The ABC's of Architecture

Planning is our ABC's and times tables! I have always contended that it is the single item that all occupants interact with on a daily basis. People do not discuss the design inspiration, but notice if spaces do not function adequately to contain their activities.



This is even more important as we discuss the need for sustainable designs. If a building is poorly planned, there will be unnecessary square footage and volume to be built, paid for, heated, cooled, maintained... How is that a sustainable practice?! Strong planners will be the successful architects of our future. Their buildings will be economical to build and operate. This is sustainable!

I feel fortunate to have had an incredibly in-depth and well-conceived education in planning. It consisted of 2-semesters of work at IIT with Erdmann Schmocker. As simple as it sounds, we began by inventorying a house, room-by-room. Once we established what was necessary for each room we would start to consider physical needs around those items. As an example: How big is a bed? How much space is needed to make that bed? Does it need to be accessible from more than 1-side? Can it be in a corner? As items were placed in relationships to each other, per the rules that we established a room could then be determined. We were tasked with making them as efficient as possible. In other words, as small as possible.  


Small does not mean inadequate, but should mean appropriate. What space is truly necessary for the proposed use?! In today's language, sustainable. We were working 'green' in the mid 80's!

Interesting Architecture - Seen

Alvar Aalto

Baker House - MIT | Cambridge, MA*

Mt. Angel Abbey Library | Mt. Angel, OR

Tadao Ando

Eychaner/Lee House | Chicago, IL

The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts | St. Louis, MO

Charles Atwood

Reliance Building | Chicago, IL

Edward Larrabee Barnes

Haystack Mountain School of Craft | Deer Isle, MN*

Crown Center | Kansas City, MO

Thomas Beeby

North Shore Congregation Synagogue

Marcel Breuer & Herbert Beckhard

St. Francis de Sales Church | Muskegon, MI*

Whitney Museum | New York, NY*

Louis Bourgeois

Baha'i House of Worship | Wilmette, IL*

Gordon Bunshaft

Albright-Knox | Buffalo, NY*

Lever House | New York, NY

Phillip Burgee

PPG Place | Pittsburgh, PA

Daniel Burnham

Monadnock Building | Chicago, IL*

Reliance Building | Chicago, IL

Rookery Building | Chicago, IL

Fisher Building | Chicago, IL

Flatiron Building | New York, NY

Union Station | Pittsburgh, PA

Burnham & Root

Monadnock Building | Chicago, IL*

Santiago Calatrava

BCE Place Galleria | Toronto, Ontario*

Milwaukee Art Museum | Milwaukee, WI*

Alfred Calwell

Alfred Caldwell Lilly Pond | Chicago, IL*

Promontory Park - Burnham Park | Chicago, IL*

Skyline Park - Lake Point Tower | Chicago, IL*

Home & Studio | Bristol, WI*

Riis Park | Chicago, IL*

Illinois Institute of Technology Campus | Chicago, IL*

Cambridge Seven Associates

Central Utility Plant - University of Cincinnati | Cincinnati, OH

H.I. Cobb

Second Chicago Historical Society | Chicago, IL

Headquarters for the Standard Varnish Company | Chicago, IL

Joseph Henry Curtis

Thuya Garden | Northeast Harbor, ME*

Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge

Chicago Public Library (Cultural Center) | Chicago, IL

Le Corbusier

The Carpenter Center for Visual Arts - Havard University | Cambridge, MA*

William Drummond

women's Club | River Forest, IL

James Eads

Eads Bridge | St. Louis, MO

Peter Eisenman

Wexner Center - Ohio State University | Columbus, OH

Aronoff Center for Design and Art - University of Cincinnati | Cincinnati, OH

Sir Norman Foster

Millennium Bridge | London, UK*

Great Court at the British Museum | London, UK*

Frank Gehry

Loyola Law | Los Angeles, CA

Horton House | Venice Beach, CA

Venice Beach House | Venice Beach, CA

Spiller House | Venice Beach, CA

Norton House | Venice Beach, CA

Experience Music Project | Seattle, WA

Pritzker Bandshell - Millinieum Park | Chicago, IL

The Vontz Center for Molecular Studies - University of Cincinnati | Cincinnati, OH

Bruce Goff

Pavilion of Japanese Art - Los Angeles County Museum of Art | Los Angeles, CA

Bertrand Goldberg

Marina City | Chicago, IL*

Prentice Women's Hospital | Chicago, IL*

Raymond Hillard Homes | Chicago, IL

River City | Chicago, IL

Bruce Graham & Fazlur Khan - S.O.M.

