURE CITY

AND MOUNTAIN VIEWS.

THE EXTERNAL PALETTE OF MATERIALS - ACID-ETCHED

GALVANIZED METAL, NATURAL ALUMINUM, STAINLESS

STEEL AND SANDBLASTED CONCRETE BLOCK MASONRY -

IS SOFTENED BY EXTENSIVE INDIGENOUS DESERT PLANTING.

geology and part sky. Simple sandblasted

concrete block anchors the building to

the site. A 310-foot long crescent wall of

glass creates a house that opens out to a

spectacular horizon. In the desert, fire is

not required during long periods of the year.

Yet a simple mirage-like gas flame rising

through glass marbles creates the sense of

22

a primitive campfire that has been set on

the edge of the mountain slope. The house,

like all of these projects, has been designed

within normal building codes and with design

review procedures. There were no variances

to the rules. The metal cladding was tested

by the city engineers and approved after

demonstrat ing that it did not exceed the

maximum reflectivity levels allowed on this

hillside site in Paradise Valley. The Uniform

Building Code is also user-friendly with a

chapter at t he beginning which addresses

invention and experimentation.

The Deer Valley Rock Art

Center project is the result of a particular

collaboration between a university, a city

council, a county commission, the Army

Corps of Engineers and an architect. It is

a museum about primitive cultures, a time

machine. Vis itors enter the building along

a bridge and then move out onto a natural

trail to the various petroglyph features in

the landscape. The building is a black vessel

sitting alongside a mountain of black rock.

The shell of the building is

a development of the system designed for

THIS 7,000 SQUARE FOOT BUILDING PROVIDES SPACES FOR

EXHIBIT PRESENTATIONS, LABORATORY RESEARCH, CLASS-

ROOM TEACHING AND CURATORIAL PRESERVATION OF

MATERIALS RELATED TO THE STUDY OF PETROGLYPHS.

THE BUILDING IS SITED AT THE JUNCTURE OF THE TWO-

MILE LONG EARTHEN ADOBE MOUNTAIN DAM AND THE

HEDGPETH HILLS MOUNTAIN FORMATION. THE BUILDING

SPANS ACROSS THE CONCRETE FLOOD CONTROL OUTLET

WORKS OF THE DAM, TRANSPORTING VISITORS FROM THE

24 CHAOS OF SUBURBAN PHOENIX TO THE SANCTUARY OF

THE SHELTERED NATURAL DESERT LANDSCAPE. ALONG

THE MOUNTAINSIDE, A TRAIL LEADS TO OVER 1,500 PRIM I-

TIVE PETROGLYPHS WHICH DATE FROM 9D0-11DO AD.

THE FUNNEL-LIKE FORM AND THE CONCRETE AND WEATH-

ERING STEEL OF THE MUSEUM INTEGRATE THE BUILDING

INTO THE LANDSCAPE. THE EXTERIOR FACES OF THE

EXPOSED PRECAST CONCRETE PANELS ARE FINISHED

WITH DARK BLACK-PURPLE COPPER SLAG WHICH WAS

PLACED IN THE CASTING BEDS. PANEL JOINTS DISAP-

PEAR, EXCEPT AT THE CORNERS WHERE THE THICKNESS

OF THE PANELS IS EXPRESSED. THE UNPAINTED SAND-

BLASTED GRAY CONCRETE SURFACES OF THE INTERIOR

WALLS HAVE THE QUALITY OF FINE PLASTER. THE WALLS

ARE UNINSULATED AND THEIR THERMAL MASS HELPS TO

TEMPER THE INTERIOR SPACES OF THE BUILDING.

SITE PLAN 1 DAM 2 CONCRETE OUTLET WORKS 3 OUTLET CHANNEL 4 PARKING 5 MUSEUM 6 NATURE/PETROGLYPH

VIEWING TRAIL

THE NEW GERARD L. CAFESJIAN PAVILION DF THE SCOTTS-

DALE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART IS ADJACENT TO

THE EXISTING SCOTTSDALE CENTER FOR THE ARTS WHICH

WAS DESIGNED BY BENNY GONZALES IN 1975. IT IS AN

ADAPTATION OF AN EXISTING BUILDING WHICH PROVIDES

1B.500 SQUARE FEET OF VERSATILE TEMPORARY EXHIBI-

TION GALLERIES.

