Arts & Letters-Owings-Fire Extinguisher (4-10 February)

on this date in Design…

National Institute of Arts & Letters, honor society, Act of Congress passed 4 February 1913
Nathaniel Owings, American architect, birthday 5 February 1903
Fire Extinguisher, invented by Alanson Crane, patented 9 February 1863

The National Institute of Arts & Letters has a confusing and unnecessarily complicated history of inception.  Without going into much detail as to how, the organization is now known as the American Academy of Arts & Letters.  The original “Institute” was founded in 1902 but was recognized by an act of Congress in 1913.  This does not mean it is a government funded or controlled organization, simply that it is recognized and is essentially an honorary title.  Other organizations with this honor include the Girl/Boy Scouts and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.  Essentially, the purpose of the AAA&L is “to foster and sustain excellence in Literature, Music and the Fine Arts by identifying and encouraging individual artists.”  It does this by awarding prizes (money), exhibiting work and funding performances & literature of up-and-coming artist & authors.  To be elected to the 250 council is not only an honor by being recognized by your peers but is also a life-long membership.  The Academy has also identified and fostered some of the country’s most influential and important artists.  Despite a black period when modernism was shunned, today the AAA&L is more akin to the original progressive intention.  Members include Michael Graves, Charles Gwathmey, Maya Lin, Richard Meier, I. M. Pei and Robert Venturi to name just a few.    

As one of the founding members of the Chicago-based architectural firm Skidmore Owings & Merril (SOM), Nathaniel Owings’ business & organizational acumen lead the firm to become known worldwide for reliability for large-scale developments.  Despite a cantankerous relationship with Louis Skimore, SOM became and still is the quintessential “go-to” firm for record making skyscrapers.  The two were so independently strong willed that a satellite office had to be opened in New York so they didn’t have to be in the same city together.  But, with the even-tempered engineer John O. Merril in the middle, the business partnership was an enormous success.  SOM has the most buildings on the “World’s Tallest Buildings” list with 10. 

That’s 6 more than any other firm on the list and they are about to add 11^th with One World Trade Center holding fast to spots 1 and 2.  Owings retired from the firm in 1975 but remained an active advocate for open public spaces in American cities including acting as President Johnson’s design advisor for the National Mall in Washington, D.C.  Additionally, the California Architectural Council of the AIA continues his legacy by awarding an architectural prize in his honor each year to projects that reconcile the potential adverse needs between nature and the built environment.  The 2012 winner, the California Academy of Sciences is truly inspiring as it serves two purposes as a building and a science experiment simultaneously.  Think of it as one giant terrarium.     

In the wake of yet another deadly night club fire last week (this time in Brazil) it is appropriate that we look at a fire prevention device.  Before there were fire extinguishers, there were fire grenades.  It seems counter-intuitive to throw a grenade at a fire.  However, these small orb-shaped glass bottles filled with fire suppression liquid would be hurled at an ensuing fire with moderate success.  With the advent of the fire extinguisher, a person would have a bit more control over where the liquid landed and thereby a better chance of actually containing the fire.  The basic principle is to contain the liquid within a pressurized canister when opened the liquid will shoot out; much like a “Super-Soaker” water gun works.  Thankfully, there have been many devices created over the past few centuries but Alanson Crane’s was the first in the US. 

With each new technology, buildings and the public at large are safer provided municipal codes are in place, followed and enforced.  The US today has some of the strictest Life Safety codes in existence.  These are not hurdles that hinder the design process.  These are essential the functionality of a building and legitimize our job as design professionals.  The next time you enter a public building, take a moment to locate some of the devices put there by the designer for your safety: lighted exit signs, overhead sprinklers, fire alarms, emergency back-up lighting (thank you Super Dome) and attached to the wall--a fire extinguisher.     

Links: 

American Academy of Arts & Letters 

Biography of Nathaniel A. Owings on the SOM website 
Willis Tower, Chicago, IL
John Hancock Center, Chicago, IL
Nathaniel A. Owings Award
California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA

National Fire Protection Association
NFPA artidle on Brazilian nightclub fire, 27 January 2013
NFPA article on fire extinguishers
ESPN article on the Super Dome Super Bowl power outage, 3 February 2013
  

 

Colombo-Bartholdi-Gwathmey (30 July - 5 August)

Joe Colombo, Italian industrial designer, birthday 30 July 1930 & death 30 July 1971
Frédéric Bartholdi, French sculptor, birthday 2 August 1834
Charles Gwathmey, American architect, death 3 August 2009

Joe Colombo’s work can best be described as “space-y”; everything that lead to the ridiculousness of low-budget scenery of sci-fi productions from the 1960s and 70s.  However, Colombo was the original and as so often happens, the intended vision gets lost by the imitators.  After inheriting the family electronic business he expanded into a range of design that sought to challenge traditional aesthetics that no longer applied to the modern lifestyle.  He created micro-living environments in which each element was strategically placed for

efficiency and functioned like a living machine.  Many pieces were designed to be transformative and multi-dimensional such as his Boby Trolley and the Tube chair.  His own apartment was a testing lab for pieces such as the Cabriolet-Bed.  All this innovation came about in a few short years as Colombo had the inauspicious honor of passing away on his own 41^st birthday.  It is amazing to think of that brief period Joe Colombo’s influence could be so far-reaching even to this day. 

Although Frédéric Bartholdi is best known for his work “Liberty Enlightening the World” (a.k.a. the Statute of Liberty), he had a career that spanned decades both in his home country and in the U.S.  After being trained in multiple disciplines in Paris he established himself as a preeminent patriotic monument sculptor, the majority of his work is in his hometown region of Alsace.  Additional work this side of the Atlantic includes a statue of the Marquis de Lafayette in Union Square, New York City and the Bartholdi Fountain at the United States Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C.  But without a doubt, it is the Statue of Liberty; the new Colossus will remain his most notable commission.  Bartholdi’s knack for self-promotion was employed by gaining a patent in the U.S. for the design and reproduction of the statue in miniature.  The proceeds of the sales of these souvenirs before there was an attraction, “pre-venirs” if you will, raised the funding needed to see the statue come to life.  This tactic has been also been used by another notable French duo, Christo and Jeanne-Claude.  It is rumored that Lady Liberty’s face is modeled after his mother and the body after his wife, a subject it could be imagined would make for uncomfortable dinner table conversations at the Bartholdi residence. 

One of the New York Five who sought to elaborate on the Corbusian vision of modernism, Charles Gwathmey extensive career may be most notable for his addition to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim in New York City.  Some have described it as the tank to Wright’s toilet bowl but it is in reality a perfect example of elegant high modern simplicity and was inspired by an original rendering by Wright.  The addition seamlessly integrates into the urban landscape

without detracting from the original structure; a method of design that lead him to become the president of the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies.  In addition to this and numerous public buildings including the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami, Gwathmey and his firm were sought after by many wealthy clients for private residences.  These works were so successful that many became repeat customers.   

Links:
The Joe Colombo Studio website
The Tube Chair at the Design Museum, London
Joe Colombo pieces at MoMA, New York City
The Statue of Liberty webpage at the National Park Service 
"The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus
Make your own Statue of Liberty souvenir!
Bartholdi Park at the United States Botanic Garded, Washington, D.C.
Gwathmey Siegel Kaufman & Associates website
The Guggenheim Museum, New York City
The Institute for Architecture & Urban Studies website
Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami
Charles Gwathmey's obituary in the New York Times