Sears Tower | Chicago, IL*

One Magnificent Mile | Chicago, IL

John Hancock Center | Chicago, IL*

Bruce Graham & Walter Netsch - S.O.M.

Inland Steel Building | Chicago, IL

Micheal Graves

Engineering Research Center - University of Cincinnati | Cincinnati, OH

Nicholas Grimshaw

Continental Train Platform | London, UK

Zaha Hadid

Lois & Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art | Cincinnati, OH

David Haid

Haid Residence | Evanston, IL*

Rose Auto Museum | Highland Park, IL

Patrick Hodgikinson

Brunswick Centre | London, UK

Holabird & Roche

Old Colony Building | Chicago, IL

Marquette Building | Chicago, IL

Chicago City Hall-County Building | Chicago, IL*

Brooks Building | Chicago, IL

Michael Hopkins

Portculus House | London, UK

Steven Holl

Bloch Addition - Nelson/Atkins Museum of Art | Kansas City, MO

Chapel of St. Ignatius - Seattle University | Seattle, WA*

Robert Hugman

San Antonio River Walk - Paseo del Rio | San Antonio, TX*

Jarvis Hunt

Union Station Kansas City | Kansas City, MO*

Helmut Jahn

State of Illinois Center | Chicago, IL*

Xerox Center | Chicago, IL

One South Wacker Office Building | Chicago, IL

Chicago Board of Trade Addition | Chicago, IL*

Northwestern Terminal | Chicago, IL*

Kemper Stadium | Kansas City, KS

William Le Baron Jenney

Manhattan Building | Chicago, IL

Jens Jensen

Lincoln Memorial Garden | Springfield, IL*

The Clearing Folk School | Ellison Bay, WI

Philip Johnson

Crystal Garden (Crystal Cathedral) | Garden Grove, CA*

Fort Worth Water Garden | Fort Worth, TX*

Thanks-Giving Square | Dallas, TX*

Rothko Chapel | Houston, TX*

AT&T Building | New York, NY

Ralph Johnson

International Terminal - O'Hare International Airport | Chicago, IL*

100 North Riverside - Boeing World Headquarter | Chicago, IL*

Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum | Chicago, IL*

Skybridge | Chicago, IL

Crate & Barrel Corporate Headquarters | Oak Brook, IL

Oak Park Public Library | Oak Park, IL*

Orland Park Village Center | Orland Park, IL*

Fay Jones

Thorncrown Chapel | Eureka Springs, AK*

Cooper Chapel | Beuna Vista, AK*

Horace Jones

Tower Bridge | London, UK

Louis Kahn

Fine Arts Center | Fort Wayne, IN*

Kimbell Art Museum | Fort Worth, TX*

Keck + Keck

Keck-Gottschalk-Keck Apartments | Chicago, IL

Forest Crest Subdivision | Glencoe, IL

KPF (Kohn Pederson Fox)