THE EXISTING STUCCO THEATER BLOCK HAS BEEN PAINTED

A DEEP PURPLE-GRAY EGGPLANT COLOR. THIS DARK.

ABSTRACT MASS IS EMBRACED BY AN OBLONG SERVICE

27

simple tilt-up precast concrete warehouses.

The slag heap at a copper mine in Superior,

Arizona had the perfect cast of purple and

black to offer the right patination for the

concrete for this site. It was specified to be

placed in the casting beds to give a rough,

black exterior finish to the precast panels.

These concrete panels are combined with

weathered steel. It is not the Corten that

Saarinen, Roche and Dinkeloo used at the

John Deere Headquarters. Because we only

have eight inches of rainfall a year in the

desert, plates of 3/4 inch conventional steel

have been used which will endure in this dry

environment for a long, long time. The image

of one of the petroglyphs found at the site

is torch cut in the steel plate that marks

the entry. Perforated metal plate is used

as a scrim to provide shading.

The Scottsdale Museum

of Contemporary Art has been created from

a five-plex theater built in 1975 as part of

an urban renewal project. The building was

a dinosaur. However, it seemed better to

save it than to tear it down. As we enter the

new millennium, perhaps America's coming

of age will be to give legitimacy to our built

heritage as we try to be inventive about all

those abandoned supermarkets, strip malls

and deserted downtowns. If we are really to

become civilized, I believe we have to create

the same sense of timelessness here that we

enjoy so much when we travel abroad and

look at cultures that are older than our own.

A new arrival pavilion is

wrapped in a metal skin. We have designed

28

a lot of tough skins for buildings in the desert

because of the extreme climate. Wood does

not work very well. Builders in Phoenix do

not use brick because the local clay is too

soft. The desert demands concrete, concrete

block, stone, copper and galvanized steel.

Galvanized steel, an indigenous material

of America, is ubiquitous. In our sunny

environment, it is totally alive.

The wall of the museum's

sculpture garden is a lantern announcing

the building to the street. The lantern was

designed in collaboration with the glass artist

James Carpenter who developed the detailing

POD TO THE WEST CLAD IN CORRUGATED AND PERFORATED

GALVANIZED METAL AND BY A SOFTLY CURVED POD OF

AMENITIES TO THE EAST ENCLOSED BY FLAT-SEAM GALVA-

NIZED STEEL CLADDING. THESE PODS DEFER TO THE BULL-

NOSED VOLUMES OF THE EXISTING ARTS CENTER AND

SHAPE NEW URBAN SPACES.

A LUMINOUS SCRIM, DESIGNED BY THE ARTIST JAMES CAR-

PENTER, FRONTS THE STREET. TEXTURED GLASS SHEETS

WITH DICHROIC GLASS SPACERS FORM A CIVIC LANTERN

AND WRAP THE VOLUME OF THE SCULPTURE COURT

BEYOND. SHIMMERING FRITTED LIGHT AND SHIFTING

SLICES OF THE SPECTRUM PLAY OVER THE DARK BUILDING

MASS AND EARTHEN FLOOR. A SCALE AND MATERIAL SHIFT

OCCURS AS THE SCRIM SLIPS BEHIND THE GALVANIZED

WALL. A MIRRORED STAINLESS STEEL SIGN IS BACKLIT

WITH GREEN NEON. THE GLAZED SWEEP IS BREACHED AT

THE ENTRY BY AUTOMATED SLIDING GLASS DOORS AND

GRATING WHICH IS UNDERLIT WITH ORANGE LIGHT.

INTERNALLY, POLISHED CONCRETE FLOORS ARE ARTICU-

LATED WITH A GRID OF PRONOUNCED SAWCUTS. NEW CEIL-

INGS ARE EXPOSED TIMBER BEAMS AND BLACK SOUND

BATTING. THE WOOD TRUSS STRUCTURE OF THE EXISTING

BUILDING IS EXPOSED. AT THE ENTRY, THE METAL EXTERI-

30 OR WALL HAS AN UNDULATING YELLOW INTERIOR LINING

WHICH DEFINES SPACES FOR ADMISSIONS, A MUSEUM

SHOP, AND A FUTURE CYBER-CAFE.

