forty-two years ago I was welding car
frames in Chrysler’s Ohio in Twinsburg
actually now I’m the national design
director for RS and H one of the largest
architectural and engineering firms in
continental United States I’ve
rediscovered the courage it took to walk
out of that factory 42 years ago and I
learned a few things along the way let
me share them with you I’m expected to
provide the highest degree of creativity
to the projects that I work on but
that’s only one quarter of my
responsibilities the other
three-quarters is to expect the highest
degree of originality from my colleagues
and to provide an environment in which
that will occur I think we have similar
challenges in looking back over my 32
years of practicing architecture I began
to reflect not so much in the projects I
brought to completion but the projects
that were unbuilt unrealized and
unmanifested into a large part I was
responsible because I thought they were
too extreme to out there I was afraid
they wouldn’t be understood I was and I
think this condition goes well beyond
architecture we all have buildings on
songs on songs stories unwritten ideas
unadvised if I think of my creative
process it’s gonna be different and it
should be different than yours I have to
live with empathy for the end-users the
people that use that building and when I
know it best that’s with my eyes
partially closed I reach deep deep into
that creative fog and the idea is they
can come out quickly and you have to
capture them and once you do you open it
up and begin to look at it and go this
if you listen quietly you can hear their
muffled cries this should be the future
of my creativity not the internment of
it if you flip through and you look at
your pieces there’s a few that I wish I
had put out there oh you share a few of
those with you time and time again I
returned to environments these concepts
with this you see the undulating
terracotta mass of the building gently
nestled into the into the landscape
these are opposites these opposites they
need each other you’ll notice the
absence of chain-link fence and parking
lots and roads and other disfigurements
to the earth in the next piece art
fashion architecture and industrial
design graphic design these related arts
we we need each other we feed off of
each other we’re hungry for each other
in this piece just the the beautiful
colors of shapes and they form an
it was pretty there’s that word it is a
forbidden word in the world of
architecture I love this piece you know
it’s the garment that would enclose
extends out and becomes that enclosure
in the park you know I I loved it I
thought it was pretty and then there’s
light how horrible
how horrible to be in a space with no
natural light how dreadful not to have a
view of the horizon in this I was less
interested in manipulating shape and
form but it was the manipulation of
light that intrigued me when you’re in a
space and you’re working in the cloud
passes over and you look up and you’re
connected to the greater world around
you that that is the power of design
within this piece there’s cast glass
colored and the light passes through and
strikes the ground and then the next one
slowly sweeps across and then the next
you see it you are part of it you are
connected it repeats itself day after
day year after year for perpetuity this
piece recently found its way into a
proposal within our community incredible
opportunities exist to transform the
city that were in we must have the
courage to listen to the voices and to
bring about the bold ideas that are
going to be necessary to address our
environmental issues our urban sprawl
and our transportation issues you
healthy urban ecosystems this project
which was our international design
competition submittal looked at urban
sprawl in Jacksonville and situated on
the frail edge of the st. Johns River
healthy urban ecosystems the structure
like complex human bones carrying its
load path down to the ground the
structure able to conduct rain waters in
the most remote locations the cladding
of it able to remove impurities from the
environment this concern for health care
extends well beyond as hospital ships
could be dispatched from this location
to locations all around the globe to
provide that that health care that some
so needed transportation the u2c project
when you think of autonomous vehicles
you think of moving people not cars the
end result of this is their urban cores
are returned back to us the citizens and
the effects of this is every chance
encounter stitches the fabric of our
community more tightly together the
ability to flow unimpeded from home to
church to school
to work is the ultimate goal of this
project the last I want to share with
you again less so much about
manipulation of shape and form but
addressing the needs of our society this
master plan looked the focus to limited
resources of a foundation to address the
homelessness issues here in Jacksonville
the ultimate hallmark of a society’s
humanity is the way we deal with our our
sick our elderly and our homeless within
this project within this project the
disenfranchised rediscover their power
as urban farmers and bring that bounty
to harvest to address the food desert
issues we experience in the city what
lies within us as designers lies within
you the writer the mathematician the
auto mechanic the carpenter the Mason
the engineer if we could all just remove
a few of the UNH’s from our lives think
of the world we’d be living in you have
the right to bring your gift into this
world as you see fit but it must be
brought to not do so is to die before
your time so why should I be up here at
61 telling you to go for it 42 years ago
I was welding car frames in Chrysler’s
Ohio and now I’m realizing the unbuilt
possibilities all around me and I hope
you find the courage in you to to face
those challenges our gifts they come
with responsibilities we need to fulfill them