333 Wacker Drive Office Building | Chicago, IL*

David Libeskind

Ascent Riverfront Condos | Covington, KY

Theodore Link

St. Louis Union Station | St. Louis, MO*

Harold Van Buren Magonigue

Liberty Memorial | Kansas City, MO*

Make Architects

City of London Information Centre | London, UK

Thom Mayne - Morphosis

Campus Research Center - University of Cincinnati | Cincinnati, OH*

Bernard Maybeck

Palace of Fine Arts | San Francisco, CA*

First Church of Christian Scientists | Berkeley, CA

Richard Meier

Clifty Creek Elementary School | Columbus, IN

Conde McCullough

Pacific Coast Highway Bridges | OR

Walter Netsch

Northwestern Observatory | Evanston, IL

Cadet Chapel | Colorado Springs, CO*

School of the Art Institute | Chicago, IL*

University of Illinois | Chicago, IL*

Joseph Regenstein Library | Chicago, IL

Fredrick Law Olmsted

Village of Riverside | Riverside, IL*

New York State Hospital for the Insane | Buffalo, NY*

Central Park | New York, NY*

I. M. Pei

Cleo Rogers Memorial Library | Columbus, IN

John Hancock Tower | Boston, MA

Christian Science Center | Boston, MA

Fountain Place | Dallas, TX

Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center | Dallas, TX

College-Conservatory of Music - University of Cincinnati | Cincinnati, OH

Cesar Pelli

181 West Madison | Chicago, IL

Commons Centre & Mall | Columbus, IN

Pacific Design Center | Los Angeles, CA

Dwight Perkins

Carl Schurz High School | Chicago, IL

Renzo Piano

Menil Collection | Houston, TX*

Art Institute of Chicago - Modern Wing | Chicago, IL*

Antoine Predock

Nelson Fine Arts Center - Arizona State University | Tempe, AZ*

Viljo Revell

Toronto City Hall | Toronto, Ontario*

John A. Roebling

Brooklyn Bridge | New York, NY

John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge | Cincinnati, OH

High Bridge | KY

Richard Rogers

Channel 4 Television Headquarters | London, UK

88 Wood Street | London, UK

Lloyds Building | London, UK

Heathrow Terminal 5 | London, UK*

Mies Van der Rohe

Farnsworth House | Plano, IL*

McCormick House | Elmhurst, IL*

S. R. Crown Hall | Chicago, IL*

Lafayette Park | Detroit, MI

Illinois Institute of Technology Campus | Chicago, IL

Chicago Federal Center | Chicago, IL

860-880 | Chicago, IL

IBM Plaza | Chicago, IL

Toronto-Dominion Centre | Toronto, Ontario

Seagram Building | New York, NY

Museum of Fine Art | Houston, TX*

H. H. Richardson

John Glessner House | Chicago, IL*

Trinity Church | Boston, MA

New York State Asylum | Buffalo, NY*

Allegheny Court | Pittsburg, PA

Eero Saarinen

John Deere World Headquarter | Moline, IL*

North Christian Church | Columbus, IN*

MIT Chapel | Cambridge, MA*

Kresge Auditorium | Cambridge, MA

Gateway Arch | St. Louis, MO*

Milwaukee County War Memorial | Milwaukee, WI*

Eliel Saarinen

Crow Island School | Winnetka, IL*

First Christian Church | Columbus, IN*

Cranbrook Educational Community | Bloomfield Hills, MI*

George Schipporeit/John Heinrich

Lake Point Tower | Chicago, IL*

First National Bank (Chase Building) | Evanston, IL

Richard E. Schmidt

Schoennhofen Brewing Company Building | Chicago, IL

Howard Van Doren Shaw

9250 South Damen | Chicago, IL*

Market Square | Lake Forest, IL

Paolo Soleri

Arcosanti | Mayer, AZ

S.O.M.