THE GALLERIES ARE JOINED BY A 150-FOOT LONG CURVED

WALL. PLATE STEEL FRAMES AND 12-FOOT TALL MAPLE

DOORS FORM THE THRESHOLDS TO THE FIVE NEW EXHIBI-

TION SPACES. GALLERY ENVIRONMENTS ARE CHARACTER-

IZED BY NEUTRAL GRAY-WHITE WALLS AND THE SILVER

CEILING PLANE Of A MECHANICAL BELLY. TUNEABLE

SQUARE GALVANIZED SKYLIGHTS INTRODUCE NATURAL

LIGHT INTO FOUR Of THE GALLERIES. THE FIFTH GALLERY.

FOR SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, HAS INCREASED LIGHT PRO-

VIDEO BY A SLIVER Of SKY FROM A NORTH-FACING

CLERESTORY.

32

working with local steel fabricators and

the firm which made the pyramid parts and

fittings for the Louvre in Paris. The assembly

was precise and construction was very fast.

On Monday, five days before the gala opening,

there was no glass in the wall. By Tuesday,

in less than four hours all the glass was

clipped in place on calibrated stainless steel

rods. On Wednesday morning, all the dichroic

glass was installed and by Wednesday

afternoon there was more Windex on site

than you've ever seen in your life. The

completed sculpture garden was opened

on Saturday. Like an Indian sand painting,

sunlight is woven through the dichroic

glass spacers. The pattern of colored light

is ever-changing. People are constantly

mystified by the magic of the light.

Designs for two libraries

have created important civic buildings for

two communities. The scale and context

of the buildings are quite different. The

landscape of Teton County is spectacular.

In contrast, the town of Jackson Hole,

Wyoming is merely a junction on a road.

There is no railroad stop - just a little town

square with antler arches and big cowboy

storefronts. People go there to see the

magic of the sky and the landscape. The

design of the library is inspired by that

landscape, by barns and the Old Faithful

Inn at Yellowstone, by hayracks and long

mystical lines of barbed wire fences.

THE NEW LIBRARY CREATES A CIVIC LANDMARK WHICH

SERVES THE NEEDS OF THE COMMUNITY'S LIBRARY SER-

VICE AND. IN A RUSTIC AND ROMANTIC WAY, CELEBRATES

THE VERNACULAR RANCH BUILDINGS AND MOUNTAIN

LODGES OF THE REGION. THE NEW LIBRARY IS MADE OF

THE SAME MATERIALS AS THE FINE OLD BUILDINGS THAT

ARE THE POSTER IMAGES MOST OFTEN ASSOCIATED WITH

THE 'PLACE' - ROUGH LOGS. BOARD AND BATTEN SIDING.

GRANITE, MASONRY AND METAL ROOFING.

A LANDSCAPED PARKING GARDEN FOR MORE THAN 100

CARS IS LOCATED TO THE NORTH OF THE BUILDING. ALONG

34

The original Teton County

Library was a log building of about 6,000

square feet . It was loved by the community,

yet completely outdated and unable to offer

the services of a modern library. The new

library is a 25,000 square foot building in a

climate of snow, icicles, drifts and mountains.

The design explores the nature of the place and

the vernacular of the ranch house and barn.

The requirements of clients

are the basis for all architecture. Programs

should communicate the needs and desires of

the client. If we listen and reflect our listening

in the ideas we deliver, it is surprising how

many times that the client, on seeing the first

sketches and models, is not only flattered

but reflective. Then there is a journey for

client and architect to embark on together

instead of a battle that they have to fight.

While we might develop ideas easily with

our colleagues through drawings, it is the

power of the word to communicate ideas,

to explain concepts and gain trust - a trust

that has to be lived up to - that will create

success with clients. Artists and architects

are agents of change but people do not like

change. If we are to do our jobs well, we have

to find ways to make our dreams literate,

to test ideas, to throw out the bad ideas

and to make others as good as they can be.

This design is an attempt

to create spaces of occupation and habitation

where memories are valued and new ones can

be built. It seeks to avoid the feeling of an

THE SOUTHERN FACADE, READING DECKS AND A STORY

TIME COURTYARD FACE LAWNS AND A NEW COMMUNITY

GARDEN. BECAUSE OF THE GENTLE SLOPE OF ITS TRADI·

TIONAL RANCH HOUSE GABLE ROOF, THE LIBRARY IS

ALMOST HIDDEN IN THE LANDSCAPE. THE ENTRANCE IS

UNDER THE BROAD PROTECTED OVERHANG OF THE GREAT

ROOF. IT IS APPROACHED ACROSS A SMALL LANDSCAPED

PLAZA WITH BENCHES, BIKE RACKS AND AN EXTERIOR

BOOK DROP ADJACENT TO A WEATHER PROOF VESTIBULE.

