1985 Bachelor of Architecture
The Modernist Expression of Materials through Ornament

The purpose of this study is to examine in depth a particular level of building design—ornament and detail. The expression of a building at this scale is microscopic, yet it has an enormous scope. The same impulse that animates the mass and structure must, I feel, be carried through the design to the level of ornament and detail.

As Sullivan said, ornament is what gives the building “life.” It is the design at this level that gives a building an emotional or spiritual expression and determines the real character of the building.

I am intrigued with the way the modernists dealt with ornamentation. They found a way of validating ornament by deriving it from the function and materials that coincided with the constraints of their dogma. Architecture today is searching for a rationale for ornamentation in buildings. Perhaps a lesson can be extracted from the modernist way of thinking that is appropriate for today.

In the development of my design philosophy, I have begun formulating an argument for a modernist attitude toward ornament, specifically a way of deriving the ornament of the building from the nature of the building materials and their techniques of assembly. I am wary of tacked-on historicist ornament that lacks intellectual rigor and even appears shallow. I feel the modernist attitude toward detailing a building has more integrity than arbitrary historical quotations, since rather than being applied, the ornament is made of the very stuff of the building itself. In this way, the conception of the building is carried through to the details of the building design.

For the purposes of this study, I have selected the buildings of nine specific architects that have influenced me. While they represent a wide range of vocabularies, I have chosen these architects because I feel they all have achieved a warmth and sensuality in the buildings as well as an intellectual rigor that I admire. Through the in-depth examination of the ornament and detail of these buildings, I hope to expand my vision of the possibilities of ornament and detail and develop my own vocabulary. I propose to study these architects, their buildings, and their methods and ornamenting and detailing principles in order to expand my own design philosophies.

Method of Study

The examination of this topic will be carried out in a case study method through the analysis of selected buildings and their architect. In each case, consideration will be given to a variety of concerns, including:

1. The relationship between the method of ornamentation and detail and the formal design intention.
2. Regional and traditional influences on ornament, including use of materials, methods of construction, and traditional decoration.
3. Implications of theoretical work of the architect, his contemporaries, and predecessors including that of Sullivan, Wright, Le Corbusier, Kahn, and others.
4. The possible relationships among the principles of the selected architects.
5. The implications of ornament and detail on spatial qualities such as light, sound, texture, and color.
6. The implications of utilitarian consideration and construction methods on the expression of ornament.
7. The treatment of detail as a metaphorical or mnemonic allusion.

In addition to exploring actual buildings through photographs and sketches, I intend to visit drawing collections, local experts, and the architects’ offices to gather information.

Impact of the Award

May 23, 1999

My travels made possible by the fellowship did what travel is supposed to do—it opened up for me new worlds and new ways of thinking about architecture. I went to Europe to study building ornament, but I found myself intrigued and excited by the other end of the scale—the context of the architecture and architecture as context.

In meeting and talking with European architects, particularly in Berlin and the Ticino, I found that they held an attitude very different from that of their American counterparts. The did not design buildings per se, but saw themselves as making contributions to a larger, communal built work—the city. As a young architecture student, this notion of the city as design was a revelation to me, one that eventually steered me toward the path my career is currently taking.

Upon my return from Europe, I sought an internship with Andrés Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk. I was fortunate to work at a number of their new towns, where I was able to study firsthand the nexus between architecture and context. I have since returned to my hometown of Austin, Texas, currently one of the fastest growing cities in the country, where I am able to fully participate in the important act of city building. I work for an architecture firm [Black + Vernooy] that specializes in urban design, and I am currently directing an ambitious project to restore Guadeloupe Street, an important, historic commercial street bordering the University of Texas campus. I can only hope to give back a small portion of what I gained from the SOM Foundation fellowship.