Baxter Travenol Laboratories, Inc. | Deerfield, IL

Madison Plaza | Chicago, IL

Brunswick Building | Chicago, IL

Clarence Stein & Henry Wright

Chatham Village | Pittsburg, PA*

Carl Strandlund

Lustron Homes | Lombard, IL

Hugh Stubbins/William LeMessurier

Citicorp Center | New York, NY

Saint Peter's Church | New York, NY*

Louis Sullivan

Auditorium Building | Chicago, IL*

Holy Trinity Orthodox Church | Chicago, IL

James Charnley Residence | Chicago, IL*

Schlesinger Meyer Store (Carson Pirie Scott Department Store) | Chicago, IL*

Getty Tomb | Chicago, IL

Krause Music Store | Chicago, IL

Wainwright Building | St. Louis, MO

Guaranty Building | Buffalo, NY

National Farmer's Bank | Owatonna, MN*

Pilgrim Baptist Church | Chicago, IL

Stanley Tigerman

Regional Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped | Chicago, IL

Anti Cruelty Society | Chicago, IL*

Bernhard Tschumi

Richard E. Linder Center - Unviversity of Cincinnati | Cincinnati, OH

R.H. Turnock

Brewster Apartments | Chicago, IL

John Vinci & Lawrence Kenny

Freeark Residence | Riverside, IL*

P. Bros. & H. Waltersdorf

Tree Studio Building | Chicago, IL

Alfred Waterhouse

Museum of Natural History | London, UK*

Harry Weese

Time-Life Building | Chicago, IL

Seventeenth Church of Christian Scientist | Chicago, IL

River Cottage | Chicago, IL

Campbell U.S. Courthouse Annex | Chicago, IL

First Baptist Church | Columbus, IN*

200 South Wacker Drive Building | Chicago, IL

Graham, Anderson, Probst & White

Wrigley Building | Chicago, IL

Sir Christopher Wren

St. Paul's Cathedral | London, UK

Frank Lloyd Wright - Residential

Frank Lloyd Wright's Home | Oak Park, IL*

William H. Winslow House | River Forest, IL*

Nathan Moore House | Oak Park, IL

Chauncey Williams House | River Forest, IL

Roland Furbeck House | Oak Park, IL

E. Arthur Davenport House | River Forest, IL

Frank W. Thomas House | Oak Park, IL

William G. Fricke House | Oak Park, IL

Arthur Heurtley House | Oak Park, IL

Ward W. Willits House | Highland Park, IL

Susan Lawrence Dana House | Springfield, IL*

William E. Martin House | Oak Park, IL

Edwin H. Cheney House | Oak Park, IL

Darwin D. Martin House | Buffalo, NY*

William A. Glasner House | Glencoe, IL

Peter A. Beachy House | Oak Park, IL

Ferdinand F. Tomek House | Riverside, IL

Avery Coonley House | Riverside, IL

Isabel Roberts House | River Forest, IL

Laura Gale House | Oak Park, IL

J. Kibben Ingalls House | River Forest, IL

Meyer May House | Grand Rapids, MI*

Frederick C. Robie House | Chicago, IL*

Taliesin I | Spring Green, WI*

Oscar Balch House | Oak Park, IL

Harry S. Adams House | Oak Park, IL

The Ravine Bluffs Development corner marker | Glencoe, IL*

Second Sherman Booth House | Glencoe, IL

Charles R. Perry House - Ravine Bluffs Development | Glencoe, IL

C.J. Ellis House - Ravine Bluffs Development | Glencoe, IL

J.M. Compton House - Ravine Bluffs Development | Glencoe, IL

S.J. Gilfillian House - Ravine Bluffs Development | Glencoe, IL

Aline Barnsdall House (Hollyhock) | Los Angeles, CA*

John Storer House | Los Angeles, CA

Edgar Kaufman House (Fallingwater) | Mill Run, PA*

Herbert F. Johnson House (Wingspread) | Racine, WI*

A.W. Gridley House | Batavia, IL

Frank J. Baker House | Wilmette, IL

Frank Lloyd Wright - Non-Residential

Francisco Terrace | Oak Park, IL

Frank Lloyd Wright's Studio | Oak Park, IL*

The Horse Show Association Fountain | Oak Park, IL*

The River Forest Tennis Club | River Forest, IL

The Rookery Building | Chicago, IL*

Unity Temple | Oak Park, IL*

The Johnson Wax Administration Building | Racine, WI*

Taliesin West | Scottsdale, AR*

The Kansas City Community Christian Church | Kansas City, MO

The Guggenheim Museum | New York, NY*

The V.C. Morris Gift Shop | San Francisco, CA*

The Dallas Theater Center (The Kalita Humphreys Theater) | Dallas, TX

The Marion County Civic Center | San Rafael, CA*

The Grady Gammage Memorial Auditorium | Tempe, AZ

The Smith Bank | Dwight, IL

Minoru Yamasaki

Montgomery Wards Headquarter | Chicago, IL

Horace Manne | Springfield, IL

NorthShore Congregation Israel | Glencoe, IL

Boynton Chapel at Bjorklunden | Baileys Harbor, WI*

(modeled after Garmo Stavkirke Church at Maihaugen in Lillehammer, Norway 1150)

Stavkirke of Washington Island | Washington Island, WI*

(modeled after Borgund Stavkirke Church near Laerdal, Norway 1150)

Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill | Harrodsburg, KY

Stone Fences of Clark County | Clark County, KY

Ancients

Lion Gate | Mycenae, Greece*

Treasury of Atreus | Mycenae, Greece*

Erectheion (Mnesicles) | Athens, Greece*

The Parthenon - Temple of Athena (Ictinus & Callicrates w/Phidias) | Athens, Greece*