INSIDE THE LIBRARY, A GALLERY-LIKE FOYER SERVES AS AN

ANTECHAMBER TO THE AUDITORIUM, MEETING ROOM,

RESTROOM$, AND THE GREAT LIBRARY liVING' ROOM, THE

LARGEST PUBLIC ROOM IN THE COMMUNITY.

TH IS LIVING ROOM HOUSES ALL OF THE LIBRARY 'S MAIN

PUBLIC FUNCTIONS- THE CIRCULATION DESK, CHILDREN'S

COLLECTION. REFERENCE/COMPUTER CENTER, WESTERN

AMERICANA ROOM, GENERAL COLLECTIONS, AND PERIODI

CALS. THIS FOCAL SPACE GIVES THE BUILDING BOTH GREAT

FUNCTIONAL FLEXIBILITY AND A FRIENDLY ATMOSPHERE.

THE SCALE, FORM, DETAIL AND TEXTURE OF THE NEW

LIBRARY ARE ROOTED IN A MEMORY OF THE REGION'S PAST

AND PROVIDE A VISION FOR ITS FUTURE

GROUND FLOOR I ENTRANCE 2 FOYER 3 CIRCULATION DESK 4 STACKS I READING ROOM 5 DECK 6 STAFF OFFICES 7 CHILDREN'S PLAY GARDEN

ARIZONA'S UNIQUE NATURAL BEAUTY PROVIDES A

METAPHOR FOR THE LIBRARY WHICH RISES ABOVE CEN-

TRAL AVENUE LIKE A MESA FROM THE LANDSCAPE OF

MONUMENT VALLEY. STEEL-FRAMED SADDLEBAGS ON THE

EAST AND WEST WALLS OF THE BUILDING INCORPORATE

LATERAL BRACING SYSTEMS AND ALL FIXED SERVICES

INCLUDING STAIRS. SERVICE ELEVATORS. RESTROOMS AND

MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL PLANT. THIS FREES UP THE

PLAN FOR LIBRARY RELATED USES WHICH ARE HOUSED IN

A PRECAST CONCRETE STRUCTURE ON FIVE FLOORS IN A

37

institutional building. We built an efficient

library, but one with memories of the

rustic embedded throughout. Using current

technology, we invented translucent resin

lights which recall the memory of that moment

at the turn of the century when log cabins

in this region were first electrified. The living

room from the old library is replaced with a

new south-facing reading room with a porch

and views of the mountains. In this space,

there are 13 different styles of chair and 23

different fabrics so that everybody can find

something comfortable. Tree trunk columns -

six different species, each with its bark left

on - have been built into the new library with

careful conversations on site to make sure

that each tree faces north as it did in the

forest. These details are important; they

help to make the building both humane

and specific to its place.

I knew the desert very

well when I won the commission to design

the Phoenix Central Library but at that time,

the largest building I had designed was

30,000 square feet. The new library was to

be a building of 280,000 square feet. A bond

issue was passed in Phoenix which included

$100 million for four major cultural buildings,

the largest of which was the Central Library.

The ambition was to create a new main library

for a city that had grown from 50,000 people

at the end of World War II to the sixth largest

city in America today with well over one

million inhabitants and almost three million

11_1 I

111111111 1111111111111111 11111111111111111 : ~

FIFTH FLOOR

GROUND FLOOR

I ENTRANCE 2 CRYSTAL CANYON 3 RESTAURANT 4 AUDITORIUM 5 CIRCULATION DESK 6 CHILDREN'S LIBRARY 7 MAIN READING ROOM B MECHANICAL PLANT

~·G

39

in the region. The librarian was a traditionalist,

but had vision and courage. His vision was a

warehouse. The client's need was to double

the size of the existing library while promising

the City Council that the new facility would

operate with only a ten percent increase

in staff. With the analysis and reinvention

of every component in the building, we were

able to satisfy those requirements and meet

the budget of $98 per square foot.