frames in Chrysler’s Ohio in Twinsburg
actually now I’m the national design
director for RS and H one of the largest
architectural and engineering firms in
continental United States I’ve
rediscovered the courage it took to walk
out of that factory 42 years ago and I
learned a few things along the way let
me share them with you I’m expected to
provide the highest degree of creativity
to the projects that I work on but
that’s only one quarter of my
responsibilities the other
three-quarters is to expect the highest
degree of originality from my colleagues
and to provide an environment in which
that will occur I think we have similar
challenges in looking back over my 32
years of practicing architecture I began
to reflect not so much in the projects I
brought to completion but the projects
that were unbuilt unrealized and
unmanifested into a large part I was
responsible because I thought they were
too extreme to out there I was afraid
they wouldn’t be understood I was and I
think this condition goes well beyond
architecture we all have buildings on
songs on songs stories unwritten ideas
unadvised if I think of my creative
process it’s gonna be different and it
should be different than yours I have to
live with empathy for the end-users the
people that use that building and when I
know it best that’s with my eyes
partially closed I reach deep deep into
that creative fog and the idea is they
can come out quickly and you have to
capture them and once you do you open it
up and begin to look at it and go this
if you listen quietly you can hear their
muffled cries this should be the future
of my creativity not the internment of
it if you flip through and you look at
your pieces there’s a few that I wish I
had put out there oh you share a few of
those with you time and time again I
returned to environments these concepts
with this you see the undulating
terracotta mass of the building gently
nestled into the into the landscape
these are opposites these opposites they
need each other you’ll notice the
absence of chain-link fence and parking
lots and roads and other disfigurements
to the earth in the next piece art
fashion architecture and industrial
design graphic design these related arts
we we need each other we feed off of
each other we’re hungry for each other
in this piece just the the beautiful
colors of shapes and they form an
it was pretty there’s that word it is a
forbidden word in the world of
architecture I love this piece you know
it’s the garment that would enclose
extends out and becomes that enclosure
in the park you know I I loved it I
thought it was pretty and then there’s
light how horrible
how horrible to be in a space with no
natural light how dreadful not to have a
view of the horizon in this I was less
interested in manipulating shape and
form but it was the manipulation of
light that intrigued me when you’re in a
space and you’re working in the cloud
passes over and you look up and you’re
connected to the greater world around
you that that is the power of design
within this piece there’s cast glass
colored and the light passes through and
strikes the ground and then the next one
slowly sweeps across and then the next
you see it you are part of it you are
connected it repeats itself day after
day year after year for perpetuity this
piece recently found its way into a
proposal within our community incredible
opportunities exist to transform the
city that were in we must have the
courage to listen to the voices and to
bring about the bold ideas that are
going to be necessary to address our
environmental issues our urban sprawl
and our transportation issues you
healthy urban ecosystems this project
which was our international design
competition submittal looked at urban
sprawl in Jacksonville and situated on
the frail edge of the st. Johns River
healthy urban ecosystems the structure
like complex human bones carrying its
load path down to the ground the
structure able to conduct rain waters in
the most remote locations the cladding
of it able to remove impurities from the
environment this concern for health care
extends well beyond as hospital ships
could be dispatched from this location
to locations all around the globe to
provide that that health care that some
so needed transportation the u2c project
when you think of autonomous vehicles
you think of moving people not cars the
end result of this is their urban cores
are returned back to us the citizens and
the effects of this is every chance
encounter stitches the fabric of our
community more tightly together the
ability to flow unimpeded from home to
church to school
to work is the ultimate goal of this
project the last I want to share with
you again less so much about
manipulation of shape and form but
addressing the needs of our society this
master plan looked the focus to limited
resources of a foundation to address the
homelessness issues here in Jacksonville
the ultimate hallmark of a society’s
humanity is the way we deal with our our
sick our elderly and our homeless within
this project within this project the
disenfranchised rediscover their power
as urban farmers and bring that bounty
to harvest to address the food desert
issues we experience in the city what
lies within us as designers lies within
you the writer the mathematician the
auto mechanic the carpenter the Mason
the engineer if we could all just remove
a few of the UNH’s from our lives think
of the world we’d be living in you have
the right to bring your gift into this
world as you see fit but it must be
brought to not do so is to die before
your time so why should I be up here at
61 telling you to go for it 42 years ago
I was welding car frames in Chrysler’s
Ohio and now I’m realizing the unbuilt
possibilities all around me and I hope
you find the courage in you to to face
those challenges our gifts they come
with responsibilities we need to fulfill them
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