Athenian Treasury | Delphi, Greece*

Theater at Delphi | Delphi, Greece*

Theater at Epidauros (Polykleitos) | Epidauros or Ephdhavros, Greece*

Temple of Zeus @ Olympia | Olympia, Greece*

Temple of Hera @ Olympia | Olympia, Greece*

Stadium @ Olympia | Olympia, Greece*

Interesting Architecture - To See

Tadao Ando

Chapel on Mt. Rokko | Kobe, Hyogo

Arquitectonica

Westin Hotel | New York, NY

Alfred Caldwell

Eagle Point Park | Dubuque, Iowa

David Chipperfield

Central Library | Des Moines, Iowa

Figge Art Museum | Davenport, Iowa

Isidorus + Anthemius

Hagia Sophia | Istabula, Turkey

Le Corbusier

Unite d'habitation | Marseilles, France

The Pilgrimage Church of Nore-Dame-de-Haut | Ronchamp, France

DeStefano

State Emergency Operations Center | Springfield, IL

Lord Norman Foster

Hearst Magazine Building | New York, NY

Commerzbank Tower | Frankfurt, Germany

Antonia Gaudi

Sagrada Familia | Barcelona, Spain

Guell Park | Barcelona, Spain

Casa Mila | Barcelona, Spain

Frank Gehry

Iowa Advanced Technology Lab - University of Iowa | Iowa City, Iowa

IAC Building | New York, NY

Walter Burley Griffin

Ricker House | Grinnell, Iowa

Zaha Hadid

MAXXI-Natural Center of Contemporary Arts | Rome, Italy

Steven Holl

School of Art + Art History - University of Iowa | Iowa City, Iowa

Louis I. Kahn

Jonas Salk Institute of Biological Studies | La Jolla, CA

Rem Koolhaas

Seattle Public Library | Seattle, WA

Ricardo Legorreta

Max Palevsky Residential Commons - University of Chicago | Chicago, IL

Richard Meier

Des Moines Art Center Addition 2 | Des Moines, Iowa

Ara Pacis Museum | Rome, Italy

Chiesa di Dio Padre Misericordia | Rome, Italy

Pier Luigi Nervi

Palazzetto Delro Sport | Rome, Italy

Oscar Niemeyer

The Church of St. Francis of Assisi | Pampulha (Belo Horizonte), Brazil

Jean Nouvel

110 11th Place | New York, NY

Hotel Puerta America | Madrid, Spain

Reina Sofia Extension | Madrid, Spain

I.M. Pei

Des Moines Art Center Addition 1 | Des Moines, Iowa

Cesar Pelli

Gerald Rather Athletic Center - University of Chicago | Chicago, IL

Madison Museum of Contemporary Art - MMoCA | Madison, WI

Renzo Piano

Auditorium Della Musica | Rome, Italy

Richard Rogers

Centre Georges Pompidou | Paris, France

Mies Van der Rohe

Barcelona Pavilion | Barcelona, Spain

New National Gallery | Berlin, Germany

Home Federal Savings + Loan Building | Des Moines, Iowa

School of Social Service Administration Building - University of Chicago | Chicago, IL

Mellon Hall of Science - Duquesne University | Pittsburgh, PA

Eero Saarinen

Charles Medbury Hall & Oreon E. Scott Chapel - Drake University | Des Moines, Iowa

Fitch Pharamacy Hall - Drake University | Des Moines, Iowa

Concordia Senior College | Fort Wayne, IN

SANAA - Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa

New Museum of Contemporary Art | New York, NY

Toledo Museum of Art | Toledo, Ohio

Adreab Smith

Burj Khalifa - Dubai | United Arab Emerites

Louis Sullivan

Merchant's National Bank | Grinnell, Iowa

Bernard Tschumi

Blue Tower | New York, NY

Rafael Vinoly

Charles M. Harper Center - University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business | Chicago, IL

Marion Weiss & Michael Manfredi

Olympic Sculpture Park | Seattle, WA

Frank Lloyd Wright

Unitarian Meeting House | Madison, WI

Tom Wright

Burj Al Arab - Dubai | United Arab Emerites

Minoru Yamasaki

The US Pavilion | Seattle, WA

The Early Years

I knew as early as 5th grade that I wanted to be an Architect. A science class project was to 'design' a house. That consisted of drawing an exterior view, in my case a perspective of an A-Frame house, and find pictures from magazines of the rooms. I still have that project. 

So where does that leave me? I can not imagine doing anything else! 


I feel that I have come full circle. My interest began with a house design and, many years later, now that is the bulk of my work. Residential design has always seemed more personal and that comes after doing large-scale and unique projects like: a DEA lab, a maximum security jail, million square foot postal facility, conversion of churches to condos... Residential work can be more personable!