When people look across

the horizon in Phoenix they don't talk

about buildings, but about mountains -

Squaw Peak, South Mountain, Pabago Buttes

and so on. These are the monuments of

the western landscape. For the new library,

I wanted to create an architecture that was

about abstraction, about the memory of

landscape and at the scale of that landscape.

A mesa became the operative metaphor

for the building.

The building is a large,

simple box with all the services moved to

the perimeter into two saddlebags. This

creates a spatial and structural diagram

which provides the flexibility which a library

requires. As well as housing all the services

and shading the east and west facades, the

saddlebags are designed to provide the lateral

bracing for the building. A series of huge steel

trusses is anchored into 80-foot' deep caisson

foundations and tied together at the top by

a bridge truss. The saddlebags also served

as the temporary bracing system for the

40

erection of the precast concrete inner walls.

During construction, people were really

curious about the void between the two long,

slender saddlebags. Have we got two libraries?

The north and south facades

are totally transparent. In the harsh climate

of the desert , this presented a number of

challenges for the architect and the engineer.

The south facade is shaded by computer

programmed operable horizontal louvers

which were manufactured in Germany. On

the north facade, we developed a design for

fixed vertical shades made of Ferrari cloth,

an open-weave Teflon-coated acrylic fabric

manufactured in France. It was shipped by

boat to Boston and by truck to Maine where

the shades were fabricated by sailmakers.

Detailed like a series of sails, they were

installed by the people who fabricated them.

They threw a rope over the top beam of the

building and connected it to a hot air balloon

basket at one end and the back bumper of a

1971 Cougar at the other. One member of the

team drove the car north in the parking lot,

pulling two men in the basket to the top of

the building. The clutch was released at fixed

intervals and, as the car reversed, the men

in the basket made the connections at each

level down the facade. It was an ingenious

combination of high-tech and low-tech which

reflects the culture in which we live.

Budget and invention often

drive the best solutions. We liked the integrity

of precast concrete. For us, it is a late 20th

SIMPLE RECTANGULAR CONFIGURATION. A 32 FOOT 8 INCH

SQUARE ORTHOGONAL GRID DERIVED FROM LIBRARY

STACK MODULES CREATES A LARGE STORAGE 'BOX' FOR

BOOKS AND INFORMATION. INTERNALLY, THE LIBRARY'S

PUBLIC SPACES ARE SIMPLY ORGANIZED AROUND A LIGHT

WELL. AT THE HEART OF THE WELL IS A BLACK REFLECTING

POOL FROM WHICH THREE GLAZED ELEVATORS AND A

GRAND STAIRCASE RISE. THE ROOF OF THE ATRIUM HAS

BEEN DESIGNED WITH COMPUTER DRIVEN, MIRRORED

TRACKING SKYLIGHTS SET IN A STAINLESS STEEL ROTUNDA

SO THAT SUNLIGHT ANIMATES THE SPACE FROM DAWN TO

DUSK. ON THE TOP FLOOR OF THE LIBRARY IS A GREAT

DOUBLE HEIGHT PUBLIC READING ROOM WHICH HOUSES

41

century vernacular material in the southwest

where it is widely used for warehouses,

bridge construction, prisons and car parking

structures. We wanted to find a way to use

it and benefit from its economy and the

experience of the fabricators. We visited many

precasting yards and talked with contractors.

They showed us the process of manufacturing

panels and all the things they could do to

produce beautiful colors and finishes.

In the parking lot of the

contractor we eventually selected, there was

a wall of sample panels. One of these showed

how the first mud is set and consolidated with

a 2x4. It caught our imagination. We asked to

meet the workmen who had made the panel.

Our instructions for the first 8 foot by 8 foot

mock-up for the library were to shimmy

across the concrete surface once with a

2x4, then on the second pass - somewhere

between every 6 to 20 inches - to push the

2x4 into the mud and pull it straight up. This

left a crust of cream that, when hardened,

created a shadow line. 'Perfectly parallel'

was not important as the shadow lines were

not going to be aligned. The actual wall

panels for the library are 8 feet 2 inches

wide by 40 feet long. They were cast on

virgin steel and finished by hand with a 2x4.

We could afford that quality, although we

couldn't afford the perception we could afford

it. The stainless steel lifting hardware that

brought the panels off of the mold, into

curing, onto the truck, off the crane, and

THE ENTIRE NON-FICTION COLLECTION. THIS ROOM IS NAT·

URALLY LIT AND HAS EXTENSIVE VIEWS OUT OVER THE

CITY. THE ROOF OF THE READING ROOM IS SUPPORTED BY

A TENSEGRITY STEEL STRUCTURE.

THE EAST AND WEST ELEVATIONS OF THE SADDLEBAGS

ARE CLAD WITH HEAVY CORRUGATED AND FLAT PANELED

COPPER SIDING WHICH REFERS TO THE CITY'S AGRICUL-

TURAL HERITAGE AND WILL PATINATE TO MATCH THE PUR·

PLE·GRAY DESERT MOUNTAIN SHADOWS. THE ENTRANCES

ARE ACCENTED BY STAINLESS STEEL PLATES THAT

REFLECT THE CHANGING COLORS OF THE SKY. THE SOUTH

ELEVATION IS FULLY GLAZED WITH AUTOMATED SOLAR

TRACKING LOUVERS DESIGNED TO MINIMIZE HEAT GAIN

AND GLARE. A SYSTEM OF SHADE SAILS ON THE NORTH

ELEVATION ELIMINATES THE HARSH GLARE OF THE SUM-

MER SUN WHILE OPTIMIZING VIEWS. THESE TRANSPARENT

FACES OF THE BUILDING SHOWCASE THE BOOKS AND THE

LIBRARY USERS INSIDE. LEAVING NO DOUBT ABOUT THIS

BUILDING'S SPECIAL ROLE IN THE COMMUNITY.

43

finally into the building is expressed as part

of the visual texture of the finished wall .

The use of copper for the

library's skin seemed appropriate - after all,

Arizona's license plates were once signed

'The Copper State.' Each of the two external

walls of the saddlebags is the size of a

football field, so when we spoke to the

specialist subcontractors they were very

interested. They called me the next day

with a quotation of $125 per square foot for

the skin. At the time, copper was costing a

$3 per square foot raw. Their estimate was

ill-considered and I hung up the phone.

I remembered the beautiful

silos erected behind the Hayden Flour Mill

in Tempe, Arizona in 1972 - fifteen years

before I had a need for the material. The

same rollers that corrugated the metal for

those silos still existed in Nebraska and in

the summer of 1991, we created a series of

prototypes there. This was in the tradition

of John Dinkeloo who refined the practice

of prototyping ideas, not because they were

wild, but because they were inventions.

The prototype brings veracity and technical

legitimacy to the ideas and the inventions

of designers. The copper for the cladding of

the library came from Germany and was rolled

in Nebraska. The final cost of the copper

cladding was about $18 per square foot -

just a dollar more than standard stucco.

The reading room

choreographs sunlight. The engineers at

44

Arups invented a composit e tensegrity

structure which incorporates a bold industrial

warehouse technology. Lenses in the roof

above each column are diffused with laminated

glass which creates a soft blue color. The roof,

which is made of exposed corrugated steel,

appears to hover above the heads of the

columns which float in caps of cool blue light.

To the east and west, long narrow skylights

bathe the precast concrete side walls in light

every day. Labrouste's Bibliotheque Nationale

of 1862 is the room that inspired t his space.

Some 125 years later, a new room with grand

reading tables at the top of a pavilion in

the desert shares that heritage.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

was a poet and an aviator, a confidant of

Le Corbusier, a writer of children's books.

As we think about making art and architecture

in the new millennium, he offers us sound

advice: "In anything at all, perfection is finally

attained not when there is no longer anything

to add, but when there is no longer anything

to take away ... " As we are confronted with

constraints of all kinds, we face the challenge

of our lives - to be good editors, to discard

the superfluous and focus on the essential.

John G. Dinkeloo was born

in Holland, Michigan In 1918 and graduated

from the architecture prOQram at the University

of Michigan In 1942. Upon graduation he

joined the office of Skidmore Owings and

Merrill in Chicago where he worked first as

a designer and subsequently as the chief of

production. Eight years later John returned

to Michigan to join the office of Eero Saarinen

and Associates In Bloomfield Hills where he

was to become a partner. During this time

he was Involved with the design of a number

of important projects Including the TWA

Terminal at Kennedy Airport and Dulles

Airport In Washington DC, the Gateway

Arch in St. Louts and the Morse and Stiles

Colleges at Yale University. following the

sudden death of Eero Saarinen in 1961,

John Dlnkeloo formed a partnership with

Kevin Roche to become a founding partner

of Kevin Roche John Dlnkeloo & Associates

in 1966. This was to become one of the most

distinguished architectural offices In the

United States and became a practice whose

work has been Internationally recognized.

10 MD , 1.00 !918 8)

THE DINKELOO LECTURERS

THE JOHN DINKELOO MEMORIAL LECTURE HAS BEEN

DELIVERED BY ARCHITECTS WHO ARE INTERNATIONALLY

RECOGNIZED FOR THEIR WORK IN PRACTICE.

1984 KEVIN ROCHE

1985 E. FAY JONES

1986 ROBERT J. FRASCA

1987 WILLIAM PEDERSON

1988 RICHARD MEIER

1989 THOMAS H. BEEBE

1990 GUNNAR BIRKERTS

1991 THOM MAYNE

1992 TOO WILLIAMS & BILLIE TSIEN

1993 MICHAEL MCKINNELL

1994 DIANA AGREST

1995 JOHN PATKAU

1996 RICHARD HORDEN

1997 RAFAEL VINOLY

1998 STUDIO GRANDA

1999 WILL BRUDER

John Dinkeloo was

responsible for the development of thoughtful

and elegant systems of design and technical

innovations including the use of structural

neoprene gaskets, new glazing systems

and high-strength low-alloy weathering

steel in the exposed structures of buildings.

In 1968 he received the Medal of Honor

from the New York Chapter of the American

Institute of Architects. Six years later the

practice received the Architectural Firm

Award from the American Institute of

Architects. In 1995 the Ford Foundation

was selected for the American Institute

of Architects 25-Year Award.

John Dinkeloo died in 1981.

The John Dinkeloo Memorial Lecture was

established at the College of Architecture

and Urban Planning as a recognition of his

extraordinary contribution to architecture

and to honor the work of this distinguished

and highly respected alumnus of the

University of Michigan.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

THE A. ALFRED TAUBMAN COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE +

URBAN PLANNING IS GRATEFUL FOR THE GENEROUS SUP­

PORT FOR THE JOHN DINKELOO MEMORIAL LECTURE WHICH

HAS BEEN PROVIDED BY THELMA DINKELOO AND AN

ENDOWMENT FROM FACULTY AND FRIENDS. WE WOULD

ALSO LIKE TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE HELP OF PROFESSOR

HENRY KOWALEWSKI AND THE CONTINUING INTEREST OF

BOTH CHRISTIAAN AND DEREK DINKELOO.

WORKING IN THE STUDIO IN THE DESERT, WILL BRUDER,

DOTTIE ZASTAWAMI AND TIM CHRIST PREPARED MATERIAL

FOR THE BOOK AND PATIENTLY DEALT WITH OUR MANY

QUERIES. WE ARE GRATEFUL TO BILL TIMMERMAN FOR

ALLOWING THE USE OF HIS PHOTOGRAPHS.

AK I ISHIDA IN THE OFFICE OF JAMES CARPENTER DESIGN

ASSOCIATES PROVIDED ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THE

GLASS SCRIM WALLIN SCOTTSDALE.

THE SUPPORT OF THE DEAN , FACULTY AND STAFF OF THE

COLLEGE HAVE BEEN INVALUABLE. IN PARTICULAR, SALLIE

KNE IS TO BE COMMENDED FOR HER PATIENCE. BRIAN

SALAY PROVIDED VALUABLE ASSISTANCE IN THE FINAL

STAGES OF PRODUCTION.

THE QUOTE BY ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPERY IS FROM WIND,

SAND AND STARS (HARCOURT BRACE & COMPANY, 1939).

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS

BILL TIMMERMAN: COVER. 11A. 12A, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21A. 21B.

22. 23. 24A, 24B, 25A. 25B. 26, 27, 28. 29, 30A, 30B. 30C, 31, 36,

37, 40B, 41B. 42A. 45; WILL BRUDER: lOA. lOB, IOC, liB, II C. liD.

12B. 13A, 14, 17, 33. 35, 40A. 41A; WPBA ARCHIVE: 12C; BEN

NESBEITT: 13B; WENDELL BURNETTE: 42B; RICK HONDORP:

4ZC; KEVIN ROCHE JOHN DINKELOO AND ASSOCIATES: 7, 46.